Amritha Selvarajaguru is a first-year grad student working towards her MFA in Poetry at the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago, who aspires to be an English teacher one day. She is deeply inspired by her time student teaching, tutoring, and working with children. Selvarajaguru admires the works of writers such as Ada Limón, Louise Glück, and Ocean Vung, is terrified of cockroaches, and always eats M&Ms in rainbow order from red to brown.

Dr. Stevie Edwards is an Assistant Professor at Clemson University and Poetry Editor of The South Carolina Review. Stevie’s poems have appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, TriQuarterly, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of Quiet Armor (Northwestern University Press, 2023), Sadness Workshop (Button Poetry, 2018), Humanly (Small Doggies Press, 2015), and Good Grief (Write Bloody Publishing, 2012).

Sally O'Brien teaches at a public high school in Philadelphia; she lives with her husband & son within earshot of the Market-Frankford Line. Her poetry has previously appeared in Apiary, Duende, and Psaltery & Lyre. She is around on Bluesky @sallyohbrien.bsky.social.

Mark Abdon hails from Indianapolis, Indiana where he teaches Creative Writing at Indiana Wesleyan University. His stories are popping up in places like The Pinch Journal, Catamaran, X-R-A-Y, Chautauqua and others. He also reads for Harvard Review.

Shea Socrates (they/them) is a teacher and emerging writer. Their work has appeared in HAD, Passages North, and JAKE. They live in Detroit with their partner Felicia and three pets, Vashti, Coney, and Vern.

K. A. Polzin’s stories have appeared in Subtropics, swamp pink, Gulf Coast, Wigleaf, and elsewhere, and have been anthologized in Best Small Fictions 2023 and the Fractured Lit Anthology 3, and chosen for the 2025 Wigleaf Top 50. Polzin is a finalist for The Greensboro Review’s 2025 Robert Watson Literary Prize.

David Williamson is a math teacher by day, writer by night. His short stories and essays have been featured in The First Line, Bellingham Review, The Twin Bill, and 50-Word Stories.

James Fleet Underwood is a long-time teacher whose poems often arise from the classroom and the quiet, ordinary moments that shape a life in education. His work reflects on work, place, and the small gestures that connect people to each other and to their days. X: @jamesfleetpoems

Candice M. Kelsey (she/her) is a bi-coastal writer and educator. Her work has received Pushcart and Best-of-the-Net nominations, and she is the author of eight books. Candice reads for The Los Angeles Review and The Weight Journal; she also serves as a 2025 AWP Poetry Mentor.

Amy Wise Rothschild’s poetry appears in Tupelo Quarterly, ONE ART, Maudlin House, HOOT, and the Bellevue Literary Review, where she was the 2024 winner of the John & Eileen Allman Prize for Poetry. She taught pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten for more than twelve years, mostly in Washington, DC. She now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Evan Freemyer is (still) an English teacher, working at Thomas Jefferson High School in Council Bluffs, IA. This is his first publication!

An educator, writer, and poet, M.B. McLatchey is the author of six books, including the award-winning titles The Lame God (Utah State University Press), Smiling at the Executioner (Kelsay Books), and Beginner’s Mind (Regal House). Her poetry has been published nationally and internationally and has won several awards, including the American Poet Prize. Formerly Florida's Poet Laureate for Volusia County and currently a Poetry Reader for the Miami-based literary journal SWWIM.

An Arkansas native, Sarah Watkins is an educator by trade and a writer by necessity. She currently resides in northeast Arkansas with her husband. Her work has recently been featured in several publications, including Menagerie, Moss Puppy Magazine, and Heart of Flesh Literary Journal. Instagram: @sarahwatkinspoetry

I try my first Strawberry Refresher with Leona at the mall. It’s her first too. Her brother and dad are away for a couple days and we’re having a “girls’ weekend.” Leona gets to choose what we do. So, here we are on a Saturday afternoon in a crowded Starbucks in a pretentious consumer hellscape and I’m moody and broody from long lines and packed parking lots. But here’s my girl, delighted with her cake pop and the fact that we’re actually at the mall, drinking the wonder-woma

Garth Robinson lives and teaches in Annapolis, Maryland. He holds an MFA from Hollins University. His work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in DIAGRAM, Oyster River Pages, Iron Horse Literary Review, Kestrel, Variant Literature, and elsewhere.

Joanne Esser is the author of the poetry collections "All We Can Do Is Name Them," (Fernwood Press, October 2024), "Humming At The Dinner Table," and the chapbook "I Have Always Wanted Lightning." Her new book of poems, "Nothing Is Stationary," will be released by Holy Cow! Press in June 2026. Recent work appears in Great Lakes Review, Humana Obscura, I-70 Review, Dunes Review, The Main Street Rag, and Orca, among other journals. She earned an MFA from Hamline University.

Fred Shaw is a Visiting Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Pittsburgh and was recently named to the Advisory Board for the International Poetry Forum. His first collection, Scraping Away was published by CavanKerry Press in 2020. A second book is in the works.

J.D. Isip’s collections include Reluctant Prophets (Moon Tide Press, 2025), Kissing the Wound (Moon Tide Press, 2023), and Pocketing Feathers (Sadie Girl Press, 2015). He is the editor for the upcoming anthology, American Pop Culture Almanac: 1776-2026 (Moon Tide Press, 2026). J.D. teaches in South Texas where he lives with his dogs, Ivy and Bucky.

Christina M. Rau, The Yoga Poet, leads Meditate, Move, & Create workshops for various organizations worldwide. Her collections include How We Make Amends and the Elgin Award-winning Liberating The Astronauts. She moderates the Women’s Poetry Listserv and has served as Poet in Residence for Oceanside Library (NY) since 2020. Her poetry airs on Destinies radio show (WUSB) and appears in various literary journals like fillingStation and The Disappointed Housewife.

Laurie King Billman is a poet and essayist. Her written work draws on her life experiences with diverse people and places, as a licensed professional counselor in schools, group homes, and on Native reservations. She’s traveled extensively, from Alaska to Peru, from New Mexico to Kenya. Her poetry has been published in numerous journals and anthologies including McGuffin, Forge, and San Pedro River Review. Originally from Colorado, she now lives in North Carolina.