Contributors
Jeffery Beam's newest works are a new edition of his 1990 chapbook Midwinter Fires in Seven Kitchen Press' ReBound series with a new introduction by Duke University professor and poet Joe Donahue, and a limited hand-printed and hand-bound edition of the MountSeaEden section of Gospel Earth on paper made partially from daylily stems no less from Chester Creek Press. His book, The Broken Flower, is due autumn 2012 from Skysill Press, England. Beam has recently retired from 35 years as a botanical librarian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
"Cut, on Oak Street" is a story from Joshua Citrak's newly finished book, Picture Me Rollin', of which he couldn't be prouder. Citrak dedicates the story to his friend and mentor, Scott James (also known by the pen name, Kemble Scott), who's recuperating in the hospital. Without Scott, Picture Me Rollin' probably wouldn't have been written. Writes Citrak, "He gave me my first shot, has always been there with the hookup, and along the way has sprinkled me with some of the best advice and encouragement I could hope for. Now, I'm gonna kick back the favor. Get well, buddy, much love. You're gonna be alright."
After gaining two levels of experience points from living in the Middle East, Andrew Cohen has leveled up and now writes from his home in South America.
As reported by The Georgia Review, Harry Crews died on March 28, 2012. The Harry Crews Online Bibliography has a comprehensive list of remembrances.
Kate Daniels is Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. Her most recent book of poetry is A Walk in Victoria's Secret (LSU, 2010).
Lisa Dordal (MDiv, MFA) lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her partner, Laurie, and their two happily retired greyhounds. Her poetry has appeared (or is forthcoming) in the following journals: Cave Wall, The Sow's Ear Poetry Review, Sinister Wisdom, Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Bridges: A Jewish Feminist Journal, and Southern Women's Review. Her chapbook, Commemoration, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press.
Anne C. Elguindi is a librarian at American University in Washington, DC.
Michael Ferguson lives in San Francisco and writes occasionally for the Journal of Homosexuality and other publications. Recently he has been writing and directing plays at the Fringe of Marin, San Rafael, California.
Catherine Gallagher is the Eggers Professor of English Literature and has taught at Berkeley since 1980. Her teaching and research focus on the British novel and cultural history in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. She is the co-chair of the editorial board of the journal Representations and a member of the Editorial Board of Flashpoints, a University of California Press book series. Her 1994 book, Nobody's Story, won the MLA's James Russell Lowell Prize for an outstanding literary study. In 2002, she was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a recipient of the 2010/2011 Berlin Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Berlin.
Jeremy Halinen co-edits Knockout Literary Magazine (knockoutlit.org). What Other Choice, his first full-length collection of poems, won the 2010 Exquisite Disarray First Book Poetry Contest and is available at alibris.com. His poems have also appeared in Best Gay Poetry 2008, Crab Creek Review, Los Angeles Review, Poet Lore, Sentence, and elsewhere. He resides in Seattle.
Pushcart Prize Nominee and author of 10 Tongues: Poems, Reginald Harris is Poetry in The Branches Coordinator for Poets House. His work has appeared in a variety of publications including African-American Review, MELUS Journal, Sou'wester, Best Gay Poetry 2008, and the anthology, A Face to Meet the Faces.
Patrick Herron (patrickherron.com) is a poet, artist, and information scientist from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Herron is the author of several books including Be Somebody (2008, Effing Press), The American Godwar Complex (2004, BlazeVox), as well as a recent book on the relationship between text mining and scientific discovery in medicine (2008, Verlag Dr. Mueller). Herron's works has appeared in journals such as The Exquisite Corpse, Jacket, Fulcrum, Fanzine, A Chide's Alphabet, and Talisman. He is the founder of the Carrboro International Poetry Festival, a member of the board of Carolina Wren Press, winner of the 2005 Triangle Arts Award from The Independent (Durham, NC), and a former Carrboro, NC, Poet Laureate. Patrick teaches new media studies at Duke University.
Linda Oatman High (lindaoatmanhigh.com) is an author/playwright/poet who holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College. She teaches writing workshops throughout the U.S. and is available for school presentations from K-12.
Josh Hockensmith is a writer, translator, and book artist who lives in Pittsboro, North Carolina. He produces handmade artists' books, blank books and small editions under the name Blue Bluer Books. From 1998-2000 he was editor of the journal South by Southeast: Haiku & Haiku Arts and still serves as a contributing editor.
Ryan Mecklenburg received his BA in English from Cal State San Bernardino and his MFA in creative writing from The Writing Seminars at Bennington College. He served as editor for The Pacific Review and The Potomac Review. His stories have appeared in Fifth Wednesday, The Bennington Review, and The Atlantic Monthly. Currently, he is at work on a novel about The Harvey-Johnson Pickle Co.
David Need lives in Durham, North Carolina, and teaches at Duke University. His poetry, essays, and translations have been in Talisman, Effing Magazine, Hambone, Minor Americans, Golden Handcuffs Review, Ocho, and Mipoesias. He reviews frequently for OBR. His most recent writing project was a year-long memoir suite "Goodnight Irene," drafts of which are published at gdnightirene.blogspot.com.
For over ten years, Jeremy Novy's stenciled street art has explored social and political issues. Writes Novy: "Street art is a dominantly male heterosexual community; being out of the closet is not accepted. Gay street artists have been assaulted, their art supplies stolen or damaged, and their works covered up." In 2011, Novy curated "A History of Queer Street Art" at SOMArts in San Francisco which highlighted the lineage of queer street art and its activist roots. Novy's unique stencils include legendary drag queens, gay pulp and local talent, and Japanese koi. Although his work has appeared in books, magazines, and newspapers, and is featured in museums and private collections, his stencil art is best experienced firsthand on the sidewalks, derelict telephone booths, and boarded-up buildings of San Francisco's Mission District.
J. P. Seaton's (supposedly retired, from UNC-CH) latest books are a new Han Shan (the hermit poet Zen Master, with a couple of friends) and a brand new take on the great Li Po (now sometimes Li Bai), both from Shambhala. Seaton hosts a Chinese poetry site with a "library" of Chinese poetry in translations and a monthly magazine of new translations and comments by translators, including himself, David Hinton, Barnstone and Chou, and Red Pine (Bill Porter), for starters, at chinapoetry.net. You can try your hand at translation there, from detailed notes and commentary on poems.
Christina Svendsen writes and teaches comparative literature for a living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her translation of Lesabéndio: an Asteroid Novel, by the German Expressionist Paul Scheerbart, is forthcoming from Wakefield Press in October 2012.
Corvin Thomas is a Christian now. No joke. He still smokes and tries to maintain a two-beer minimum. But sometimes, to quote his eight-year-old daughter, "I feel so good I want to do something bad." So he prays.
Rhiannon Weakley was born 7 June 2002 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She is currently 9 and a 4th grader at Woods Charter School in northern Chatham County, North Carolina.