Contributor Bios – August 2025
Mirande Bissell is a writer and teacher from Ellicott City, Maryland. Her first book of poems, Stalin at the Opera, was selected by Diane Seuss for the Ghost Peach Press Prize and came out in 2021. You can learn more about her work, including recent poems, at mirandebissell.wixsite.com/poems.
Josephine Florens is a professional oil painter, born on September 22, 1988, in Odessa, Ukraine. She currently lives and works in Germany, having relocated due to the war in Ukraine. Although originally trained in law, Josephine found her true calling in fine art. She holds two Master’s degrees — in Civil Law from the Odessa National Academy of Law and in International Law from Odessa International Humanitarian University. In 2017, she began her journey as an artist, studying painting individually at the Art-Ra School of Fine Arts. Working exclusively with oil paints, Josephine creates works across a variety of genres, including portraiture, landscape, religious art, still life, animal painting, and marine scenes. Her artistic style, which she defines as “modern vintage,”blends the emotional depth of classical traditions with a fresh, contemporary aesthetic. She is a member of the College Art Association (CAA) — the leading professional organization in the visual arts and design (CAA ID: C-264816 ), a member of Odessa Marine Art Union (Ukraine). Her paintings reflect a deep sensitivity to beauty, symbolism, and human emotion, making her a unique voice in the world of contemporary figurative art. Find more of her work at josephineflorens.com.
Caitlin Gill (Caidy Lynn)‘s work examines the patriarchy, the male gaze and gender through animal and insect portraits. Her work is labor intensive and acknowledges the invisibility of female labor in the home and in marriage and the lack of value inferred in “women’s work.” By evoking ideas of discomfort and repulsion, she encourages viewers to engage in the inherent violence exercised in the construct of the feminine. By juxtaposing lace, pressed flowers, and other materials with foreground imagery of birds and bugs she explores the dichotomy between gender expression versus gender performance within society. Using traditional craft materials and skills such as sewing, felting, crocheting, ceramics, scrapbook paper, doilies, stencils, and stamps, Gill also explores the divergence between craft and fine art and the implicit misogyny within the distinction between the two.
J. Spence Holman is a designer, artist, and musician based in his native Baltimore. A graduate of Vassar and MICA, his drawings use plants as a way to explore physical and internal space. Flowers stand as memories and change agents – the images informed but not defined by years of traumas – and as maps of the past to get to the future. See his work at jspenceholman.com.
Taya Sanderson Kesslau believes that beauty will save the world. And poetry, and cookies, and kindness. She has been a homeschool mother, the CFO of a music business, worked at an animal shelter and practices as a Reiki Master. Taya’s work has been published in many literary journals including: Door=Jar, The Mad Swirl, Meat For Tea, and The Penwood Review. Her book of poetry is called Seven Year Silence. Taya lives in Bellingham, Washington with her sweet husband and their many 4-legged (and 3-legged) creatures. You can visit her website, rootspressprinting.com, to read more of her work.
Malyssa Kaye Ollar is a Baltimore and Tampa based painter in her second year at Maryland Institute College of Art (BFA in Art History/General Fine Arts). She has also received formal training at both Brown University (RI) and Kansas City Art Institute (MO) before graduating with honors from Pinellas County Center for the Arts. Working in acrylic paint and fiber, she uses sewing, embroidery, and quilting to create texture within her work, which primarily focuses on what womanhood looks like in contemporary America. Heavily inspired by art history, she blends modern media (such as music, television, and social media) with historical references to invoke nostalgia within her genre style paintings. Find more of her work at malyssakayeollar.wixsite.com/portfolio.
Allie O’Malley is wandering through life. She’s a little lost, but enjoying the meandering threads that weave together to form her story. Most of her time is spent in knee deep in spreadsheets, doing math, or making messes with her kiddo.
Mohit Saini is a poet, writer, and researcher, working as an Assistant Professor at Compucom Institute of Technology & Management, Jaipur. With 8 years of experience in the field of language and linguistics, he has contributed significantly to research and education in these areas. His academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Education, a Postgraduate degree in Business Administration, and a Master’s in English from the University of Rajasthan. His areas of expertise encompass literature, second language acquisition, psycholinguistics, English grammar, multilingual education, and the implementation of language policies in higher education. As a reviewer, he has evaluated several research papers. He is also the author of several published poems, showcasing his creative engagement with language alongside his academic pursuits. He resides in the culturally rich city of Jaipur. He currently serves as an Editor in the Journal of Advances in English, Telugu and Indian Languages (AQIE Publication) and as a Journal Editor for the International Journal of Language, Linguistics, Literature and Culture.
Lauren Selle is a sometimes-writer who dabbles in poetry and short form storytelling, typically featuring dark imagery and themes of nature. Her work often touches on grief and how it continues to manifest long after a loss is processed. Using both metaphor and the occasional moment of humor, her goal is to make those who know exactly what she’s talking about feel less alone.
A newcomer to the ekphrastic form, Carol A. Smith has published over 15 poems in various journals. Her work has been featured by the Arts & Cultural Council of Bucks County, PA, and by Poets Against Racism & Hate USA. Carol taught English in a public high school district before joining the faculty at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, where she chaired the Literacy department. She currently teaches composition at Rowan University and teaches writing workshops by invitation for K-12 classes, undergraduates and MFA students, and community groups. Carol can be reached at c.a.smith.author@gmail.com and via Instagram @carolasmith_reader_writer.
