Executive

Dani Hedlund
Editor-in-Chief & Art Director

Helen Maimaris
Managing Editor
Genre
Senior

Emily Brill-Holland
Editorial Coordinator & Internship Supervisor

Victoria Bruick
Administrative Assistant

Ejiwa Ebenebe
Assistant Creative Director

Sam Gladstone
IT Officer

Nate Ragolia
Marketing & Communications Coordinator

Evan Sheldon
Editorial Coordinator
Associate

Chase Bailey
Marketing Assistant & Junior Editor

Suzie Bartholomew
Website Assistant & Associate Editor

Thomas Chisholm
Assistant Web Editor & Associate Editor

Maribel Leddy
Internship Assistant & Junior Editor

Dominic Loise
Content Creator & Staff Writer

Matt Peadon
Visual Identity Associate

Eileen Silverthorn
Associate Editor
Junior

Azalea Acevedo
Junior Editor

Manal Ahmed
Staff Writer

Eliza Browning
Junior Editor

Sam Burt
Junior Editor

Erin Clements
Junior Editor

Ally Geist
Grant Writer & Junior Editor

Gina Gruss
Junior Editor

Esther Hsu
Junior Editor

Carolyn Janecek
Junior Editor

Jessenia Hernandez
Junior Editor

Asmaani Kumar
Junior Editor

John Legarte
Junior Editor

Kaitlin Lounsberry
Junior Editor

Carl McDonald
Grant Writer

Sonya Minner
Junior Editor

Jaclyn Morken
Junior Editor

Aisling O’Mahony
Web Editor & Marketing Assistant

Miki Schumacher
Junior Editor

Amber Sullivan
Junior Editor

Carissa Villagomez
Junior Editor
Intern
Artist

Enrica Angiolini
Editorial Artist

Hailey Renee Brown
Editorial Artist

Tyler Champion
Editorial Artist

Bradley Clayton
Editorial Artist

Samantha Dow
Editorial Artist

Ejiwa Ebenebe
Editorial Artist

Julian Mateus
Editorial Artist

Daniel Reneau
Artist
Contributing

David Abrams
Contributing Editor

David Galef
Contributing Editor

Scott O’Connor
Contributing Editor

Jon Schindehette
Contributing Art Director
Consultant

Asa C. Garber
Legal Advisor

Andrew Jimenez
Advisory Editor

Stefanie Molina
Advisory Editor

Drew Nolte
Web Designer

Eliza Browning
Eliza Browning is studying for her master’s degree in modernist literature at the University of Oxford. She recently graduated from Wheaton College in Massachusetts with a degree in English and art history. Her poetry and fiction appears in The Adroit Journal, Salamander Magazine, Contrary Magazine, Up the Staircase Quarterly and the Oxford-Cambridge Mays Anthology, among others. When not reading or writing, Eliza can be found painting, embroidering or baking with botanicals.

Sam Burt
Sam is a tutor and proofreader living in east London. Since graduating in 2021 with a master’s in creative writing, he has been a bookseller for Phlox Books and Waterstones, and started the East London Indie Book Club to champion innovative fiction from small presses. Sam is the founder and editor of POINT BLOC, a new online literary journal that will launch later this year, and has edited fiction submissions to Bandit Fiction, An Inkling, and The Manchester Anthology IX. His fiction has appeared in Popshot Quarterly, Bandit Fiction, and Ink, Sweat and Tears, and his essays/reviews in The London Magazine, 3:AM Magazine, and BookRiot. Off the page, he can usually be found baking, volunteering at a local LGBTQ+ charity, or missing shuttlecocks.

John Legarte
John Legarte is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign double majoring in Creative Writing and Science, Health, and Environmental Writing and minoring in English. In addition to his role as a Brink Intern, he also serves as the Communications and Outreach Intern for The Chicago Poetry Center and as the Investigative News & Longform Editor for The Daily Illini. (Yes, he can never get enough of writing.)
In Fall 2021, he was nominated for the Pushcart Prize XLVII by Pareidolia Literary for his poem “The Petal Box,” and his other works have been featured in various other journals and magazines such as Dead Skunk Magazine and Third Iris Zine. He became a 2022 Anaphora Arts Fellow after being accepted for and attending the Summer 2022 Anaphora Arts Writing Residency.
He desires for his creative works to be spaces where others can reflect on and process their own emotions, experiences, and anything else within life itself.

Azalea Acevedo
Azalea Acevedo grew up in Florida, where she spent her childhood drawing portraits of her favorite characters from the books she read. In high school, she moved to South Carolina. She attended Trident Technical College and graduated from Converse University, where she studied creative and professional writing. She was an editor for The Concept Literary Magazine, the school’s literary journal, which piqued her interest in developing stories in collaboration with an editorial team. Azalea has been published in both The Concept Literary Magazine and Converse Magazine, the university’s annual publication

Dominic Loise
Dominic is a bookseller living in Chicago, Il., with his librarian wife and three rabbits. He is open about and advocates for mental health awareness in his writing. Before coming to Brink Literacy Project, Dominic was the Store Manager at Open Books, Chicago’s first literacy nonprofit bookstore. He was also on the planning committee and created virtual sessions for the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum.

Ejiwa Ebenebe
Ejiwa ‘Edge’ Ebenebe is a Nigerian-Canadian artist based in BC, Canada. Born outside of their parent’s homeland, they went on to experience multiple cultures throughout their childhood and early adulthood. As an immigrant, they wrestle with concepts of community and identity, both within themself and their work, and strive to create representation for voices (particularly Black and/or LGBTQ+ folks) who are often pushed out of positive, empowering narratives.
But also echoing in their work is a love for the ethereal, fantasy stories they grew up with. From a passion for vibrant colours, to a love of ornamentation, their varying homes have strongly moulded their creative perspective, weaving themselves throughout each piece they create.
In combining all these influences they hope to create work that is uplifting and whimsical, a respite from life’s rigors.
They have worked with clients including Scholastic, Wizards of the Coast and Marvel. Their work has also featured in publications such as ImagineFX Magazine, Infected By Art, and Brink’s very own F(r)iction.

Victoria Bruick
Victoria Bruick is a marketer and podcast producer with a passion for education and supporting the work of nonprofit organizations. As a lover of lists and spreadsheets, she helps her clients reach their creative content goals through simple and streamlined processes. Currently, she is a co-host and producer of the podcast Book Club with Julia & Victoria and producer of The Pandemic Parenting Podcast. Victoria earned a Bachelor’s degree in English and Music from Valparaiso University. Her poetry has been published by The Academy of American Poets and in Indiana’s Best Emerging Poets (Z Publishing). Victoria enjoys reading, traveling, cooking, being outside, and trying local bakeries and breweries.

Asmaani Kumar
Asmaani Kumar is a graduate in Sociology from Delhi University. Brought up in Guwahati, Assam and currently living in Delhi, she works as a writer for a media company. You’ll always find her taking the longer road for walks while blasting music in her ears. A hardcore postcard collector who spends too much time writing letters, reading poetry, gazing up at the skies and daydreaming of being in the mountains or a seaside village, these days she has been trying to learn new things like a language, an instrument, and cooking. What brings her happiness more than anything is stories, seen, read, or heard and she hopes she can spend a lifetime telling stories, sometimes her own but mostly of the people she comes across. She’s always ready to listen.

Gina Gruss
Gina Marie Gruss is an undergraduate student at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of FAU, double majoring in Creative Writing and Visual Art. She’s a born-and-raised south Floridian who hates the heat but loves her home state’s myths and nature. Her works have been featured by Amazon Prime Video, Mensa America, Wattpad, and FAU. She’s excitedly crafting her interdisciplinary senior thesis, which explores different Armageddons while centralizing disabled, queer, and diverse narratives. When not creating, she loves planning events, cooking and baking way too much food for said events, avoiding getting eaten by gators, and spoiling her cat Apollo.

Jessenia Hernandez
Jessenia Hernandez earned her B.A. with majors in English and Communication Studies from Florida Atlantic University. She dabbles in writing poetry and short fiction and had her short story “Skin” published in FAU’s literary magazine, Coastlines. Her poem ‘Las Uvas Se Quedan Contigo’ was also published as part of Brink’s group-writing project, Dually Noted. She loves to read YA fiction, high fantasy (the kinds of books with a map of a made-up world at the front), historical fiction, and the occasional cheesy romance to get her through reading slumps. She has worked as a writing consultant and bookseller, and one day hopes to edit and/or market fiction novels. She also earned a certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from FAU, and constantly strives to advocate for the rights and representation of marginalized communities. When she’s not reading or writing, you can find her scream-singing to musical theater songs or experimenting with baking.

Manal Ahmed
Manal Ahmed is a writer from Karachi, Pakistan. She recently graduated from Clark University where she studied English and Creative Writing. She writes short fiction, loves poetry, and is obsessed with alliteration. Her work has appeared in Dhoop Journal and lickety-split.

Matt Peadon
Matt Peadon is a character artist and art director working in film and video games. As the only blonde Australian that can’t surf, he pivoted and opted for a more digital medium. He was part of productions like Game of Thrones, Aquaman, Underworld, and Ghostbusters and has collaborated with organisations like Weta Workshop, NASA, KikkiK, Epic Games, and Magic Leap. Matt pursues his interest in photography and Hedlund’s quips by camera-slinging for Brink.

Daniel Reneau
Daniel Reneau is an illustrator and toy designer from Denver, Colorado, whose art is steeped in the realms of horror and comic books. He is a graduate of the Academy of Art University and a 2013 winner of the L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future award. His work has been seen in illustrations, cards, games, and toys ranging from Star Wars and Aliens to Dungeons & Dragons and Marvel. When he’s not drawing or painting, he can be found lost in the world of video games, reading comic books, or meticulously constructing ships that were seen a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

David Abrams
David Abrams is the author of Brave Deeds and Fobbit, a comedy about the Iraq War that Publishers Weekly called “an instant classic.” It was also a New York Times Notable Book of 2012, an Indie Next Pick, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, a Montana Honor Book, and a finalist for the L.A. Times’ Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. Abrams’ short stories have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and appeared in the anthologies Montana Noir, Watchlist, and Fire and Forget. Other stories and essays have appeared in Esquire, Narrative, Salon, F(r)iction, High Desert Journal, Salamander, Connecticut Review, The Greensboro Review, Consequence, and many other publications. He lives in Helena, Montana with his wife.

Scott O’Connor
Scott O’Connor is the author of A Perfect Universe: Ten Stories, the novels Zero Zone, Untouchable, and Half World and the novella Among Wolves. He has been awarded the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, and his stories have been shortlisted for the Sunday Times/EFG Story Prize and cited as Distinguished in Best American Short Stories. Additional work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, Zyzzyva, and The Los Angeles Review of Books.

Nate Ragolia
Nate Ragolia is an author, editor, publisher, and podcaster. He’s published two books, There You Feel Free (2015) and The Retroactivist (2019), and hosts the comedy trivia podcast A Vague Idea and the roleplaying podcast Roll For Blank. He has also dabbled in webcomics, e-zines, and music blogging, and works in community wealth development and nonprofit strategy. When he’s not doing the things listed above, he’s playing pub trivia, walking his dogs, and playing video games.

David Galef
David Galef is a shameless eclectic who writes far too much for his own good, let alone that of others. He’s published extremely short fiction in the collections Laugh Track and My Date with Neanderthal Woman (Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize), extremely long fiction via the novels Flesh, Turning Japanese, and How to Cope with Suburban Stress (Kirkus Best Books of 2006), and a lot in between. His latest is Brevity: A Flash Fiction Handbook, from Columbia University Press. His day job is as a Professor of English and the Creative Writing Program Director at Montclair State University. He’s also the new Editor-in-Chief at Vestal Review.

Bradley Clayton
Bradley Clayton is a Brooklyn based illustrator who specializes in comics. He grew up in Alabama and developed a love of comics at a young age, mostly Wonder Woman and the X-Men. His work tends to be very influenced by melding whatever he currently finds cute with a love of classical illustrators like J.C. Leyendecker and John Singer Sargent. He would love to hear about the time you met a ghost.

Tyler Champion
Tyler Champion is a freelance illustrator and designer. He grew up in Kentucky before moving to New Jersey to develop his passion at The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic art. After graduating in 2010 he headed back south to Nashville, TN, where he currently resides with his girlfriend, Melissa, and his two sons. Tyler has produced work for magazines, comics, design companies, and children’s books; including work for Sony music, F(r)iction magazine, Capstone Publishing, and Tell-a-Graphics.

Julian Mateus
Julian Mateus, a born artist hailing from Bogota, Colombia, moved with his twin brother and parents to Canada when he was only 7 years old, and then immigrated to the United States five years after that. After discovering the work of visionary artists such as Syd Mead, and classic sci-fi and fantasy films like Blade Runner, Star Wars, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Julian was inspired to pursue a career in film. Since his graduation from Full Sail University in 2010, he has dedicated his natural talents toward the creation of artwork for video games, comic books, and feature films. Julian Mateus currently calls Florida his home.

Samantha Dow
Samantha Dow is a writer, illustrator, and comic artist, based primarily out of New England. Their work, which often explores themes of the fantastic and fairytale meeting the mundane, includes Cornerwitches, a collection of short fantasy comics; Elsewhere University, an interactive and collaborative storytelling project; and the Gold Normal Tarot, a foil-accented oracle deck. When they’re not working on creative projects, they can be found sailing historic tall ships up and down the East Coast.

Enrica Angiolini
Eren Enrica Angiolini is a comic colorist and illustrator, with a huge passion for all things fantasy. Best know for their colour work on several DC publications, Titan Comic’s Doctor Who, and Image’s Sex Criminals: Sexual Gary. Born and raised in Rome, Italy, Eren has travelled a lot and lived around the world, and is now based in the UK. When they are not colouring or drawing, they hit people with swords (for real!).

Hailey Renee Brown
Hailey Renee Brown is a field biologist turned professional artist living in Pennsylvania. They attended the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in Dover, NJ, and are the award winning recipient of the 2017 Norman Maurer Memorial Award as well as the 2019 Kubert Jumpstart Project. With a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from Michigan State University, Hailey has also contributed to amphibian & reptile preservation and conservation. Hailey has taught kid’s classes at The Kubert School and is a freelance illustrator for a wide assortment of clientele including professional authors, magazines & publications, business owners, Newsarama, Dynamite Entertainment and Ominous Press.

Ejiwa Ebenebe
Ejiwa ‘Edge’ Ebenebe is a Nigerian-Canadian artist based in BC, Canada. Born outside of their parent’s homeland, they went on to experience multiple cultures throughout their childhood and early adulthood. As an immigrant, they wrestle with concepts of community and identity, both within themself and their work, and strive to create representation for voices (particularly Black and/or LGBTQ+ folks) who are often pushed out of positive, empowering narratives.
But also echoing in their work is a love for the ethereal, fantasy stories they grew up with. From a passion for vibrant colours, to a love of ornamentation, their varying homes have strongly moulded their creative perspective, weaving themselves throughout each piece they create.
In combining all these influences they hope to create work that is uplifting and whimsical, a respite from life’s rigors.
They have worked with clients including Scholastic, Wizards of the Coast and Marvel. Their work has also featured in publications such as ImagineFX Magazine, Infected By Art, and Brink’s very own F(r)iction.

Suzie Bartholomew
Suzie Bartholomew hails from Indiana and works for the Indianapolis Public Library. She earned her BA in English from Purdue University North Central (now Northwest) and her MFA in Creative Writing from Butler University. Having fully embraced her inner grandma, she loves to crochet, embroider, and live off of tea while cuddling with her cat. When she’s not working or being crafty, Suzie is focused on writing stories and indulging in serial killer documentaries.

Stefanie Molina
Stefanie lives in California in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is a freelance developmental editor specializing in fantasy and romance. She earned her BA in English with an emphasis in creative writing and a BA in Communications from the University of California at Davis. She’s one of those maddening people who buys five new books and then rereads Harry Potter instead. These days, Stefanie is more focused on editing than writing, but between projects she is steadily building a pile of half-finished stories and hopes (someday!) to complete one.

Sam Gladstone
Sam gave up studying English at the age of sixteen and would never have guessed that he would end up involved with an organization like Brink! Instead, he specializes in the languages of machines, working as a full stack developer by day and helping Brink with any tech-related queries at all times in between. He graduated with a Master of Mathematics from the University of East Anglia and is a passionate diver, helping to introduce people to the underwater world at a local club in Norfolk, UK.

Eileen Silverthorn
Eileen is a bookseller at the Tattered Cover in Denver, Colorado. She graduated from Colorado State University with a BA in English Creative Writing and minors in History and Women’s Interdisciplinary Studies. Inspired by her work with CSU’s undergraduate literary magazine Greyrock Review, Eileen decided to explore a career in publishing through the Denver Publishing Institute. She enjoys spending her time traveling, editing her friends’ fanfiction, reading ten books at once, spending her whole paycheck at her place of employment, and cuddling her cats whilst writing bios about herself in the third person.

Helen Maimaris
With a background in writing and BA in English Literature and Creative Writing, Helen joined Brink in 2016, soon rising to the rank of COO, a position she held for nearly five years before becoming Brink’s Chief of Staff. When she’s not madly consuming any comic she can get her hands on, she also serves as the Managing Editor of F(r)iction, overseeing the submission pipeline, senior editor team, volunteer training, and production of the journal. She also frequently speaks on panels and at events, specializing in discussing positive and ethical internships in the publishing industry, increasing accessibility, and how to manage a volunteer taskforce ethically and effectively.
Helen lives in Bristol, UK, and has traveled extensively, with past adventures including training as a professional scuba diving guide, participating in scientific fieldwork with humpback whales in Ecuador, and assisting at a rainforest animal rehabilitation center in Bolivia.

Dani Hedlund
After the publication of her first novel at the age of eighteen, Dani Hedlund founded the international literary nonprofit Brink Literacy Project (formerly Tethered by Letters). Over the course of the last decade, Brink has grown into one of the largest independently-funded literary nonprofits in the nation, with bases across the US, UK, and Southeast Asia. She is also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of F(r)iction, an art and literary collection specializing in boundary-defying work. Since its inception in 2015, F(r)iction has risen to critical acclaim, becoming one of the fastest growing literary journals in the world. In her ever-elusive free time, Dani lectures about the ins and outs of the publishing industry, writes very weird fiction, and runs a strange little board game company called Bad Hipster Games.

Andrew Jimenez
Andrew Jimenez is a freelance writer and editor living in Brooklyn, NY. His nonfiction work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Paris Review Daily, Luna Luna, and Curlew Magazine. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School and is currently working on a novel about the early life of Abraham Lincoln.

Kaitlin Lounsberry
Kaitlin Lounsberry graduated magna cum laude from Columbia College Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and a minor in fiction writing. She recently earned her master’s degree in Writing and Publishing from DePaul University with distinction. While working towards her master’s, Kaitlin was a managing editor for The Garica Boy, published through Big Shoulders Book. She has bylines in publications in The State Journal-Register, The Columbia Chronicle, Pop’Stache, and Chicago Talks. Kaitlin is currently working on her first novel and loves to listen to true crime podcasts and learn about wine in her spare time.

Thomas Chisholm
Thomas Chisholm is a freelance editor, creative writer, and an alumnus of The Evergreen State College. He received a year of formal copyediting training from the University of Washington’s editing certificate program, though he especially enjoys cracking a story open and getting into developmental edits. Originally from suburban Detroit, he’s called Seattle home since 2009. His creative work has appeared in Inkwell, Drizzle Review, and Vanishing Point Magazine.

Jon Schindehette
Jon is a veteran of the marketing, gaming and publishing industries. Through the years, he has worked with clients such as: Disney, Fox Entertainment, Warner Brothers, Hasbro, Wizards of the Coast, ThinkGeek, Harley-Davidson, Microsoft, Kodak, Price Waterhouse, Atari, Activision, Nintendo, Pokémon, Sony Entertainment, CBS, Bioware, Bethesda SoftWorks, Crystal Dynamics, and many more. In his spare time, Jon creates lots of sawdust while building fun woodworking projects.

Carolyn Janecek
Carolyn Janecek is a Czech-American writer and MFA student at Colorado State University whose poetry has been featured in The Florida Review, Permafrost, and ellipsis… literature & art, among others. Before the pandemic, Carolyn could be spotted at Sephora, covered in glitter; buying flowers at Trader Joe’s for Instagram photoshoots; and petting every dog within visible range. For now, they make do with updating their bookstagram and social distancing in the park.

Emily Brill-Holland
Emily is a proud Kiwi, hailing from Aotearoa New Zealand. She is a real-life Bard, spending her time immersed in stories, whether it be reading, editing, writing, running ttrpgs professionally, her podcast Please Fix This By Friday, or acting/producing/directing stage and film. Or talking the ears off her friends and family. When she’s not soaking in stories, you can find her out in the wilderness, enjoying everything Nature has to offer.

Chase Bailey
Chase Bailey is a baker living in Columbus, OH. He holds a BA in Professional Writing from Miami University and he enjoys learning about the evolution of colloquial language. Chase is a fiend for any book with magic or queer characters—don’t even get him started on queer characters with magic. When he’s not spamming your feed with F(r)iction-related content, Chase enjoys listening to the birds, sharing apples with his dog, and doing yoga. Eventually—eventually—he will put together a chapbook of poetry.

Asa C. Garber
Like many writers, Asa spends most of his time writing drafts, then editing to the point of loving, then hating, then loving what he’s written. A select few read and appreciate his work; the general public either ignores or does not understand it. But such is the life of a lawyer. Asa is the founder of Reason Legal, LLC, providing legal services and consultation to businesses and entrepreneurs. He is a proud supporter of Brink’s many good works.

Ally Geist
Ally is a quirky little Canuck living in Toronto, Canada (yes, they do have a lot of maple syrup up there!). She graduated with a BA in Theatre Studies (specializing in Playwriting and Dramaturgy) from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. She also has a post-grad certificate in Publishing from Ryerson University. When Ally is not reading, crying over cute puppy videos on the internet, defending the merits of the Oxford comma, or watching reruns of Schitts Creek, she is most likely lip-synching for her life in her bedroom, pretending she is one of the fabulous Drag Race queens.

Jaclyn Morken
Jaclyn is an aspiring writer and editor from Saskatoon, Canada, where she completed an MFA in Writing and BA Hons in English at the University of Saskatchewan. Her work can be found in antilang no. 1, Dually Noted (March 2019), and River Volta Review of Books. Jaclyn writes fantasy and speculative fiction.

Amber Sullivan
Amber is a writer and professional writing consultant based in Denver, CO. She graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English Writing with focuses in comics and film from the University of Colorado, Denver. She can often be found lurking in the darkest alleys, reading comics to cockroaches. When she is not dreaming of life as an octopus, she writes and performs ridiculous lyrics to heal her friends during short rests.

Carissa Villagomez
Carissa Villagomez is an undergraduate at The University of Chicago, pursuing a B.A. in English Literature and minors in Digital Studies and Human Rights (though that list of studies may extend). Her past experiences in publishing have taught her much, but she’s always looking to learn more! Her passion for storytelling has only intensified over the years, and she looks forward to doing her bit to uplift authors’ voices everywhere.

Miki Schumacher
Miki Schumacher is based in Minneapolis and is a student at the University of Minnesota. They will be graduating with a B.A. in English with minors in creative writing, teaching ESL, and Asian American studies. They love learning languages and reading and creating poetry. When they’re not busy teaching or writing, they’re probably cooking, working on a painting, playing an RPG, or starting a new book.

Carl McDonald
Carl McDonald is a grant writer from Greeley, Colorado. He received a BA in English attending the University of Northern Colorado, where he enjoyed learning rhetorical theory and about the different types of stories that people tell. Carl has spent his whole life immersed in one type of storytelling or another, whether it was in the form of a book, graphic novel, or his weekly D&D games. But when not engaging with the stories around him, Carl enjoys board games and adventures into the woods with his family.

Erin Clements
Erin Clements is an Ohio-based editor and writer who holds a graduate certificate in Publishing from New York University and a BA in English from Ohio Christian University. She loves everything literary, from Shakespeare to the newest fantasy bestseller, and she’ll happily tell you her opinions on everything from Shakespeare’s Dark Lady to how stories could and should be more diverse. When she’s not working as the Senior Community Manager for John Green’s charity book club, Life’s Library, she’s probably listening to podcasts, buying more books than she could ever read, or getting emotional over dogs.

Esther Hsu
Esther Hsu is a high school English teacher based in California. They graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a BA in English and Japanese and from SJSU with their Master’s in Educational Curriculum and Instruction. When they’re not thinking about ways to upset the current educational system or include diverse voices in curriculum, they can probably be found playing a board game, immersing themselves in video games, binging Netflix, trying to get their cat to love them, or studying languages.

Aisling O’Mahony
Aisling is a recent graduate living in London. She studied her BA in English and History at University College Cork, followed by an MA in English Literature. She loves all things theater and has directed, acted and set-designed for various productions (though not all at once!). When she’s not reading or writing, she loves taking pictures for her Bookstagram account and indulging her recent hobby, candle-making. Her written work has appeared in the Honest Ulsterman, Poetry in the Time of Coronavirus Anthology and the Cornerstone Anthology.

Sonya Minner
Sonya Minner is a self-proclaimed writer from western Pennsylvania. She successfully graduated from California University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing in 2015. Since then, she’s bounced around from place to place. She currently works in an office by day and writes YA fiction (and sometimes hockey articles) by night. If she’s not writing, she’s probably tweeting. One day, she hopes to pay off her student loan debt and publish a best-selling YA novel, just maybe not in that order.

Evan Sheldon
Evan lives in Denver, CO and is a graduate from the Denver Publishing Institute. He is the author of Shed the Midnight (Ghost City Press, 2019). His creative work has appeared in over forty different publications and has been translated into Russian. When he is not writing or editing, he is most likely reading to his young daughter or studying the history of weird literature and fairy tales.

Maribel Leddy
Maribel Leddy graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a BA in Writing Seminars. She’s originally from Buffalo, New York, but she now lives in Chicago where she works as an Associate Content Strategist at Yakkety Yak, a digital marketing agency. Outside of work, she enjoys cooking, traveling, and eating.

Drew Nolte
Drew Nolte is a professional designer who decided to take time off work and get an MFA in poetry. Using his web and design knowledge, he looks for projects and opportunities to help the literary world anyway he can. He has been a marketing designer, college web designer, partner in a ruby on rails company, and now leading design for a luxury travel company.