OUR EDITORIAL TEAM

SOCIAL MEDIA

Ashley’s life was changed fundamentally by the pandemic. Prior to 2020, Ashley had a hard time finding steady employment, despite having expertise in astrology, astronomy, medicine, philosophy, and battle tactics. Once the pandemic forced everyone to work remotely via Zoom, Ashley was no longer handicapped by the fact that she is a centaur. We are lucky to have her.

PROSE AND POETRY

Tommy Balmat began life as a tadpole. His early school days were difficult, as most human furniture is not made for people with tiny limbs and long tails. Once he grew into his limbs and his tail disappeared, he discovered his love of learning and excelled in geography, geometry, and sports. Not surprisingly, he holds a world record for the under-18 high jump.

PROSE, POETRY, ART

Aanchal is a writer, artist and lover of languages. When she is not reading, she is nestled in her cozy corner near the windows painting, bringing her ideas to life one canvas at a time. By night she is a daydreamer turned storyteller, crafting stories that feel like a warm comforting hug. Currently, she is trying her best to remember all the words and grammar of the three languages she is self-studying while navigating the sea of notebooks (filled with fragments of ideas and random doodles) to make sense of the chaos for her latest stories. 

PROSE

Erin (she/her) walks dogs for a living ("living"), which means she always smells like processed beef dog treats and her feet hurt all the time. She tries to read a book a week, for, like, health reasons, but it's more like a book every three months. She has a degree in creative writing and is a reader for five literary magazines, but spends most of her time glaring at the White House whenever she passes it with dogs. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

Erin is an experienced classroom teacher, nonprofit staff trainer and curriculum designer who lived ten years in indigenous villages in Guatemala. When asked what she loved most about education, her response was, “the storytelling”.  After she returned to live on her family's farm in Wisconsin, she also returned to writing.  Erin’s fiction, non-fiction and poetry are published in a variety of literary magazines, including The Hopper’s fiction submission for the 2019 Push Cart Prize.  Her work in progress can be found at www.erinconway.com.  Erin spends a great deal of time watching her niece’s current Netflix binge and dedicates the remainder to boring her dogs by exploring books, learning new languages and contributing to libraries that thrive across borders.

POETRY

While he never mentions it himself, Eric is a champion in the surprisingly brutal field of competitive sock knitting. The competitive sock knitting circuit centers around Souris, Manitoba - a town famous for its peacocks, its historic swinging bridge, and for reforming its gangs of guerilla sock knitters by organizing them into formal competitions. Eric is a seven-time winner of the Golden Stitch Marker.

PROSE

Em Jones began life as a wish made by a butterfly after seeing a beautiful child blowing iridescent bubbles. Sadly, the “bubblefly” concept of animal physiology never really caught on, so Em made their own wish - to be made out of actual skin and hair and sweat and fabric and moisturizer (bubbles observing humans don’t have a very accurate notion of how they’re made). Sadly, the fulfillment of this wish meant that Em lost touch with their butterfly parent, but every time they see a butterfly, they still feel that thrill of recognition.

PROSE AND ART

Weaver Melching is a writer, teacher, and visual artist based in Dublin, Ireland. They adore all things bizarre in a way that has gradually looped back around to an obsession with the ordinary, as a baseline for strangeness to exist in contrast to. They have worked in editorial roles at New Word Order and as Editor of Cartoons at The College Tribune, University College Dublin's unofficial newspaper. They spend most of their time making art or trying to learn languages they will likely never use.

POETRY AND PROSE

Naqsh Mitra was born in India and moved to New Jersey at a young age. She is a recent grad from Emerson College with a BFA in Creative Writing and minors in Business and Publishing. She writes poetry and fiction, with her work revolving around identity and passion. She is a lover of intricate language, a delicious book, a beautiful meal, and a gripping conversation. She has been published in Concrete Literary Magazine, Generic Magazine, and Black Swan Magazine. Her free time is spent playing video games and cuddling up with her labradoodle, Benji! 

ART

Ojo Victoria Ilemobayo is a Nigerian literary enthusiast and smartphone photographer whose work has been featured in various publications, including Christian Century, Christian Courier, Ake Review, and MAAR Review, among others. Her writing and photography have appeared in numerous online literary platforms, showcasing her talent and versatility.

POETRY, SOCIAL MEDIA

Yasmeen Owens is a published writer with her works published in The Rainbow Poem, Atlantis, Earth and Sky Anthology, Seabreeze Literary Magazine, Downright Creepy, Chrd Magazine, The Secret Society Of Poetry, and Adelaide Literary Magazine. She is also a Poetry Editor for Zoetic Press, DownRight Creepy.

PROSE

Hayley is a college student who loves everything reading and writing. Her recent favorites include Jane Eyre and Bunny- proof she has range. Her writing has earned her a Gold Key from the Scholastic Writing Awards and hand cramps. When she's not reading, she's probably asleep. 

POETRY

As a nerd who went to college for English Studies, Rith has adapted the title of “language cleric”. Like all clerics, they have the continuous struggle of choosing between participating in super cool combat against powerful foe…or being stuck saving their spell slots for heals. However, Rith uses their skills in wordcraft as both guiding bolts and healing words. They are particularly drawn to speculative fiction, and they especially love using horror elements to both educate and haunt others (and themself) with evocative imagery. Previously the poetry editor for Violet Margin, Rith’s focus is in poetry, but they also dabble in flash fiction, zines, and crochet. You can find some of their work in Violet Margin, The Rising Phoenix Review, and on their Medium blog.

POETRY AND ART

Eman Shumail has a bachelor’s in English Literature and Linguistics and a lifelong habit of scribbling in every available notebook. She lives in Peshawar, Pakistan, and is currently assembling a chapbook that might finish her before she finishes it. It’s part poetry, part photo album, part “whatever fits.” She’s taught high schoolers how to tell stories (and occasionally to survive them) and will talk about books with anyone who doesn’t run away fast enough.

POETRY

Lily Simpson is currently in her final year studying English with Creative Writing at the University of Nottingham. She loves all things literature based, with a special place for poetry. She hopes to make a career out of it…only because apparently having a job is essential? A poetry anthology is in the works as long as she stops getting distracted by her three black labradors!

POETRY

Kate is a journalist, artist, and freelance book editor with seven years of editorial experience in community newsrooms, the last four in the Pacific Northwest. She believes storytelling is our collective way of recording, processing, learning, and dreaming up our world. Feeling pulled to the "dreaming" side, she completed an editor in book publishing certificate in summer 2025. She now reads poems for The NonBinary Review and 4LPH4NUM3R1C poetry podcast and is a guest poetry editor at Feathered Stag Press for the winter 2025 issue Thresholds. Bug her on Instagram @bugs.et.kisses 

POETRY

Sashi Tandon is a queer poet from Perth, Western Australia. Her work has been featured in The Pinnacle Review, The Eyre and Poetry On the Big Screens in 2025. She was also awarded an honourable for the Poetry D'Amour Prize this year. Her work is grounded and quietly playful, paying close attention to the poetry winking at us from the everyday. You can follow her on Substack at https://sashitandon.substack.com/

PROSE AND POETRY

Cilleen has, throughout her life, taken on a multitude of jobs. She did the normal teenage stint in food service, but from there went on to be a fundraiser for distichiasis awareness (not research or anything - just making sure people knew that it existed), a hummingbird trainer, and an apprentice at a doll repair shop, where her duties were limited to repainting eyebrows on old Barbie dolls. She has now found her dream job, tricking out custom tricycles for particularly badass toddlers.

POETRY & PROSE

Menal Elmaliki works a regular job by day and writes poetry and prose by night. She lives in New York City and is also a passionate photographer who loves capturing beautiful architecture and natural landscapes. She studied English and Middle Eastern Studies in college, where she developed a deep love for translated literature. One day, she hopes to publish a collection of poems and short stories.