Porcupine Literary
A journal by and for teachers.
Melissa Fite Johnson
Poetry Editor
Melissa Fite Johnson is the author of three full-length collections, most recently Midlife Abecedarian (Riot in Your Throat, 2024). Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Pleiades, HAD, Whale Road Review, SWWIM, and elsewhere. Melissa teaches high school English in Lawrence, KS, where she and her husband live with their dogs.
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Jared Beloff
Editor In Chief
Jared Beloff is the author of Who Will Cradle Your Head (ELJ Editions, 2023) and the editor of the MCU inspired poetry anthology, Marvelous Verses (Daily Drunk, 2021) and Poets of Queens Anthology, Vol. 2 (2024). His work can be found in AGNI, Baltimore Review, EcoTheo Review, River Mouth Review and elsewhere. He is a Poetry Editor at The Weight Journal. You can find him on his website www.jaredbeloff.com. When he isn't being poetic, Jared is a teacher who lives in Queens, NY with his wife and two daughters.
Michael Don
Fiction Editor
Michael Don is the author of the story collection Partners and Strangers (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2019) and a professor at George Mason University. He has previously taught at Tufts University, Penn State University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and St. Paul's University in Kenya. Find him online at www.michaeldon.net and @michaelLdon.
Lisa Piazza
Assistant Poetry Editor
Lisa Piazza is a writer/educator/mother from Oakland, Ca. Her work has been nominated for Best Small Fictions, Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize.
Francois Bereaud
Assistant Fiction Editor
Francois Bereaud is a husband, dad, full time math professor, mentor in the San Diego Congolese refugee community, mountain biker, and mediocre hockey player. He has been widely published online and in print. The Counter Pharma-Terrorist & The Rebound Queenpublished by Alien Buddha Press is his first solo book and the realization of a dream. You can find links to his writing at francoisbereaud.com. He tweets stuff @FBereaud.
Paul Olisaeloka Anozie
Assistant Fiction Editor
Paul Olisaeloka Anozie was educated in Nigeria. He has been published widely both nationally and internationally, with a research interest that spans literature, pedagogy, philosophy, economics and social sciences. His short stories and poems have appeared in numerous online publications like African Writers Magazine, The Kalahari Review, Pride Magazine, Poemify, Tushstories, etc. Anozie has a PhD in Educational Management and Planning, a Masters in Educational Management and Policy and a BSc in Political Science/Education. Additionally, he has taken part in numerous courses organized by the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), Authors Publish and AERC Global Network. Anozie holds the Fellowship in Development Research from Dataville Research, LLC.
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Amanda Bales
Assistant Fiction Editor
Amanda Bales is the author of Pekolah Stories (Cowboy Jamboree Press, 2021). Originally from Oklahoma, she has since lived many places, including Fairbanks, Alaska, where she received her MFA. She now lives in central Illinois and teaches at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Judy McClure
Assistant CNF Editor
Judy McClure writes creative nonfiction that focuses on relationships, identity, nature, and education. Her writing is at Chautauqua, WBUR’s Edify, 805LitMag, and HerStry. For many years she was a science teacher, but these days she is co-owner of Rozzie Bound Books. She lives in Boston with her wife. Find her on twitter @McClureWrites.
Karen Zey
Assistant CNF Editor
Karen Zey is a Canadian writer, part-time teacher and full-time student of life. Her essays and CNF have appeared in Toronto’s Globe and Mail, Five Minutes, (mac)ro(mic), Potato Soup Journal, Porcupine Literary and other fine places. You can read her musings on life and writing on Twitter @zippyzey
Morgan Bluma
Design Editor
Morgan Bluma currently works to get new and high-quality books to kids in need. She has a deep passion for the creative arts and spends most of her time with her head in a book.
Rachel Becker
Assistant Poetry Editor
Rachel Becker teaches English and Creative Writing in Newton, MA. A sometimes-contributor to the Boston Globe, her poems appear or are forthcoming in New World Writing Quarterly, Barely South Review, Ghost City Review, Rappahannock Review, Portland Review, The Shore, Tusculum Review, and RHINO. She lives in Boston with her husband, kids, and cat.
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DeMisty D. Bellinger
Contributing Editor
DeMisty D. Bellinger lives and teaches in Massachusetts. Her chapbook, Rubbing Elbows, is available at Finishing Line Press. Some of her recent work can be found in Contrary Magazine, Okay Donkey, and The Best Small Fictions: 2019. DeMisty is online at demistybellinger.com.
Hannah Grieco
Co-founder, Contributing Editor
Hannah Grieco is a writer, editor, and teacher in Washington, DC. She is the editor of "Already Gone" (Alan Squire) and “And If That Mockingbird Don’t Sing: Parenting Stories Gone Speculative” (Alternating Current). Her writing can be found in The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Brevity, Craft, Shenandoah, The Rumpus, Passages North, Fairy Tale Review, Poet Lore, and more. She teaches at Marymount University, The Writer’s Center, and Barrelhouse, and is an editor at Alan Squire Publishing. Find her at www.hgrieco.com or on Twitter @writesloud.
Monica Prince
Monica Prince, associate professor of activist and performance writing, serves as Director of Africana Studies at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania. She is the author of Roadmap: A Choreopoem, How to Exterminate the Black Woman: A Choreopoem, Instructions for Temporary Survival, and Letters from the Other Woman. Her work appears in Wildness, The Missouri Review, The Texas Review, The Rumpus, MadCap Review, American Poetry Journal, and elsewhere.
Co-founder
Emily James
Co-founder & Contributing Editor
Emily James is a teacher and writer in NYC. She's widely published in literary magazines, and was the writer of the change.org petition that led to paid parental leave for all NYC Public school teachers in 2017. She is the recipient of the 2019 Bechtel Prize from Teachers and Writers' Magazine. You can tweet her @missg3rd.
Issue I Photographer: Angie Hedman
Angie Hedman is an artist, writer, and high school art educator who creates and resides in Muncie, IN. She holds degrees from Ball State University in the areas of Fine Arts (Metals), and Art Education. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Gravel, Superstition Review, Cream City Review, Montana Mouthful, and Spectrum Literary Journal among others. She tweets at @artist_writerAH.