ISSUE 8.3
welcome
issue contents
> poetry
> fiction
> nonfiction
contributors
interviews
featured art
our editors
Issue 8.3 Contributors
Scott Bassis has had short stories published in Litbreak Magazine, Poydras Review, The Furious Gazelle, The Writing Disorder, JAB, Sweet Tree Review, The Acentos Review, Trouvaille Review, Open: Journal of Arts & Letters, Sandpiper, Me First Magazine, Image Outwrite, Quail Bell Magazine, The Missing Slate, Jumbelbook, Furtive Dalliance, Fiction on the Web and Rainbow Curve.
Emma Boggs is an M.F.A. fiction candidate at UNC Greensboro, where she serves as an editorial assistant to The Greensboro Review. Her work has been published in The Rumpus and The Peacock’s Feet. She tweets @emmaboggswrites.
Abigail Dobbins Carlson writes frankly distastefully sad stories. She received her M.F.A. in fiction from New Mexico State University and is currently pursuing her PhD in rhetoric and composition from Ohio University. She lives in southeastern Ohio with her partner and her dog. This is her first publication.
Onyedikachi Chinedu is a poet from Nigeria. Their poems have appeared and are forthcoming in A Long House, Dreich, Rappahannock Review, Stone of Madness Press, Madness Muse Press, Lucky Pierre, Cultural Weekly, Konya Shamsrumi, Poetry Potion, Momento: An Anthology of Contemporary Nigerian Poetry, and elsewhere. They’re a 2021 HUES Foundation scholar and reads for Non.Plus Lit.
Chen Du has a Master’s Degree in Biophysics from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, SUNY at Buffalo, and another from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. She revised more than eight chapters of the Chinese translation of the biography of Helen Snow, Helen Foster Snow: An American Woman in Revolutionary China. In the United States, her poems have appeared in American Writers Review, and elsewhere, and her poetry chapbook was published by The Dead Mule. Three poems co-translated by her and Xisheng Chen were finalists in The Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation & Multilingual Texts in 2020. Find her online at ofsea.com.
Melanie Figg is the author of the award-winning poetry collection, Trace (named one of the Best Indie Books of 2020 by Kirkus). She has won grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maryland State Arts Council, and others. Her poems, personal essays, and book reviews are published or forthcoming in dozens of literary journals, including The Rumpus, Nimrod, The Iowa Review, and Conduit. Melanie teaches writing in the DC area and online. As a certified professional coach, she offers women’s writing retreats and works one-on-one with writers and others. Her website is www.melaniefigg.net.
Katie Higinbotham (she/her/hers) is a nonfiction writer and poet from the Pacific Northwest who enjoys capturing nature in its many collisions with human nature. She holds a B.A. from Linfield University and an M.F.A. from Western Washington University. Katie has served as an assistant nonfiction editor for the High Desert Journal and a nonfiction editor for the Bellingham Review.
Originally from Chisinau, Moldova, Romana Iorga lives in Switzerland. She is the author of two poetry collections in Romanian. Her work in English has appeared or is forthcoming in various journals, including New England Review, Gulf Coast, Redivider, as well as on her poetry blog at clayandbranches.com.
Robert Julius is a queer writer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His debut chapbook, Death Salon is out now from Seven Kitchens Press. His work appears in Brevity, cream city review, The Indiana Review, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. You can find him on Twitter @schumaker93.
Originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, Elina Katrin now resides in Appalachia. She is an M.F.A. candidate at Hollins University and a baking enthusiast. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Emerson Review, Rappahannock Review, Gravel, and Prometheus Dreaming.
Perry Levitch is from Washington, D.C. and lives in New York. They received a B.A. from Barnard College, where they studied English and Gender. Their poems have appeared in The Columbia Review, 4×4, and Quarto Magazine, among others. They are a Pushcart Prize nominee, and their work was selected to receive Quarto‘s Poetry Prize by Jericho Brown. Currently, they are an M.F.A. student at New York University.
Mee-ok is an award-winning essayist, poet, and memoirist. Her writing has appeared, or is forthcoming, in the LA Times, Boston Globe Magazine, Prairie Schooner, River Teeth, Bennington Review, Witness, American Journal of Poetry, Michael Pollan’s anthology for Medium, and elsewhere. She is also featured in [Un]Well on Netflix. More at Mee-ok.com.
Carling Ramsdell is an M.F.A. student in Eastern Washington University’s Creative Writing program. She is also a co-founder of THE LIT MUG, a literary ‘mugazine.’ You can find her review of John Englehardt’s Bloomland in the SFWP Quarterly and her short story, “The Mermaid Kingdom,” in The Laurel Review.
Martha Silano is the author of five volumes of poetry, including Gravity Assist, Reckless Lovely, and The Little Office of the Immaculate Conception, all from Saturnalia Books. She is also co-author of The Daily Poet: Day-by-Day Prompts for Your Writing Practice. Martha’s poems have appeared in Poetry, Paris Review, American Poetry Review, and the Best American Poetry series. Honors include North American Review’s James Hearst Poetry Prize and the Cincinnati Review’s Robert and Adele Schiff Poetry Prize. She teaches at Bellevue College and Seattle’s Hugo House. Her website is marthasilano.net.
Ellen Skirvin currently lives in Pennsylvania and teaches college writing. She received her M.F.A. from West Virginia University. Her fiction appears in The Baltimore Review and the Anthology of Appalachian Writers Volume XI.
R. Thursday (they/them) is a writer, educator, and all-around nerd. When not subverting Middle School public education curriculum, they can be found reading, gaming, cooking or writing about vampires, mental health, superheroes, space, queerness, or most likely, some combination of all. They were nominated for a Rhysling Award, and their work can be found in Star*Line, Eye to the Telescope, Luna Station Quarterly, Vulture Bones, Sheepshead Review, The Poet’s Haven, Drunk Monkeys, and other fine publications. They live in South King County, Washington.
Katarina Yuan is an English and Biology major graduating from Smith College (class of 2021). She studies Asian American literature, ecopoetics, and speculative fiction. After graduation, she will attend UCLA’s graduate program in English.