Contributor Bios – November 2023
Linda Fernandes is a writer and all-round creative based in Mumbai. She is passionate about equity, inclusion, sustainable development, science communication, education, and the arts. Linda freelances as a copywriter, creative strategist, and editor. Her own writing focuses on themes of love, sexuality, nature, identity, and marginalization. She specializes in poetry and creative non-fiction, with a few projects currently in the works. Away from the writing desk, she enjoys filling her time with music, art, and her cat ‘Cat’.
Bailey Gausling (she/her), more commonly known as Kitty Bailey, is a poet, multimedia artist, and songwriter from Las Vegas, Nevada. However, she recently moved to New York City to further pursue her career. She has her Associate of Arts degree in creative writing, is the winner of the Disrupción Records ‘FEELS’ Songwriting competition for the song, “What If You Fly” available on all streaming platforms, and has competed in 10+ poetry slams, accumulating 3+ wins. Her art can be found and bought via Instagram @kittyskreations_. She utilizes her experiences as a queer woman to shape and curate her pieces. She has always had a creative mind and crafty hands with a strong belief in generating authentic storytelling that audience members can connect to. Her passion for writing stems from her certainty in the power of words in hopes that they touch the minds and hearts of others.
Caitlin Gill is a mixed media artist living in Baltimore, Maryland. She has a B. A in Drawing and Painting from Towson University and an MFA in Curatorial Practice and Art Criticism from the Ontario College of Art and Design. Gill uses printmaking, sculpting, drawing, painting, collage, and fiber to create artwork that explores ideas of identity, femininity, and domesticity.
Lauren Mirzakhalili is a fiction writer and clinical social worker. She is currently an MFA student at the University of Baltimore.
Nicole Kimball Ostrowski is an award-winning writer and illustrator. She recently won 2023 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards for her books Some Days He Growled (a picture book intro to the cycle of domestic violence) and A Santa for Everyone. Her published books can be found here.
Timmy Reed is a writer, teacher, and native of Baltimore, Maryland. He received his BA from College of Charleston, where he worked for the Crazyhorse literary journal, and his MFA from University of Baltimore. Timmy is the author of the books Tell God I Don’t Exist (Underrated Animals Press), The Ghosts That Surrounded Them (Dig That Book Co.), Miraculous Fauna (Underground Voices), Star Backwards (Dostoyevsky Wannabe), IRL(Outpost 19), and Kill Me Now (Counterpoint Press) as well as a couple of chapbooks: Stray/Pest (Bottlecap Press) and Zeb And Bunny Build Russian Dolls (Hidden Clearing Books). His short fiction has appeared in many places including Necessary Fiction, Atticus Review, Volume 1 Brooklyn, and Curbside Splendor, as well as featured in the Wigleaf Top 50 on multiple occasions. In 2015, he won the Baker Artist Awards Semmes G. Walsh Award and the Baker Artist Award for Fiction Writers. He has twice been a Finalist. He teaches English at RAHS and CCBC, where he mostly professes about alphabet soup and breaks up fights. He is represented by Madison Smartt Bell at Pande Literary Agency. Learn more here: https://underratedanimals.wordpress.com
Sher A. Schwartz holds an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Northwest Coastal Native American Art. She taught English, Communications, and Religion classes at University of Alaska in Ketchikan for many years and now lives on a farm in Eastern Oregon. A published essayist and poet, her chapbook The Beautiful One’s Ark will be published summer 2024 by The Poetry Box. Currently a board member and Historian for the Oregon Poetry Association, when not writing she plays old-time fiddle music for dances and festivals, plants gardens for pollinators, and trains bird dogs.
Mary Ellen Wade, Ed.D., is an artist in the Baltimore area. When not pursuing her career coordinating assessment projects, she enjoys dabbling in various mediums- acrylic, watercolor, and alcohol ink creating floral, landscape, and abstract works. Mary Ellen finds joy and inspiration in nature. See more of Mary Ellen’s work on Instagram at mewade33.
Debbie Walker-Lass is a writer, poet and Collage Artist who lives in Decatur, GA, with her husband, Burt, and goofy Black Lab, Maddie. Her work has appeared in The Light Ekphrastic, The Ekphrastic Journal, Mediterranean Poetry, Natural Awakenings, Atlanta, Poetry Quarterly and Haikuniverse, among others. She has recently read for “The Poets Corner” in Maine. Contact her at Writerdwlass@aol.com.
The Wild Purvi Art Collective: This multi-media art piece was created by Meredith Purvis and Melissa Purvis over a long holiday weekend at the family homestead in Shamrock, Mo. They worked with found materials, watercolors, and a not insignificant amount of hot glue. Lincoln Purvis was our director of photography. Doug Purvis was head of transport. Carrie Morrow provided consultation and catering.
