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Contributors' Notes
Karen Boissonneault-Gauthier is an internationally published writer and visual artist. She has been a Wild Musette, Vine Leaves Literary Journal, Gigantic Sequins and Gateway Review cover artist and featured in Dek Unu Magazine, New York’s Calliope Magazine and WebSafe2k16, Toronto’s The Scarborough Big Arts Book and New Prose Mill, New South Wales’ Long Exposure Magazine, Los Angeles’ The Lunch Ticket and A Caged Mind. She also designs for San Francisco’s VIDA, supporting ‘Literacy for Life’. Visit her website www.kcbgphoto.com and follow @KBG_Tweets.
Beau Boudreaux’s second book collection of poetry, RAPUNZEL’S BRAID, was published in 2016 by Five Oaks Press. His first book of poetry, RUNNING RED, RUNNING REDDER, was published in 2012 by Cherry Grove Collections. He has published poetry in journals including Antioch Review and Cream City Review, also in anthologies along with The Southern Poetry Anthology. He teaches at Tulane University and lives in New Orleans.
David Mark Brown is an authorpreneur determined to discover the natural evolution of digital storytelling. His published works span across all ages and several genres. Mostly, he enjoys exploding things. If you‘ve read for twenty pages and nothing has been blown up or shot, then David must be losing his edge. David’s influences include Frank Herbert, Roald Dahl, Cormac McCarthy, Orson Scott Card, Elmer Kelton, Sergio Leone, Joss Whedon and Ronald Moore. Enjoy the show!
Caitlin Bullock is currently attending Boise State University, pursuing a BA in Creative Writing. A first-generation college student, Caitlin will graduate summa cum laude from the Honors College in December 2018. Stories are Caitlin’s passion—whether fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction, Caitlin aims to write with emotional honesty, with truth, and with empathy for her characters and her readers. Prior to this contest, Caitlin has won a cake walk, a year’s supply of free spinach from Earthbound Farms Organic, and, for two consecutive years, she’s placed first in Storyfort’s PreFort Undergraduate Reading in Creative Nonfiction. This is her first publication.
Amy Burton was born and raised in Anchorage, AK and moved to Idaho in 1987. She has bounced around the Pacific Northwest ever since. She has a BFA in theater from the University of Idaho and is currently pursuing an associates in creative writing from the College of Western Idaho.
Michael Cluff is an incessant tinkerer and perfectionist who fills his non-writing time with things like editing, board game design, smoking BBQ, and corporate accountability. (Day job. Don’t ask.) A longtime freelancer and literary magazine editor, Michael is a sucker for classics, fantasy, and light science fiction, but has been on a big YA kick for the last few years. That doesn’t mean he is on the YA bandwagon, though that could be argued.
Michael Cole — I have published a co-translation of Finnish poet Pentti Saarikoski’s long poem, “Dances of the Ohscure,” two chapbooks, and have recent poems/prose poems in Chariton Review and Third Wednesday. Recently retired from Kent State University, I live on the shore of Lake Erie in Ohio.
Lianne Collins is a recent graduate of College of Western Idaho. She is currently pursuing a degree in Creative Writing with a minor in Linguistics at Boise State University.
Chris Dempsey has taught H.S. English for more than thirty years and is the author of a chapbook, “Winter Horses.” His work has appeared in English Journal, Talking River Review, Voices West, and Willow Springs. He lives with his wife and two wire-haired pointers on eight acres near Middleton, Idaho, where they have planted more than one hundred trees and native shrubs. He is also an inveterate cyclist who has crashed his mountain bike on many of the notable biking trails in Idaho.
Sara Fraser has published stories and essays in Salamander, Carve, Wilderness House Literary Review, Best Women’s Travel Writing, Women in the Wild, and Whimperbang. She lives in Massachusetts.
Phil Gallos has been a newspaper reporter and columnist, a researcher/writer in the historic preservation field, and has spent twenty-eight years working in academic libraries (which is more interesting than it sounds). Most recently, his writing has been published in Thrice Fiction, The Vignette Review, Wilderness House Literary Review, and Sky Island Journal, and is forthcoming in The MacGuffin, Blueline, and The Wire’s Dream.
Amy K. Genova has lived in too many states, and one continent—Texas. Her poems have been published in many journals and she has won a couple of awards. She is married to Thomas M. Perchlik, a force in her life.
Amalia Gladhart — I am a writer and translator in Eugene, and Professor of Spanish at the University of Oregon. Recent poems and short fiction have appeared in Saranac Review, Parcel, Paper Nautilus, The Fantasist, Oblong, Atticus Review, Eleven Eleven, and Necessary Fiction. “Detours,” a sequence of linked prose poems/flash fiction, won the 2011 Burnside Review Fiction Chapbook contest. I have published translations of two novels by Alicia Yánez Cossío (Ecuador), “The Potbellied Virgin” and “Beyond the Islands,” and a translation of “Trafalgar,” by Angélica Gorodischer (Argentina).
Nancy Hartney writes non-fiction, poetry, and short stories. Washed in Water: Tales from the South, her debut collection (2013), received Best Fiction of the Year 2014 and the President’s Award by Ozark Writers League, Missouri. A second collection, If the Creek Don’t Rise: Tales from the South (2016) continues to receive critical praise. Short stories have been published in The Big Muddy: Journal of the Mississippi River Valley, Seven Hills Review, Voices, and Echoes of the Ozarks. Cactus Country, Rough Country, and Frontier Tales have featured her work. Her articles and book reviews have appeared in various publications and regional magazines. A member of the writing community, she contributes to organizations in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Florida. Sweet tea is her beverage of choice.
Baily Hazzard has been sketching since she was a young girl. It was never a professional pursuit, always a hobby. She likes to draw trees and other aspects of the natural world because it is a calming and relaxing experience. She graduated from the College of Western Idaho with an Associate of Arts degree in English, and is currently pursuing a degree in English Literature at Boise State University. Though she enjoys sketching and other art forms, her professional focus is currently in higher education. When imagining her future, Baily thinks she will stay in the field of higher education while continuing to pursue her art and writing as hobbies. When not studying or working, Baily enjoys reading all sorts of books and short stories, with a particular fascination for magical realism and dystopian novels. She credits her love of writing as a by-product of her love of reading. Baily has been awarded first place in CWI’s President’s Writing Awards in the critical analysis category for the essay titled “Volpone’s Fables and Allegories.”
“Savy” Savannah Hulen is a voracious reader who discovered writing when, as a child, her parents limited her reading time to a mere five hours a day. Their devious plot to expand her hobbies worked brilliantly and she hasn’t stopped creating since then. Her current projects include mothering a tiny human, delving into the process of card-game creation, and writing at least often enough to stay sane. If she isn’t at home, you’ll likely find her at her local coffee house for some much needed caffeine, extrovert fulfilling “other human” contact, and space to explore the vast worlds of her imagination.
John Kirsch — I’m a former newspaper reporter living in Mexico City. My photographs have been published in The Adirondack Review, The Ofi Press Magazine, and Buffalo Almanack.
Annie Lampman — I’m a creative writing professor at the Washington State University Honors College and serve as fiction editor of the literary journal, Blood Orange Review. My essays, poetry, and fiction have recently been published or are forthcoming in journals such as The Massachusetts Review, Orion Magazine, and High Desert Journal, among numerous others. My work has been awarded a Best American Essays “Notable”; a Pushcart Prize Special Mention (along with four Pushcart Prize nominations); first place in the Everybody-Writes contest; an Idaho Commission on the Arts writing grant; and a national wilderness artist’s residency through the Bureau of Land Management.
Gary Lark’s work includes: “River of Solace,” Editor’s Choice Chapbook Award from Turtle Island Quarterly, Flowstone Press, 2016, “In the House of Memory,” BatCat Press, 2016, “Without a Map,” Wellstone Press, 2013, “Getting By,” winner of the Holland Prize from Logan House Press, 2009, and three other chapbooks. “Ordinary Gravity” is forthcoming from Airlie Press, 2019. His work has appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, The Sun, Poet Lore, and ZYZZYVA.
Robbie Masso — I am a published poet, photographer, and abstract artist. My work has been seen in Philadelphia galleries and on RobbieMassoArt.com.
Mary Ellen McMurtrie is currently learning the uncial alphabet as her first foray into the art of calligraphy.
Kendra Mattson — I have been an artist since my first drawing class in high school five years ago. My interests have been drawing, design, ceramics and more recently, photography. All of which I took classes of during high school, and reached the highest level course I could in them. Throughout high school, I was a member of Art Club for three years and the President of the club for one year. For three years, I was also a member of Student Council. In college, I am taking various studio art classes, such as drawing and introduction to 3D design. I am attending College of Western Idaho for a Studio Arts degree and will then transfer to Boise State to obtain a Bachelors of Art Education. Sharing the love of art is what I aspire to do with my life, and I hope I can accomplish this dream to the best of my abilities. Visit her Instagram @kendraroophotography.
Khaled Natouf is a student at College of Western Idaho. This is his first publication.
Gabrielle Nelson is a writer and horse wrangler. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing from the College of Idaho. Her work has been featured in 101 Words magazine, Boise Weekly, and Writers in the Attic Water anthology.
Mark Parsons’ poems have been published in Chariton Review, Contemporary Verse 2, Iodine Poetry Journal, subTerrain, Emerge, Mad Hat Lit, Wisconsin Review, and elsewhere.
John Poole — I have been a teacher in the public school system for eighteen years and have taught creative writing courses and general writing and literature courses. Those teaching experiences have provided me with many writing prompts. Since 2014 I have been a faculty member at BYU-Idaho, where I teach freshman composition, literature, and English education courses.
Richard Porus — I’m the old man in this piece of memoir. I’ve been writing for two years and this is written from the point of view of a young fellow I met on the trail.
Amanda Richards was born and raised in Boise, Idaho, with eight other brothers and sisters. Being from a large family has had a great impact on her desire to travel the world and find out who she is as an individual. It was while traveling that she discovered her love for photography. As a photographer, her goals are not only to show the beauty of this wide world, but also to reveal the beauty found in the ugly, something often looked over by other lenses. When not traipsing the globe, Amanda attends College of Western Idaho, where she plans to graduate with a degree in Liberal Arts. She spends a great amount of time with her family and is considered by her nieces and nephews to be the favorite aunt.
Eva Streicher — As a budding illustrator, wannabe fine artist, and comic book enthusiast, I see only endless possibilities for engaging forms of communication. Where some see immaturity and lack of sophistication, I traverse the growing universe of comic books with an extreme sense of wonder. My goal is to simply tell a good story, draw a good drawing, and perhaps liberate a smile or two.
Michael Welch is the winner of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies’ Florence Kahn Memorial Award and the author of the chapbook, “But Sometimes I Remember.” His work has appeared in Reunion: The Dallas Review, Litro Magazine, Mangrove Literary Journal, South 85 Journal, Chicago Literai, and Black Heart Magazine’s DISARM Anthology. He is a masters candidate in fiction at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Jen Wieber — I am a freelance writer. I have extensive experience as an educator, and hold a B.S. in Elementary Education, ten years experience as a blogger and content creator, social media specialist, lifestyle photographer, and currently am a contributing editor for a fabulous magazine called Maker’s Unwound. Health and fitness are areas I am always striving to be challenged in and you can find me in the backwoods with my family in my spare time. I push hard to provide a rich and elaborate homeschooling experience for my three daughters, working to instill the notion that showers are not optional and to convince my youngest that my soup does not taste like “bad guys.” I mean, not always. I have been married to my best friend and partner in crime for over twenty years. Visit JenWieber.com.
Bill Wolak has just published his fifteenth book of poetry entitled The Nakedness Defense with Ekstasis Editions. His collages have appeared recently in Naked in New Hope 2016 and The 2017 Seattle Erotic Art Festival. Mr. Wolak teaches Creative Writing at William Paterson University in New Jersey.