Masthead

J.B. Stone – Founding Editor/Reviews Editor

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Jared Benjamin/J.B. Stone is a neurodivergent slam poet, writer and reviewer from Brooklyn, NY now residing in Buffalo. His reviews, essays, prose and poetry have appeared in YES Poetry, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Gravel, Five :2: One Magazine, Eunoia Review, Atticus Review, Peach Mag and elsewhere. You can find more of his work at jaredbenjaminstone.com. He tweets @JB_StoneTruth.

 

Asela Lee Kemper – Poetry Editor

 

Asela Lee Kemper is a poet and editor. She is a poetry editor at Variety Pack magazine and has previously worked with presses and magazines including Sampaguita Press, Marías At Sampaguitas, Timberline Review, and Copper Canyon Press. She also has published works in SOU Student Press, Flawless Mag: The Border Issue, Silk Club: QUIET, Reclamation Mag, and the anthology No Tender Fences. Asela uses her passion for creative writing to open conversations on diversity and identity in literature. She currently resides in Oregon, USA with her family. You can find Asela on Twitter @AselaLeeK and Instagram @thesakuraink.

Maddie Petaway/Maddie P. – Poetry Reader

Madison (Maddie P.) Petaway is a performance poet born and raised in Houston, TX and the city’s former Youth Poet Laureate (2020). Some of her notable accomplishments include being a member of Meta-4-Houston for three years, having her piece “To Be a Black Girl” published in New York Times and then republished in McGraw Hill’s Digital Library Study Sync, and winning “Best Overall” and a $1,500 prize at Texas Revue for her spoken word. Madison now attends the University of Texas at Austin where she majors in Social Work. An advocate for mental health in black and brown communities, Madison hopes to become a school counselor in middle or high schools or work as part of suicide prevention teams in adolescent psychiatric hospitals. She wants people to know she hasn’t lost her writing spark as she currently is the founder and president of a newfound poetry club at her university “Diction Addiction” and hopes to publish multiple books regarding mental health in the nearby future.

 

Joshua Thermidor – Poetry Reader

Joshua Thermidor / W.T. Joshua is a poet and photographer from Buffalo, NY. His work focuses on the pain humans endure and the love we have to give. For Joshua, the work should aim to be safe, free, and perfectly dangerous

 

 

Lauren Peter – Poetry Reader

Lauren Peter is a poet and painter from Minnesota. She received a BA in Creative Writing from Metropolitan State University and is a poetry reader for Floresta Magazine. You can find her poems in Ghost City ReviewPostscript MagazineDYNAMIS JournalSerotonin, and elsewhere. She loves frogs, Mae Martin, and writing down cool poem titles that she never returns to. Twitter: @Eyes_LikeAChild

 

 

 

Skyler Jaye Rutkowski – Non-Fiction Editor

Skyler Jaye Rutkowski is a writer and the author of A Mountain of Past Lives & Things I’ve Learned (BlazeVOX, 2019).  Currently based in Nairobi, she is pursuing a Master’s in International Relations and Diplomacy. Her work has been published online and in print including: Emrys Journal, Rhythm & Bones YANYR anthology, Peach Mag, and more. Find her tweeting @SkylerJaye23

 

Benjamin Brindise – Flash Fiction Editor

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Benjamin Brindise is a Buffalo-born and Nairobi-based. He is the author of the chapbook ROTTEN KID (Ghost City Press, 2017), the full length collection of poetry Those Who Favor Fire, Those Who Pray to Fire (EMP Books, 2018), and the short fiction micro chap Secret Anniversaries (Ghost City Press, 2019). His poetry and fiction has been published widely online and in print including Maudlin House, Peach Mag, and The Marathon Literary Review. He tweets @benbrindise.

                                                                                         Sophie Fink – Flash Fiction Reader

Sophie Fink is a student at Colby College in Maine studying English and Creative Writing who just published her first flash. When she’s not writing about sentient black holes or telling bloody fairy tales, you can find her planning her next big adventure. Follow her on Twitter @thekitchenfink.

 

 

Bryanna Shaw – Flash Fiction Reader

Bryanna Shaw is a disabled writer and editor with a degree in English from Florida Atlantic University. She is Copy Desk Chief of the University Press and Editor-in-Chief of Coastlines Literary Magazine. She can be contacted on Instagram @bryutiful and is located in South Florida.

 

Ian Brunner – Short Fiction Editor

Ian Brunner is a fiction writer and poet from Buffalo, New York who is currently residing in Atlanta, Georgia. His work has been featured in eight journals and zines. He is the author of the chapbook, Ruminations (CWP 2017)

Zaria Black – Visual Arts Editor

Zaria Black is a local of Buffalo, NY who’s roots started in Masonry and only increased after furthering her trades skill. Always having a love for creativity & expression they switched over into the arts after starting a gig as a full time Painter in Rochester, NY.  “There was a cool connection with painting houses and a canvas! Art has always been a part of who I am. Even when I journal I need to have color and doodles. When I am in emotional states or simply trying to express myself. I find it constantly around and the one thing I can count on.” 

 

 

Courtney Hilden – Social Media Coordinator

Courtney Hilden’s work has appeared in multiple publications, including Fish Barrel Review, Coffin Bell: An Anthology of Dark Literature, Voice of Eve, and More of Us.