Stonecrop 07
Contributors' Notes
Moon Abbas. Moon Abbas (he/him) is a student in his last semester at the University of North Texas, studying English with a focus on creative writing. He serves as the poetry editor for the university literary magazine. His work has been featured previously in the New Croton Review and The Black Fork Review, and he is always eager to immerse himself in poetry publication. After graduation, he hopes to pursue teaching at the secondary level, inspiring the coming generations of writers.
Sara Grant Atleier. Based in Wichita, Kansas, this artist, educator, and mother of three finds her artistic muse in a poignant legacy. Sara's journey with color pencils began with the inheritance of her late aunt's supplies, sparking a heartfelt mission to honor her memory. Self-taught and skilled in mixed media and photography, Sara's artistry has evolved through years of self-discovery and community engagement.
Mary Amato. Mary Amato is a multidisciplinary teaching artist and the co-founder of Firefly Shadow Theater, a company that explores storytelling with cut paper, light, and the human body. She teaches art at the Montclair Art Museum and specializes in working with students who have cognitive disabilities. www.fireflyshadowtheater.com.
John Barrie. John Barrie is the Custodial Operations Manager at Boise State University. When he isn't working—or chasing after his corgi, Winston—he writes, with a focus on microfiction. His short-shorts have been featured in Stonecrop (x4), The Boise Weekly's Fiction 101 contest (x3), and the Cabin's "Writers in the Attic"anthology. His true crime story, "The Last Flight of Lynn Henneman" was The Boise Weekly cover story in September 2020.
John Peter Beck. John Peter Beck is a professor in the labor education program at Michigan State University where he co-directs a program that focuses on labor history and the culture of the workplace, Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives. His poetry has been published in a number of journals including The Seattle Review, Another Chicago Magazine, The Louisville Review and Passages North among others.
Willy Conley. Willy Conley, a Registered Biological Photographer, is the author of the books Photographic Memories—Essays, Playlets, and Stories, Plays of Our Own—an Anthology of Scripts by Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Writers, The World of White Water—Poems, Visual-Gestural Communication, Listening Through the Bone—Collected Poems, The Deaf Heart—a novel, Vignettes of the Deaf Character and Other Plays, and Broken Spokes. Conley, born profoundly deaf, is a retired professor emeritus and chairperson of Theatre and Dance at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.
Joy Curtis. Joy Marie Curtis loves people and culture; she believes you can only appreciate another culture if you value individual people. Most days she spends working and living but she likes to find time to enjoys the beautiful things in life such as nature walks, quality grilled cheese sandwiches, and listening to audiobooks. Who Joy is as a person is not only defined by what she loves but who she loves, Joy loves her husband and family. She cherishes the way art creates space for her to grow.
Paisley Davis. Paisley Davis is a software engineer by trade, but by heart, a person constantly trying new things and circulating through a list of hobbies a mile long. But writing is something they always return to, as it seems to be how they decipher the world around them, and the world more and more frequently feels like a thing that needs to be deciphered. They've called Boise home for almost 5 years now, and have found love, community, and friendship here. They owe everything in the world to their beautiful partners, who support them in everything they do, whether it be writing, planning events with the Boise Trans Collective, or spending way too much at Quality Art for craft supplies they won't touch for another month. If they manage their time well, you can follow them on Instagram @paimeadow to see their first poetry zine coming out in May 2024.
Matthew Ellis. Matthew Ellis (he/him) is a queer poet living in Columbus, Ohio with works published in journals such as The Howler Project and Pamplemousse. With a background in chemistry, he spends his time teaching yoga and following creative pursuits in music and writing. To keep up with his work, you can follow him on Instagram (@matthewellismusic3) or visit his website (www.MatthewEllisContemplation.com).
James Gallant. James Gallant was the winner of 2019 Schaffner Press Prize for music-in-literature for his story collection, La Leona, and Other Guitar Stories, published in 2020. Fortnightly Review (UK) published in 2018 in its "Odd Volumes" series a collection of his essays and short fiction, Verisimilitudes: Essays and Approximations. The same year his novel Whatever Happened to Ohio? appeared from Vagabondage Press.
Grace Hopps. Grace Hopps is a poet, songwriter, and graduate of the University of Mary Washington, where she earned a B.A. in English. At Mary Washington, she worked as Editor in Chief of the Rappahannock Review's Issue 10.1. When she isn't writing, she spends her time traveling, curating highly specific playlists, and watching ice hockey clips. She has previously been published by Sinking City.
Thomas Jackson. Thomas Jackson is a graduate of North Carolina State University’s Horticulture program and is a working landscape designer. He is a published TEDx Speaker, having shared his experience with suicidal thoughts through a spoken word piece, “I am so proud of you”, in February 2020. At age 17, in 2018 he self-published a poetry collection titled growth detailing his experience with mental illness. He is a queer and disabled person living with chronic migraines, Panic Disorder, and Borderline Personality Disorder, and is a suicide prevention advocate.
Sylvester Kwakye. Sylvester Kwakye is a Ghanaian medical student, and author of “Flying From Nectar To Hive”. His poems have been published/forthcoming in Writing Woman Anthology Vol. 3, New Note Poetry, Metachrosis Literary Magazine, Cool Beans Lit, Passionfruit Review, Rising Phoenix Press, Wingless Dreamer Publisher, Ignatian Literary Magazine, the Archipelago, Sophon Lit, fifth wheel press, & Koru Magazine.
Erin Mayes. Erin Mayes is a writer from San Jose, California and a Steinbeck Fellow in the dual-genre MFA program at San Jose State University. Her work often centers around tales of the uncanny, outlandish, sensual, and phantasmal. She is a former journalist who has appeared in The San Jose Mercury News, The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., and The Union Democrat in Sonora, Calif. She lives with her husband and son and the ghosts of two cats who sometimes appear out of the corner of her eye.
Josh Megson. Josh Megson is a short fiction and poetry writer from Albemarle, NC.
Grace McGovern. Grace McGovern is a writer and editor from Chicago with a love for flowers, tea, and flowery tea. Grace's work has appeared in Dunes Review, Open Minds Quarterly, Inklette, and others, and she was the recipient of the 2016 and 2018 Academy of American Poet's University Prize.
Joshua McKinney. Joshua McKinney lives in the fire-ravaged region known as California, where McKinney spends their time wrangling a pet guinea pig and trying, feebly, to play the five-string banjo. An amateur lichenologist, McKinney is a long-standing member of the California Lichen Society. For the past thirteen years, McKinney has served as co-editor of the online ecopoetics zine, Clade Song.
Sue McMillan. Sue McMillan lives in Boise and enjoys exploring the West with her husband and her dog. By profession, Sue is an attorney, and although the law is how she’s made her living, writing is how she’s sustained her creativity and perspective.
David Baer McNicholas. David John Baer McNicholas is from a working-class background. He has been on travel in New Mexico for four years. He is the author of the novel Lemons: In an Orchard. He operates the nascent imprint ghostofamerica ltd co (Anarchy, Abolition, Art) and studies for his BFA in Creative Writing and AA in Native Studies at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. Currently, he is reading CNF for BendingGenres.com. His linked CV can be found at ghostofamerica.net.
Emily Rose Miller. Emily Rose Miller (she/they) graduated magna cum laude from Saint Leo University where she received her BA in English and is currently earning her MFA in creative writing at the University of Central Florida. Her work has been published in Saw Palm, Cagibi Lit, and Passengers Journal, among other places. Find her online at emilyrosemiller.com, on Instagram @emily.rose.miller, or in real life in Orlando cuddling with her cats.
Amy Monaghan. Amy Monaghan is a queer Los Angeles-based writer with an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA. Her fiction has appeared in publications such as Chaotic Merge, Witness Magazine, Mulberry Literary, Cagibi Lit, and others. In her free time she enjoys road trips to towns with one gas station, reading books about tragedy, and collecting pinecones in the park. Learn more at www.amymonaghanwrites.com.
Jack Raymond. Jack Raymond currently lives with his small family in Logan, Utah, where he studies English Education at Utah State University. He’s written poetry mainly as a mode of self-healing and discovery on and off for years, but has recently discovered through his studies how much he loves experimenting with the form and language of poetry.
Nicolette Reim. Nicolette Reim is a poet, artist, and translator published in Glint Literary Journal, Pirene’s Fountain, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, www.theartsection.com, and recent anthologies Border Lines, Poems of Migration, and Rumors Secrets & Lies, Pregnancy, Abortion & Choice—and other publications. She studied art at The New York Studio School and holds and MFA in poetry from Drew University. She exhibits abstractions of longhand and topography at NoHoM55 Gallery, NYC; lives/works in NYC and Atlanta, GA.
Juliet Schulman-Hall. Juliet Schulman-Hall is a recent graduate of Smith College, where she worked for the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center and received the Elizabeth Montagu Prize and the Elizabeth Babcock Poetry Prize. She is a journalist at MassLive and has written regularly or appeared in publications such as PBS’ Next Avenue, VTDigger, and Ms. Magazine. She has also worked for Orion Magazine and Meridians Journal and has poetry forthcoming in The Quarter(ly). Based in Northampton, MA, she spends her time biking and writing among corn fields and in forests.
Huda Shaltry. Shaltry is the library director for Hillcrest Library in Boise. She earned a bachelor's in English education from Boise State University (2005) and a master's in library information science from the University of Washington (2018). A passionate educator and librarian, she pursued her studies with a focus on teaching English language learners and non-native English-speaking adults. In 2013, Huda relocated to Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where she began a career working for the Kingston Frontenac Public Library. Immersed in books and serving the community, this experience inspired her to pursue a career as a librarian. For the past seven years, Huda has dedicated herself to serving Idaho’s library community through her role at the public libraries in Boise. In 2021, she assumed the role of Legislative Chair for the Idaho Library Association, representing the organization's position in support of librarians across the state.
Susanna Skelton. Susanna Skelton (she/her) is an emerging poet currently pursuing an MFA at Western Kentucky University. When she’s not writing or teaching, she can be found browsing the aisles of thrift stores or taking care of her house plants and beloved cat, Phoebe. Hailing from the mountains of East Tennessee, she hopes to shine light on other creatives from Appalachia. Susanna has had work featured in the Sequoya Review, Eclectica Magazine, STRIKE Magazine, and The Attic.
Grace Sleeman. Grace Sleeman has fallen out of every tree she's ever climbed. For her, much of the contemporary feminine experience means finding the sensuality in the mundane and finding worms after a thunderstorm. She grew up among the lilacs in Damariscotta, Maine, and now lives in Portland. Her work has been published by Koukash Review, Slipstream Press, and Red Rock Review, among other publications. You can find her online at @myrmiidons.
Harriet Smith. Harriet Smith was born and raised in Boise, ID and graduated with a bachelor of arts from the University of Montana. Previous work has appeared in The Oval. She currently lives in Eugene, OR.
Robin Young. Artist Robin Young, based in Borrego Springs, California works in mixed media focusing mostly on collage and contemporary art making. Her focus on collage art using magazine clippings, masking tape, wallpaper, jewelry, feathers, foil etc., allows her to develop deep into the whimsical and intuitive.
Lucy Zhang. Lucy Zhang writes, codes, and watches anime. Her work has appeared in Apex Magazine, Split Lip Magazine, CRAFT, and elsewhere. She is the author of the chapbooks HOLLOWED (Thirty West Publishing) and ABSORPTION (Harbor Review). Find her at https://lucyzhang.tech or on Twitter @Dango_Ramen.