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Writer Profiles listed alphabetically by last name
Angela Acosta
Angela Acosta, Ph.D. is a bilingual Mexican American poet and Assistant Professor of Spanish at the University of South Carolina. She is a 2022 Dream Foundry Contest for Emerging Writers Finalist, Best of the Net nominee, and Utopia Award finalist. Her Rhysling nominated poetry has appeared in Heartlines Spec, Shoreline of Infinity, Apparition Lit, Radon Journal, and Space & Time. She is author of the Elgin nominated poetry collections Summoning Space Travelers (Hiraeth Publishing, 2022) and A Belief in Cosmic Dailiness (Red Ogre Review, 2023).
Catherine Alexander
Catherine Alexander, Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, is the author of DOGS DON’T COOK, published in November 2021. Her stories have appeared in 49 literary journals, including North Atlantic Review, Rosebud (two successive issues), Bryant Literary Review, Rockhurst Review and won “Jurors’ Choice” in Spindrift. She has taught fiction and memoir at the University of Washington, Edmonds Community College, Seattle Public Library, writing conferences, senior centers and to homeless groups. She now leads a private class. Living in Seattle, Washington, with her two dogs and cat, she has completed a novelette and a short-story collection.
Barbara Alfaro
Poet and playwright Barbara Alfaro is the recipient of a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award in Playwriting and winner of the IndieReader Discovery Award for Best Memoir for Mirror Talk. Her poems have appeared in various journals including Poet Lore, Variant Literature and Voices de la Luna. Her poetry collection Catbird is published by Finishing Line Press. Barbara’s plays have been produced by PlayZoomers, the Equity Library Theater of New York and small professional theatre companies. She shares her days with a sweet Maltese named Darby.
Dee Allen
African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California U.S.A. Author of 7 books [Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater, Skeletal Black, Elohi Unitsi and coming in February 2022, Rusty Gallows: Passages Against Hate and Plans] and 43 anthology appearances under his figurative belt so far.
Israel Allen
Israel Allen did media and constituent relations for the governor of Tennessee before earning an MFA in Creative Writing. He now serves as an Assistant Professor of English at Tusculum University. He is the author of several novels, including the thrillers Ian Baker’s .45 and Bibles and Ball Bats (writing as Chris Allen). His plays Ask Me Anything and Stitches earned awards from the South Carolina Theatre Association. His dinner theatre murder mystery The Emerald Heist has been produced by more than one hundred theatres across thirty-five U.S. states, four Canadian provinces, New Zealand, Australia and Ethiopia.
R. A. Allen
R. A. Allen’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in the New York Quarterly, RHINO, Alba, The Penn Review, B O D Y, The Los Angeles Review, Cloudbank, The Hollins Critic, and many other journals and anthologies. He has nominations for The Pushcart Prize and Best of the net 2020. His fiction has been published in The Literary Review, The Barcelona Review, PANK, and Best American Mystery Stories 2010, among others. He lives in Memphis, a city of light and sound.
Jeanne Althouse
Stories by Jeanne Althouse have been published in numerous literary journals, two chapbooks, and twice nominated for a Pushcart. Her story collection, BIG Secrets Everywhere, will be available from Big Table Publishing in November 2023. She lives in Palo Alto, California with her favorite husband and snow tigers Sacha and Zara.
Maureen Mancini Amaturo
Maureen Mancini Amaturo, NY-based fashion/beauty writer with an MFA in Creative Writing, teaches writing, leads Sound Shore Writers Group, which she founded in 2007, and produces literary and gallery events. Her fiction, essays, creative non-fiction, poetry, and comedy are widely published. Maureen was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award and TDS Creative Fiction Award and was awarded Honorable Mention and Certificate of Excellence in poetry from Havik Literary Journal. Her work was shortlisted by Reedsy and by Flash Fiction Magazine for their Editor’s Choice Award. A handwriting analyst diagnosed her with an overdeveloped imagination. She’s working to live up to that.
Ken Anderson
Double Back Press (imprint of Sundress Publications) will re-issue Ken Anderson’s first novel, Someone Bought the House on the Island: A Dream Journal, Finalist in the 1999 Independent Publisher Awards. Island of Wak-Wak Press (Orebro, Sweden) just released his The Ward at Twilight: Goth Poems. Red Ogre Review Books (L.A.) recently released his The Goose Liver Anthology (Mother Goose Meets Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology). His first poetry book was The Intense Lover. Coffin Bell Journal nominated his poem “Blood Quartet” for 2024 Best of the Net. He was a Finalist in the 2021 Saints and Sinners poetry contest.
C. J. Anderson-Wu
C. J. Anderson-Wu is a Taiwanese writer. In 2017 she published Impossible to Swallow—A Collection of Short Stories About The White Terror in Taiwan and in 2021 The Surveillance—Tales of White Terror in Taiwan. Based on true characters and real incidents, her works look into the political oppression in Taiwanese society during the period of Martial Law (1949-1987), and the traumas resulting from the state’s brutal violation of human rights. Currently she is working on her third book Endangered Youth—To Hong Kong. C. J. Anderson-Wu’s works can be found in a variety of journals all over the world.
Roly Andrews
Roly Andrews lives in Nelson, NZ; he enjoys tramping and the outdoors. After many years of practicing, he is still trying to learn to play the trombone! A champion for everyone, he has mentored rough sleepers and supported people affected by suicide. He advocates for the rights of people living with disabilities.
Alice Archer
Alice Archer lives in Gainesville, Florida with seven rescued cats, a variety of reptiles, and approximately three thousand books. She is neurodivergent, self-educated, and self-employed. Although she has been writing her entire life, she only recently began sharing her work. Her first published story appears in Issue No. 2 (April 2023) of Dark Yonder and another is forthcoming in the Summer 2023 issue of Streetlight Magazine.
Massimo Vito Avantaggiato
Massimo Vito Avantaggiato is an Italian composer, writer and visual artist. He teaches Electroacoustic Composition in several Italian Conservatories. Finalist in various competitions in over 390 festivals and audio, video, painting events, he has received over 200 national and international awards and nominations for his poetic works in Italy and abroad. He has worked with important Italian actors such as A. Quasimodo—son of the Nobel Prize winner S. Quasimodo—and Hafez Haidar nominated for the Nobel Prize for Poetry. His works have been published by important publishing houses such as Laterza, A. Mondadori, Giunti-Marzocco, Apogeo amongst others.
Galya D. Bacheva
Galya Bacheva is a beginning author who finds inspiration in people’s stories and real-life situations. Her writings have appeared in the Journal of Expressive Writing and at storyhouse.org. Galya has a Ph.D. in Archaeology but currently teaches English as a second language to students of all ages. She lives in Bulgaria with the best teen ever and their moody black tomcat. She loves reading, travelling and spending quality time with her son.
William Baker
William Baker’s short fiction is published a number of times since 2013. He thrives and lives a positive and purposeful life in Yeshua in Indiana. He maintains an author website with publication links at www.sylbun.com and can be contacted at: williambakerauthor@gmx.com.
He is currently working on numerous short stories, a stage play and a novel. He is an amateur photographer, an actor in community theater and has a large family.
Brian Michael Barbeito
Brian Michael Barbeito is a Canadian poet and photographer. When I Hear the Night, a second book of prose poems and photography, is forthcoming from Dark Winter Press (May, 2025).
Joey Colby Bernert
Joey Colby Bernert (any/all) is a clinical social worker, statistician, and MPH student. Joey is the Editor in Chief for the Orichalcum Tower Press. They are a recovering heroin addict and alcoholic. They work with rural populations to provide treatment for substance abuse.
Dennis J Bernstein
Dennis J Bernstein is an award-winning poet. His previous volume, Five Oceans in a Teaspoon, won the 2020 IPPY Gold Medal Award for Poetry and the 2020 Best Book Award for Poetry by the American Bookfest.Bernstein’s previous collection, Special Ed: Voices from a Hidden Classroom, won the 2012 Artists Embassy International Literary Cultural Award. His artists’ books/plays French Fries and GRRRHHHH: a study of social patterns, co-authored with Warren Lehrer, are considered seminal works in the genre, and are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Georges Pompidou Centre.
Emily Bilman
Dr. Emily Bilman is a widely published and anthologized author of poetry, literary essays, and short stories. Her PhD dissertation, The Psychodynamics of Poetry, was published by Lambert Academic in 2010. Slatkine & Cie published La rivière de soi (2010) in Geneva, CH. Modern Ekphrasis (2013) came out by Peter Lang Academic, CH. Her poetry books, A Woman by A Well (2015), Resilience (2015), The Threshold of Broken Waters (2018), Apperception (2020), The Undertow (2023) were all published by Troubador Books, UK. Her sonnet, “Pathfinder”, is scheduled to arrive on the moon’s southern pole with a NASA time-capsule in mid-2024. See Lunar Codex!
Susan Bloch
Susan Bloch is the author of Travels with My Grief, a memoir. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in a variety of publications including The Forward, Entropy, The Citron Review, STORGY, Pif Magazine, and HuffPost, as well as receiving a notable mention in Best American Essays 2017 and placing in the Travelers’ Tales Solas Awards. A lifelong traveler, she lived in South Africa, New York, Tel Aviv, London, and Mumbai before alighting in Seattle.
Westchester Writers Workshop member
Janice Boland
Janice Boland is an award-winning children’s book author, a flash fiction/short story writer, and an artist. Her stories appear in magazines, regional newspapers and in an anthology, Whatever Happened to Hansel and Gretel. She works in oils, watercolors, pen and ink, and etchings and won the Beaux Art Award for her dry point. Her illustration of a West Highland Terrier is the logo for Westy Self Storage.
Mimi Bordeaux
Brought up in Kent, England, Mimi was swiped away from her family when her parents split up, leaving her bereft for years to come. Her only solace was to write about it and see what the consequences were to be.
Alas, now a happy and settled Mimi Bordeaux is a published writer for websites, writing primarily for Medium.com as a means for getting it out there.
She lives in Melbourne Australia and likes smoking and coffee. She doesn’t like alcohol and loves punk music.
Pia Borsheim
Pia Borsheim lives in Presque Isle, Michigan. She holds an Interdisciplinary Ph.D. (1985) from Michigan State University with areas of qualification in English, Sociology, and Philosophy. She was a tenured full professor, teaching literature and creative writing at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. until her retirement in December of 2020. Her poetry collections are: Moon on the Meadow: Collected Poems 1977-2007; Two Winters 2011; Mother Mail, 2017; Love Poems, 2018; Above the Birch Line, 2021. Snow and Sand, her most recent book of poems, is forthcoming in 2026, followed by a chapbook, Dinner in Cassis, in 2027.
Patricia Ann Bowen
Patricia Ann Bowen has authored a medical time travel trilogy, a short story collection about people in challenging circumstances, and a serialized beach read. Her short stories have appeared in several anthologies and most recently in Mystery Tribune, Chamber Magazine, Idle Ink, Unlikely Stories, Commuterlit.com, and many more. She’s taught short story writing, and leads a critique group of short story writers for the Atlanta Writer’s Club. She divides her time between the burbs in Georgia and an island in South Carolina, has four sons, grandkids all over the world, and two cats in the yard. You can connect with her at www.patriciabowen.com.
John Brantingham
John Brantingham is the recipient of a New York State Arts Council grant and was Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks’ first poet laureate. His work has been in hundreds of magazines and The Best Small Fictions 2016 and 2022. He has twenty-two books of poetry, nonfiction, and fiction. Check out his work at johnbrantingham.com.
Alan Brickman
Alan Brickman writes short stories and creative nonfiction. In his day job, he consults for nonprofit organizations on strategy and organizational development. Raised in New York, educated in Massachusetts, he now lives in New Orleans and can’t imagine living anywhere else. Alan’s fiction has appeared in Literary Heist, Variety Pack, SPANK the CARP, and Sisyphus Magazine, among others. His story, “My First Gun,” appears in the anthology “Southern Truths” published by B Cubed Press in 2024.
Michael Brockley
Michael Brockley is a retired school psychologist who lives in Muncie, Indiana. His prose poems have appeared in Unlikely Stories Mark VI, The Twin Bill, and Doublespeak Mag. In addition, Brockley’s work is forthcoming in AGNI Magazine, Barstow & Grand, and Visiting Joni: Poems and Short Prose Inspired by the LIfe and Work of Joni Mitchell.
Dan Brook
Dan Brook is Senior Lecturer Emeritus at San Jose State University and his most recent books are Harboring Happiness: 101 Ways To Be Happy, Sweet Nothings (about the nature of haiku and the concept of nothing), and Eating the Earth: The Truth About What We Eat.
Veronica Brown
Veronica Brown (she/her) is an upcoming author and playwright who lives in the extremely warm central Florida. In her spare time, she writes obsessively between her 9th grade schoolwork and making obscure references. An avid reader, enjoying authors like Rainbow Rowell and Casey McQuiston, she strives to write the type of stories, books, and plays that she would want to read herself. Outside interests include drawing, watching movies with her family, and debate competitions.
Bunting S
Bunting S is the author of several poetry and short story collections besides being widely published in literary magazines and anthologies. She served on the editorial board of Ireland-based Crannog Magazine for almost 20 years. She resides in Atlantic Canada where she runs Gaelóg Press and Writing Services.
John Carew
John Carew is from Lough Gur Co Limerick Ireland. He is a seanchaí (storyteller), poet, actor, and a tour guide for Lough Gur, magical and mystical Lough Gur, home of the soíga (fairies). Carew’s work has been published in Ireland, England, America, South Africa, India, and Serbia. His first collection of poetry and short stories “Through The Mist Of Time” was published by Revival Press. Carew is also an award-winning storyteller, including winning the gold medal at the Fleadh Cheol na Luimneagh for three consecutive years.
W Roger Carlisle
W Roger Carlisle is a 75-year-old, semi-retired physician. He currently volunteers and works in a free medical clinic for patients living in poverty. He is on a journey of returning home to better understand himself through poetry. He hopes he is becoming more humble in the process.
Steve Carr
Steve Carr, from Richmond, Virginia, has had over 600 short stories – new and reprints – published internationally in print and online magazines, literary journals, reviews and anthologies since June, 2016. He has had seven collections of his short stories published. A Map of Humanity, his eighth collection, published by Hear Our Voice LLC Publishers came out in January, 2022. His paranormal/horror novel Redbird was released in November, 2019. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize twice.
William Cass
William Cass has had over 380 short stories accepted for publication in a variety of literary magazines such as december, Briar Cliff Review, and Zone 3. Winner of writing contests at Terrain.org and The Examined Life Journal, he’s also been nominated once for Best of the Net, twice for Best Small Fictions, and six times for the Pushcart Prize. His three short story collections were all published by Wising Up Press. He lives in San Diego, California.
Bidisha Chakraborty
Bidisha Chakraborty is a post graduate student in English Language and Literature from University of Calcutta, former intern as an Academic Researcher at Y.E.S Intercultural, Michigan (2020). She is currently pursuing her B.Ed degree, a pedagogic research course from Adamas University, Calcutta. Her area of interests prevails in creative writing, and she is a poet by passion. Bidisha aspires to pursue her doctoral research on Romantic Literature in her future endeavors.
Matt Chalmers
Matt has lived in Portland, Oregon for almost 25 years, often seeking out cozy coffee shops, big trees, quiet trails, and wide open vistas. He comes from an outdoor education background, and soon thereafter migrated to teaching middle school writing, attempting to open his students’ eyes to the value and power of their stories. Poetry is commonly incorporated into his work, and he is not shy about sneaking in anecdotes about life experiences along the way. Dark chocolate and sunrises, wildflowers and birds, granite spires and steep, snowy mountains often inspire him to write.
Michael Chin
Michael Chin was born and raised in Utica, New York and currently lives in Las Vegas with his wife and son. He’s the author of six full-length books, including his novel, My Grandfather’s an Immigrant, and So is Yours (Cowboy Jamboree Press, 2021) and his forthcoming short story collection This Year’s Ghost (JackLeg Press, 2025). Find him online at miketchin.com and follow him on Twitter @miketchin or on Instagram and Threads @MichaelTheChin.
Michael Chouinard
Michael Chouinard is a Canadian writer with fiction published in Canada and the US. He has worked in a warehouse, driven a cab and done graveyard at a convenience store. Mostly, he’s been a newspaper reporter but now works in communications for a college. He lives with his wife Carie and their cats, Alice and Iris, on Vancouver Island. He’s planning on self-publishing his first novel in the coming months, has a second novel he’s revising and another he’s outlining.
James Cochran
James Cochran is a proudly Appalachian writer, transplanted from the soil of Southeastern Ohio to the hilly streets of Charleston, West Virginia. He embraces the practice of mindfulness through writing, and writing through mindfulness, and enjoys listening to the neighbor’s wind chimes. His work has appeared in Change 7, Poetry Superhighway, West Virginiaville, and the anthology I thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing: Ohio’s Appalachian Voices. Additional work can be found on his blog Oak Crow Sings, creepybabydolls.wordpress.com.
Christie Cochrell
Christie Cochrell’s work has been published by The Saturday Evening Post, Tin House, The Plentitudes, Catamaran, and a variety of others, receiving several awards and Pushcart nominations. Chosen as New Mexico Young Poet of the Year while growing up in Santa Fe, she now lives on the northern California coast in Santa Cruz, and has recently published a volume of collected poems, Contagious Magic. She’s traveled extensively, and is immensely grateful for the sensory riches and toothsome words she has collected everywhere along the way.
Elizabeth Cohen
Elizabeth Cohen is a writer who lives in New Mexico. She is the author of The Hypothetical Girl, a short story collection, a memoir, The Family on Beartown Road, and several books of poetry. She has an MFA from Columbia University.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Maid Čorbić
Maid Čorbić from Tuzla, 22 years old. In his spare time, he writes poetry repeatedly praised as well as rewarded. He also selflessly helps others around him and he is moderator of the World Literature Forum WLFPH (World Literature Forum Peace and Humanity) advocating humanity and peace in the world and in Bhutan.
Buddy Matt Coughlin
Born on a Friday night in New Jersey, USA. Kidnapped by my mother at six to hide out in a small town in eastern South Dakota. I found a new stepfather, well-to-do with restaurants all around. He was a gambler and soon Mom had to work for the competition across Main Street. From the split-level above the Sears catalog store we landed in a one-room shack near the edge of town. We couldn’t even get a trailer. Stepdad disappeared and Mom decided it was safe – Back to Jersey City. I learned bass guitar. Played my first bar at the age of fourteen. Glamour!
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Feature article: In Memoriam ~ Mary Coughlin
Mary Coughlin
I am 76 years old, retired from substitute teaching. I have 5 children (3 living) and 6 grandchildren. I lived most of my life on Long Island, NY but have resettled in Westchester County, NY for the past 18 years. I enjoy seeing live music, dancing, reading, writing, cooking, and interior design. Also visiting thrift and consignment shops. I sing in our church choir and am the roadie for my husband who is a fabulous singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is very encouraging when it comes to my pursuit of writing.
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Feature article: In Memoriam ~ Mary Coughlin
PW Covington
PW Covington lives two blocks off of Historic Route 66 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
A road-warrior writer in the Beat tradition, he is a multiple Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, and in 2019, his collection North Beach and Other Stories was named a LGBTQ+ Finalist by the International Book Awards. He is a 100% Service connected disabled veteran and a convicted felon.
His latest collection of poetry, malepoet, is published by Gnashing Teeth Publishing. Follow him on Facebook or Instagram.
Andrew Crellin
Raised in the shadows of the Eastern United States’ “Get them before they get YOU” ontology, Andrew has flourished, feeling himself superior to most in his limited scope. Versed in fanfiction, wildlife rhetoric, and women’s studies, he continues to learn that communication through well-timed and articulate verse can open any door, close many a window, and keep one from being eaten by wild animals. Andrew’s interests include philosophy, psychology and homosapien engineering while reading many novels within those genres. He writes his best while sipping a Belgian Quad, a Sour Flemish Ale, or cheap bourbon.
Malcolm Culleton
Malcolm Culleton is a fiction and nonfiction writer living in Pittsburgh, PA. His fiction has appeared in 101 Words. The Roadrunner Review, Floyd County Moonshine, and now confetti. He was nominated for a 2021 AWP Intro. to Journals Prize. He loves trains, dogs, bicycles, baseball, and weird old maps amongst other things. He teaches college writing in Pittsburgh, where he received his MFA from Chatham University in 2023.
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Writer Profiles Pages
Writer Profiles listed alphabetically by last name
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