Staff

Management and Genre Editors

Alana King, Editor-in-Chief

After earning a B.A. in English from Texas State University and an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from the University of Memphis, ALANA KING is currently working on a Ph.D. in Literature at the University of Texas at Dallas. Her work has been published in querencia literary magazine, Storm Cellar, Burnt Breakfast, and more. You can find her online at alanacking.com and on Twitter and Instagram @alanacking.

Nicole-Anne Bales Keyton, Assistant Editor & Fiction Editor

NICOLE-ANNE BALES KEYTON (they/she) is a Filipinx-American writer based in Boston, MA.
Nicole received an MFA for creative writing in fiction from the University of
Massachusetts-Boston, and a BA in film from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Nicole works in book publishing and is a Kundiman Fellow. Their work can be found in RESPONSE, Breakwater Review, and So to Speak. You can find Nicole on Instagram and Twitter
@balkeyeston, and at hintoflibrary.com.

Catherine Gamero, Art Editor

CATHERINE GAMERO is an artist and designer based in South Florida. While away from her computer, she enjoys printmaking and collecting old books.

Ola Faleti, Nonfiction Editor

OLA FALETI is a Chicago-based writer who loves her city. Her work has appeared in Jet Fuel Review, Hypertext Magazine, James Franco Review, Lunch Ticket, and elsewhere. Ola’s favorite number is 9. She believes there’s no such thing as too many flowers. Catch her on Instagram @sweetest.teeth.

Clair Dunlap, Poetry Editor

CLAIR DUNLAP is a poet and librarian residing on the Olympic Peninsula. Her work has appeared in Booth, The Hopper, Split Rock Review, Peach Mag, EcoTheo Review, Glass, and more. She cares about picture books and poems.

Editorial and Outreach

Interviews Editors

Molly Gunther, Interviews

MOLLY GUNTHER is a writer and editor from the Pacific Northwest, currently living in Chicago. Her work appears in Twenty Five-Rooms: Selections from the Hotel Archive, Hooligan Magazine, and elsewhere on the internet. Find her on Instagram @zimawarriorprincess.

Asiyah Herrero, Interviews

ASIYAH HERRERO writes from Brooklyn. They/she are currently pursuing a B.A. in Creative Writing from Wesleyan University. You can find their work in Wax Nine. 

Past Staff Members

Bob Sykora, Editor-in-Chief (2019-2021)

BOB SYKORA is the author of I Was Talking About Love–You Were Talking About Geography (Nostrovia! 2016). He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Boston MFA program and now teaches at community college. He can be found online at bobsykora.tumblr.com and @Bob_Sykora_.

Chelsea Ardle, Editor-in-Chief (2016-2019)

CHELSEA ARDLE is a Pennsylvania-born cat-mom writing, working, and living in Columbus, Ohio. She often writes about the steel industry, flowers, and the human condition; and will tell you all of those things are definitely related somehow. Her work has been published in matchbook, Public Pool, Hippocampus and  the Eastern Iowa Review. She received her MFA in creative writing from Chatham University and is the founding editor of Beetnik Press. She’s also participated as an assistant editor for The Fourth River and Hawk and Handsaw: Journal of Creative Sustainability. She doesn’t always tweet, but when she does its @thechardle. Instagrams with @chardle.

Rachel Charlene Lewis, Editor-in-Chief (2014-2016)

RACHEL CHARLENE LEWIS is a freelance writer and queer person of color who has been published in The Normal School, BOAAT, The Offing, and a couple other places. She has worked with The Fem, Paper Darts, Bodega, Sugared Water, and other publications. Her essay, “Choosing War,” won a contest judged by Steven Church, and her essay, “What if all I ever do is separate flesh from sky?” was a runner up in the Feminine Inquiry Spring 2016 Nonfiction Contest. Her poem, “Dusting,” was a finalist in the 2015 Princemere Poetry Contest. She reviews books for Maudlin House. Rachel tweets and is on Instagram as @RachelCharleneL.

Ariel Francisco, Translations Editor

ARIEL FRANCISCO is the author of A Sinking Ship is Still a Ship (Burrow Press, 2020) and All My Heroes Are Broke (C&R Press, 2017). A poet and translator born in the Bronx to Dominican and Guatemalan parents and raised in Miami, his work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Academy of American Poets, The American Poetry Review, The Brooklyn Rail, The Florida Review, Guernica, The New Yorker and elsewhere. The Miami New Times named him one of the Five Florida Writers to Watch in 2019. https://arielfrancisco.com/

Michelle Betters, Interviews Editor

MICHELLE BETTERS grew up in a small town in south Georgia. She now lives in Boston, where she works at an indie book publisher and co-hosts a monthly reading series called We Met Online. Her writing has appeared in Slate, VICE, the Ploughshares blog, and more. You can find her online via www.betterpeaches.com or @mbetterpeaches.

AK Afferez, Nonfiction Editor

AK AFFEREZ is a queer writer currently living in France. They’d like to have you think they spend their days sipping wine and scribbling in notebooks at a fashionable café, but they are most likely trying to either survive grad school, write a book, or parent a cat with a God complex. They work for Winter Tangerine & blog for Ploughshares. Favorite small talk topics include the apocalypse, tarot, and lesbian history. They tweet @akafferez.

Katie Clark, Interviews

KATIE CLARK  is a queer poet on the verge of the twenties who belongs to a lot of places: Jacksonville, parts of Georgia, the pioneer valley. Currently a student at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. Katie is figuring it out. Likes planting things and being alive, generally. Katie’s poems have been in Alien Mouth, Vagabond City, and Spy Kids Review, amongst other kind pages. Medias at forelevenseas.tumblr.com and @octupiwallst

Christian Bañez, Art Editor

CHRISTIAN BAÑEZ is an artist, writer, storyteller currently based in Brooklyn, NY. He can be found running around the city gallery hopping, eating $1 slice pizza, and trying to figure out how to make a viral tweet. Christian’s writing has been featured in newspapers, magazines, online blogs, scientific journals, and he spent last year writing a research paper on Britney Spears.

Clémence Chouteau, Art Editor

CLÉMENCE CHOUTEAU lives and works in Paris.

Meryl D’Sa, Art Editor

MERYL D’SA, transplant from Mumbai, India, is in her third year of the MFA program for Creative Writing at Florida Atlantic University where she enjoys the thrill that hurricanes bring and is slowly (but unsuccessfully) getting over her fear of spiders.

Amanda Dissinger, Poetry Editor

AMANDA DISSINGER is a Brooklyn based poet who writes mostly about the city, doomed relationships, and loneliness. She released her first book of poetry ‘This is How I Will Tell You I Love You’ via Bottlecap Press in May 2015 and an ebook ‘It’s Fine, I’m Fine, I Think I’m Fine’ on Ghost City Press in July 2016. She’s currently working on her next collection, slated for early 2017. She has also been published on Potluck Mag, Rain Party Disaster Society, The Legendary, Be About it Press, Abrams Books/Poetry Bomb and many more. Her interests include fruit, the library (or any library), 80s music and movies, pop culture, and print dresses.  She’s on Twitter @fragglezrock.

Jefferson Lee, Book Reviewer

JEFFERSON LEE is a Korean American, born in a small town in Western New York called Canandaigua. He’s written short fiction for Maudlin House, non-fiction for The Rumpus, and is a student at the Writer’s Studio. He lives and writes in San Francisco. His Twitter handle is @jlee4219.

August Smith, Book Reviewer

AUGUST SMITH lives in Austin, TX and went to UMass Boston for my MFA. He used to run a small press called Cool Skull Press. Lately, he helps with local poetry groups Chicon Street Poets and Best Buds! Collective while game designing and recording music on the side.

Bethany Crawford, Book Reviewer

BETHANY CRAWFORD is a meditative tea snob studying gerontology in Minnesota. She was once the poetry editor of Green Blotter Literary Magazine and now reads submissions for Spark: A Creative Anthology and Zetetic: A Record of Unusual Inquiry. As an asexual advocate for a sexual assault center and blogger for Resources for Ace Survivors, she focuses on boundaries and mental health in her own writing. Some of her work is out in the world, and she rants on Twitter @bethanylmary.

Summer Farah, Book Reviewer

SUMMER FARAH is a Palestinian American poet and editor. She co-writes the biweekly newsletter Letters to Summer. Summer is a 2019 RAWI WHAAS fellow. Her work has been published in Mizna, LitHub, hooligan mag, and other places. You can connect with her on Twitter @summabis.

Lesley LeRoux, Reviewer

LESLEY LEROUX is a writer, editor and artist based in Canada’s capital (originally from Newfoundland). She graduated with a degree in journalism from Carleton University. Her fiction, nonfiction and photography have been published both in print and online, and she has occasionally dabbled in radio and television. She is a feminist, bibliophile and yogi who can be found tweeting about any of the above @LesleyLeRoux.

Jessie Knoles, Interviews

JESSIE KNOLES grew up in a small farm town in central illinois where she frequently saw the milky way. now she works with plants and dreams of being a poet farmer. her work has been on hobart, third point press, cosmonaut’s avenue, and queen mob’s teahouse. she enjoys being in libraries, museums, and forests. seattle is her current home.

Nicole Lane, Art Editor

NICOLE LANE is a mixed media artist, writer, critic, and pop-singing ball of energy hailing from a lakefront location in Chicago. She is a contributor to Newcity, Gapers Block, THE SEEN, Daily Serving, and VAM Mag. Additionally, she was the art and prose editor for The Greenleaf Review and is now a photographer and writer for West Heritage Journal. On Instagram she is @snicolelane and an archive of her work and writing can be found on snicolelane.com

Neyat Yohannes, Reviewer

NEYAT YOHANNES is an Eritrean-American writer who’s from LA, but just moved to the Bay. By day, she doles out ice packs to kids who don’t need it as an elementary school office lady turned unofficial nurse. She spends the rest of her waking hours writing, attempting to be more formidable like Whitley Gilbert, and trying to keep Drake lyrics from constantly spilling out of her mouth. You can read some of her published work here. She tweets as @rhymeswithcat and occasionally blogs here.

Elena Senechal-Becker, Blogger/Reviewer

ELENA SENECHAL-BECKER is an all-around writer and artist who has yet to graduate high school in Canada’s capital. She’s mostly into high-waisted jeans and poetry. Some of her written work/photography has been published in print and online. She also makes films, occasionally. She is on twitter @elenaLNA and on Instagram @elenasenechal. You can probably google her. She was formerly the poetry editor of Vagabond City.

Jessica M. Farrugia, Outreach

JESSICA M. FARRUGIA is currently studying for an MA in English Literature on the outskirts of London. Her interests lie in confessional, stomach-lurching, tragi-comic narratives, although most of her own creative work is still sheepishly stored in various notebooks and word documents. At home she enjoys watching teen drama, working out to 80s pop anthems, and drinking honey tea. You can find her tweeting at @jesmgia.

Abby Caron, Staff Artist

ABBY CARON is a young artist and graphic designer located in northern Texas, and is working towards a BFA in Communication Design at the University of North Texas. Her life consists of making art, loving dogs, drinking coffee, and using her feminism to empower everyone she encounters. She has a passion for living life as simply as possible, and is inspired by the beauty in everyday objects and experiences.

Lucia Pasquale, Art

LUCIA PASQUALE is a creator, writer of poems, and coffee-fueled whirlwind from San Diego, California. Her work explores life, love, bodies, and womanhood. Her writing has been published in issue sixteen of Literary Orphans, longlisted for the Words on the Waves 2015 Anthology, and selected as third runner up for the University College Cork’s Oikos writing contest on ecocriticism. She is also poetry co-winner of the Cropper Creative Writing Contest at the University of San Diego and will be published in their debut issue of the Alcala Review. On Twitter she is the @blkcoffee_poet or you can find more of her musings here.

Ayah Elbeyali, Poetry

AYAH ELBEYALI is a young weaver of words living on the East Coast of the United States. She is a student studying political science, philosophy, and creative writing, with a fondness for Russian novels. She writes about womanhood, otherness, and experiences. She is a feminist, woman of color, woman of steel. She enjoys good coffee, good books, and better company. She’s been published in a couple places. You can read her work here, find her on twitter and on her personal blog.

Victoria Shelton, Social Media
VICTORIA SHELTON is a 23 year old writer living in Philadelphia. Her work has been featured in Mask Magazine and she has recently been awarded the Albert J. Caplan Prize from The Academy of American Poets. She is currently working on her first chapbook.

Joe Marchia, Founder

JOE MARCHIA is a writer and humorist. His writing has been featured or is forthcoming in Citizens for Decent Literature, Instigatorzine Magazine, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, The Beatnik, Milk Sugar Literature, Emerge Literary Journal, Two Hawks Quarterly, The Earthbound Review and Quail Bell Magazine. His e-book, For Whatever and Whenever: Collected Poems and Fragments, was published in 2013. His novella, Time, is currently unpublished. You can keep up with his work on his website. He passed VC to Rachel in Fall of 2014.