Contributor Bios — February 2025
Alex Carrigan (he/him) is a Pushcart-nominated editor, poet, and critic from Alexandria, VA. He is the author of Now Let’s Get Brunch (Querencia Press, 2023) and May All Our Pain Be Champagne (Alien Buddha Press, 2022). He has appeared in SoFloPoJo, Cotton Xenomorph, Bullshit Lit, and more. Visit carriganak.wordpress.com or follow him on Twitter @carriganak for more info.
Carla Cerrato (AKA Carlotta): Carlotta’s art can be found in private collections in Italy, Australia, Germany, France, Mexico, USA, Canada and New Zealand. Carlotta is Italian, a linguist by trade and an artist from birth. She lives in Baltimore. Carlotta’s paintings are the fruit of intense emotions and they are rooted in her spiritual practice of being present in the moment, without judgment, accepting what comes without expectations, leaving the painting “free” to come through in a relaxed, meditative state, without trying to force anything. Carlotta’s paintings are more “channeled” than “thought”. Her paintings are messengers of deep Joy and Healing. Find more of her work on Instagram @carlotta.cerrato.
Originally from the Appalachian region of southwestern Virginia, Melissa Penley Cormier is an artist and curator who draws from her hometown roots as a seed for her work. Currently she is centering photography as a way to look closely, focus attention while accumulating collections, notes, stories and memorials. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in their InterMedia and Digital Arts program and holds a BFA from Radford University of Virginia. She manages a core facility of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences at UMBC. More of her work can be found at melissapenleycormier.com.
Bold like the streets of Santo Domingo, where she grew up, LUSMERLIN is a nationally exhibiting multidisciplinary artist, practicing in Greater Baltimore and Philadelphia. She has a professional background as a chemical engineer in textile and cement manufacturing. LUSMERLIN’s practice explores her own womanhood and identity: the presence of the body in space; the richness and baggage of her complex heritage -African, Arab, Spanish, Taino-; and her metamorphic immigration experience since moving to the U.S. in 2016. Her media include abstracted paintings, pastel, installations, photography and impromptu performances full of whim and force. LUSMERLIN is a 2024 Philadelphia Mural Arts Fellow, a 2025 Sondheim Prize semifinalist, and a grant recipient from the Baltimore Office for Promotion of the Arts, and the Frederick Arts Council. Her literary work has been published in multiple books and magazines in Puerto Rico, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. Beyond art, LUSMERLIN is deeply committed to community engagement, volunteering with organizations that support immigrants, disadvantaged groups, and arts advocacy. Find more at lusmerlin.com.
Andrea Vasile has found success in Clevermag, Turbula, Jones Ave and Ascent Aspirations under the name Shumovsky and Shumovsky Vasile. In the name of Vasile: Ottawa Journal Feb 14 1979, The Basil O’Flaherty Feminist Voice, Event Horizon Literary Magazine Issue 9, Oddball Ezine, Mocking Owl Roost and receiving third prize from the poet laureate of Ottawa for I Am a Human Being. Work in Analogies& Allegories Literary Magazine and Panoplyzine, Flo Literary Magazine, Block Party Magazine, The Green Shoe Sanctuary, Apt613, and most recently Half and One Literary Magazine. She also has an upcoming short story in MockingOwl Roost.
Dora J. Zelig is a writer and poet from Brooklyn, now based in South Florida. Her work has appeared in Poetry Playground, and she has participated in workshops at the Emily Dickinson Museum. In her spare time, she writes Americana short stories and secretly takes pictures of your dog. She is set to release her first collection of poetry this year. Find more of her work at DoraJay.com or @dorajaystreet on Instagram and Medium.
