Contributors’ Notes

Tommy Dean is the author of a flash fiction chapbook entitled Special Like the People on TV from Redbird Chapbooks. A graduate of the Queens University of Charlotte M.F.A. program, he has been previously published in Watershed Review, Wilderness House Literary Review, r.kv.r.y, Boston Literary Magazine, Foliate Oak, and Gravel. Find him on Twitter @TommyDeanWriter.

Negar Emrani was born on January 1st, 1985, in Mashhad, Iran. Back then arranging the date for birth for an earlier time than the real birth date was considered by Iranian parents to be a smart way of being able to send children to school at an earlier age. So Negar’s ID was issued for September 2nd, 1984. She now holds a B.Sc. from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad and a M.Sc. in Biotechnology from AUT-SRB.

Elena Kaufman is a writer, actor, and teacher. She has an M.A. in dramatic literature (Toronto) and an M.St. in creative writing (Oxford). Her short stories are in SubTerrain, Bitter Oleander, The Penmen Review, DeComp, Women in Judaism, and Dach Kammerflimmern. Monologues appear in Smith and Kraus and Heinemann Press collections, and three of her stage plays were produced at festivals. Presently, she’s working on a novel set on the St. James pilgrimage across Spain.

Andrew Negrey is currently a second-year M.F.A. candidate in painting at Tyler School of Art. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He received his B.F.A. in Digital and Time-based Media and Painting from Carnegie Mellon University in 2005. His work is playfully grounded in depth psychology and psychedelic studies, focused primarily on the idea of “set and setting” or the dynamic imaginal relationship between mental state and environment.

Karen Rigby is the author of Chinoiserie (Ahsahta Press, 2012). A recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Vermont Studio Center, she currently lives and writes in Arizona. Find her at www.karenrigby.com

Nathaniel Rosenthalis is about to graduate from the M.F.A. program in poetry at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the author of “Try Me” (Deadly Chaps Press), and a new chapbook is forthcoming this winter.

Nicole Santalucia is the author of Because I Did Not Die (Bordighera Press, 2015). She is a recipient of the Ruby Irene Poetry Chapbook Prize from Arcadia Magazine for Driving Yourself to Jail in July (2014) and the 2015 Edna St. Vincent Millay Poetry Prize from The Tishman Review. She teaches poetry at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania and brings poetry workshops into the Cumberland County Prison.

Gage Saylor is a writer, actor, and musician from Charleston, South Carolina. A 2013 English graduate of the College of Charleston, he is currently pursuing his M.F.A. and M.A. at McNesse State University. He was recently featured on the Emmy-nominated children’s TV series The Inspectors, broadcast on CBS. This is his first publication.

Kristine Sloan is an M.F.A. candidate at the University of Wyoming. Her work has appeared in The Margins. She is also a contributor for The MFA Years. Most importantly, she is known for repping her hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, every chance she gets.