Erin Elizabeth Smith

Founder and Executive Director at Sundress Publications and the Sundress Academy for the Arts; Founding Editor & Consulting Editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Stirring: A Literary Collection; President of the Board of Directors

Erin Elizabeth Smith (she/her) is the Executive Director of Sundress Publications and the Sundress Academy for the Arts. She is the author of three full-length collections of poetry, most recently DOWN (SFASU 2020). Her work has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Guernica, Ecotone, Crab Orchard, and Mid-American and has received support from the Academy of American Poets. Smith is a Distinguished Lecturer in the English Department at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and the Poet Laureate of Oak Ridge, TN.

A masc presenting white person with short hair, wearing a black collared shirt and black pants and with tattoos sits on some wooden stairs, looking into the camera.

Managing Editor at Sundress Publications; Managing Editor of Best of the Net; Vice President of the Board of Directors

Tennison S. Black (they/them) is the author of Survival Strategies (winner of the National Poetry Series, UGA Press 2023) and the editor of the anthology on contemporary disability, A Body You Talk To. Their work has appeared or is forthcoming in SWWIM, Hotel Amerika, Booth, Wordgathering, and New Mobility, among others. The Managing Editor at Sundress Publications and Best of the Net, they reside in Washington State and teach writing at ASU.

A biracial Asian person sits in front of a teal wall. They have short dark brown hair and are wearing a bumblebee necklace over a black sleeveless turtleneck. They are smiling. 

Staff Director at Sundress Publications

Kanika Lawton is a Cambodian-Chinese Canadian writer, editor, and film scholar. They are a PhD student at the University of Toronto’s Cinema Studies Institute and the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies. A multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, they have received fellowships from Pink Door, BOAAT Writer’s Retreat, and the Sundress Academy for the Arts and have been published in Vagabond City Literary JournalLongleaf ReviewGlass: A Journal of PoetryCosmonauts Avenue, and Parentheses Journal, among others. They are the author of four micro-chapbooks, most recently Theories on Wreckage (Ghost City Press, 2020). Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, they now live and work in Toronto, Ontario.

Acquisitions Editor & Associate Poetry Editor at Sundress Publications

Tierney Bailey is a loudmouth, a Libra, a lover of science fiction and poetry, and a dice-collecting gremlin. Currently, Tierney is the Acquisitions Editor and an Associate Poetry Editor with Sundress Publications, a copyeditor at Strange Horizons,, slush reader for PodCastle, Publishing Assistant with Escape Artists Inc., and a freelancer. She has earned a Masters Degree in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College. Tierney is most easily found screaming into the void on Twitter as @ergotierney.

A brown, widely-smiling face with thick, black rimmed glasses and burgundy lipstick leans into the frame, a hand supporting the chin.

Co-Editor for Chapbook Series at Sundress Publications

Ashley Elizabeth (she/her) is a queer Pushcart-nominated writer and educator. Her poems and essays have appeared in or are forthcoming from Honey Lit, SWWIM, Stanchion, Hellebore, and West Trestle Review, among others. Ashley’s first chapbook collection, you were supposed to be a friend, is available from Nightingale & Sparrow, while her sophomore collection, black has every right to be angry, is forthcoming from Alternating Current Press. When Ashley isn’t teaching, editing, or working as a chapbook editor for Sundress Publications, she habitually posts on Twitter and Instagram (@ae_thepoet). She lives with her partner and their cats in Baltimore, MD. Ashley is Black before she is anything else.

Associate Prose Editor at Sundress Publications

Samantha Edmonds is the author of the chapbooks Pretty to Think So (Selcouth Station Press, 2019) and The Space Poet (forthcoming from Split Lip Press). Her fiction and nonfiction appears or is forthcoming in such journals as The Rumpus, Ninth Letter, Mississippi Review, Black Warrior Review, Indiana Review, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, among others. She has formerly served as the Fiction Editor for Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts and as the Community Outreach Director for Sundress Academy for the Arts; currently, she works as the Assitant Fiction Editor for Sundress Publications and the Fiction Editor for Doubleback Review. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Cincinnati and an MFA from the University of Tennessee. Originally from Ohio, she now lives in Columbia, MO, where she’s a PhD candidate in Fiction at the University of Missouri.

Associate Poetry Editor at Sundress Publications

Sherrel McLafferty is a first-year doctoral student with Rhetoric and Writing Studies at Bowling Green State University, where she also received her BFA and MFA in Poetry. Her poems have been featured in Requited Journal, Merrimack Review, ArLiJo, and Notre Dame Review. She is currently a poetry editor for Pidgeonholes, Linden Avenue Literary Journal, and Split Lip Magazine.

Ada Wofford playing guitar in a basement.

Associate Poetry Editor at Sundress Publications; Lead Grant Writer at the Sundress Academy for the Arts

Ada Wofford is a trans/genderqueer, asexual writer interested in Dadaist and Absurdist thought. They hold an MA in English and an MA Library & Information Studies. Their first chapbook, I Remember Learning How to Dive, was published in 2020 and earned them a Pushcart Prize nomination. Their writing has appeared in The Blue Nib, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Autostraddle, Capable Magazine, Sundress Reads, and more. They are also the Nonfiction Editor at Stirring: A Literary Collection and an Associate Poetry Editor and the Lead Grant Writer at Sundress Publications. They recently published the YA novel, Loops of Willow, under a pen name available at losgannpress.com.

Assistant Editor at Sundress Publications

Lee Anderson is a trans author with roots in the Pacific North-, Mid-, and Southwest, though they currently live and write in Chicago. They have an MFA from Northern Arizona University, are an alum of the Mountain Words Writers-in-Residence program and the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, and have been nominated for a Best of the Net award. You can find their work in places such as The Rumpus, Salt Hill Journal, and Torrey House Press, as well as @bxfrizzle on Twitter.

A black and white photo of a non-binary person with dark hair and dark eyes, looking up, framed by a brick wall in the background and the night sky.

Member of the Board of Directors; Assistant Editor at Sundress Publications; Editor-in-Chief of beestung

Sarah Clark is a mad crip genderfuck two-spirit enrolled Nanticoke editor, writer, and cultural consultant. They are Editor-in-Chief of beestung, Editor-in-Chief and Poetry Editor at ANMLY, Editor-in-Chief at ALOCASIA: a journal of queer plant-based writing, Co-Editor of The Queer Movement Anthology and the Bettering American Poetry series, a former reader at The Atlas Review, and a current Board member and Assistant Editor at Sundress Publications. They have edited folios for publications including the GLITTERBRAIN folio and a folio on Indigenous & Decolonial Futures & Futurisms at ANMLY, folios on Sound Art, “Desire & Interaction,” and a collection of global Indigenous art and literature, First Peoples, Plural at Drunken Boat. They were co-editor of the folio at Apogee Journal#NoDAPL #Still Here folio, and their series WE OUTLAST EMPIRE and Place[meant]. Sarah is a former Executive Board member at VIDA and former Editor-in-Chief of VIDA Review, where they curated a series of essays by writers outside of the binary, Body of a Poem and the interview series, Voices of Bettering American Poetry. Sarah freelances, and has worked with a number of literary and arts publications and organizations, including the Best of the Net anthology, contemptoraryCurious Specimens, #PoetsResist at Glass PoetryApogee Journal, Blackbird, the Paris Review, and elsewhere.

Femme-presenting middle-aged woman with short blonde hair, large light blue glasses, and floral arm tattoo looks wistfully at the camera

Treasurer of the Board of Directors; Managing Editor of Doubleback Review and The Wardrobe

Krista Cox is a poet, teacher, and freelancer. She’s Managing Editor at Doubleback Review and The Wardrobe, and an Associate Poetry Editor at Stirring: A Literary Collection. Her free time is spent reading nonfiction and volunteering on the Board of the LGBTQ Center of South Bend, Indiana. Her poetry has appeared in Columbia Journal, Salt Hill, South Dakota Review, and elsewhere. On the web at www.kristacox.com.

jason b. crawford

Member of the Board of Directors

jason b. crawford (They/He/She) born in Washington DC and raised in Lansing, MI, is the author of Year of the Unicorn Kidz. They have poems in POETRY Magazine, Cincinnati Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, RHINO Poetry, among others. The are a 2023 Emerging Writers Fellow for Lambda Liteary and hold their MFA in Poetry from The New School. Their second collection, YEET! is the winner of the Omnidawn 12st/2nd Book Prize and will be published Fall 2025.

Jill Khoury has short pink hair and pale skin with pink lipstick. In front of a blue background, she gazes thoughtfully at the camera.

Member of the Board of Directors; Editor of Rogue Agent

Jill Khoury (she/her) is a disabled poet. She is a Western Pennsylvania Writing Project fellow and has taught poetry in high school, university, and enrichment settings. She holds an MFA from The Ohio State University and edits Rogue Agent, a journal of embodied poetry and art. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, including Copper Nickel, CALYX, diode, and The Shore. Winner of the Gatewood Prize from Switchback Books, her second full-length collection earthwork is forthcoming in 2024. Connect with her at jillkhoury.com.

A headshot of Darren C. Demaree smiling in a park during fall with a black t-shirt on that reads "Love Will".

Assistant Editor at Sundress Publications; Editor-in-Chief of Best of the Net; Member of the Board of Directors

Darren C. Demaree is the author of twenty poetry collections, most recently Tongues Out in the Garden of Spectacle (Newcomer Press, 2023).  He is the recipient of a Greater Columbus Arts Council Grant, an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Louise Bogan Award from Trio House Press, and the Nancy Dew Taylor Award from Emrys Journal.  He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Best of the Net Anthology and the Managing Editor of Ovenbird Poetry.  He is currently living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.

Assistant Editor at Sundress Publications

Kathleen Gullion is a writer whose work has appeared in The Boiler, X-R-A-Y Magazine, and Coachella Review, and onstage at various theaters in Chicago. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is based in Houston, where she works in medical simulation.

Ashley Hajimirsadeghi

Assistant Editor at Sundress Publications

Ashley Hajimirsadeghi is an Iranian-American multimedia artist, journalist, and writer. She currently is an M.A. Candidate in Global Humanities at Towson University and previously received her BS in International Trade and Marketing from the Fashion Institute of Technology.  The recipient of awards, scholarships, and honors from the US State Department, the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program, the State University of New York, and Brooklyn Poets, Ashley is the author of two chapbooks (cinephile, Ghost City Press, and cartography of trauma, dancing girl press) and currently writes/interviews for MovieWeb. Her creative writing has appeared in Hobart, RHINO, Salt Hill, DIALOGIST, among others. Find her online at www.ashleyhajimirsadeghi.com

Danielle Hanson

Marketing Director at Sundress Publications; Assistant Editor at Sundress Publications; Poetry Editor of Craft Chaps; Managing Editor of Doubleback Books

Danielle Hanson strives to create and facilitate wonder. She is author of Fraying Edge of Sky, winner of the Codhill Press Poetry Prize, and Ambushing Water, Finalist for the Georgia Author of the Year Award. Her poetry was the basis for a puppet show at the Center for Puppetry Arts. She is Marketing Director for Sundress Publications, and serves on their Editorial Board. She curated a poet/artist collaboration show Alloy at Arts Beacon in Atlanta, where she was Poet-in-Residence. Previously, she has also been Writer-in-Residence for Georgia Writers, Poetry Editor for Hayden’s Ferry Review, and Poetry Editor for Doubleback Books. Her work has appeared in over 100 journals. She teaches poetry at the University of California, Irvine. More at daniellejhanson.com.

Sarah Harshbarger

Assistant Editor at Sundress Publications

Sarah Harshbarger is a PhD student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she currently serves as Fiction Editor of Grist. Her work has appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Passages North, The Sewanee Review, and elsewhere.

Assistant Editor at Sundress Publications; Host of Shitty First Drafts

Brynn Martin is a Kansas native living in Knoxville, where she received her MFA in poetry from the University of Tennessee. She co-hosts Shitty First Drafts, a podcast made for and by writers. Her poetry has appeared in Contrary Magazine, Yes, Poetry, Rogue Agent, and Crab Orchard Review.

Rita Mookerjee

Assistant Editor at Sundress Publications; Nonfiction Editor of Craft Chaps; Member of the Board of Directors

Rita Mookerjee is an Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Worcester State University. In 2020, she was a Fulbright Research Fellow in Kingston, Jamaica. She is the author of False Offering, forthcoming from JackLeg Press (Fall 2023). Her poems can be found in the Baltimore Review, New Orleans Review, the Offing, Poet Lore, and Vassar Review. She serves as an editor at Split Lip Magazine, Sundress Publications, and Honey Literary.

Assistant Editor at Sundress Publications

Elisha Mykelti (she/her/hers) is dedicated to musical, dialectical, and innovative poetry that honors time and place, especially the South. Elisha is a 2nd-grade associate teacher and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with a concentration in Creative Writing from the University of Tennessee. She has been published in Berkeley Poetry Review (Issue 51), and she has hosted “Writin’ Rhythm – A Writers Workshop” for Sundress Publications. She has also been a guest speaker for two poetry writing courses at the University of Tennessee.

Assistant Poetry Editor at Sundress Publications

Saba Syed Razvi is the author of the collections In the Crocodile Gardens and heliophobia, as well as the chapbooks Limerence & LuxOf the Divining and the Dead, and Beside the Muezzin’s Call & Beyond the Harem’s Veil. Her poems have appeared in journals such as The Offending Adam, Diner, TheTHE Poetry Blog’s Infoxicated Corner, The Homestead Review, NonBinary Review, 10×3 plus, 13th Warrior Review, The Arbor Vitae Review, and Arsenic Lobster, and others, as well as in anthologies such as Carrying the Branch: Poets in Search of Peace (forthcoming), Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War Faith and Sexuality, The Loudest Voice AnthologyThe Liddell Book of PoetryPolitical Punch: Contemporary Poems on the Politics of IdentityThe Rhysling Anthology, and Dreamspinning. Her works have been nominated for the 2017 Elgin Award, the Bettering American Poetry Awards, The Best of the Net Award, and the Rhysling Award, have appeared on the 2018 Stoker Award’s preliminary ballot and have received a 2015 Independent Best American Poetry Award. She earned her PhD in Literature & Creative Writing from the University of Southern California in 2012. She is currently working as an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Houston in Victoria, TX, where in addition to working on scholarly research on interfaces between science and contemporary poetry, she is researching Sufi poetry in translation, writing new poems and fiction, and developing community based-programs to highlight poetry and contemporary literature in the Crossroads region of Texas.

Amber Alexander, a feminine presenting person, poses for a photo wearing a red blazer and top with a black skirt. They have a medium length blonde hair and are looking thoughtfully into the distance.

Member of the Reader Board; Assistant Editor for the Best of the Net Anthology

Amber Alexander, who publishes creative work as e. holloway, is a poet based in Ohio. They are a former editorial intern for Sundress Publications, former editorial board member for Cornfield Review, and was a Sundress Academy for the Arts Writing Resident in 2023. Their work has been published by Cornfield Review and earned multiple awards during undergrad at The Ohio State University. Follow them at @hollowaye_ on twitter.

Member of the Reader Board

Onyedikachi Chinedu is a student at the University of Port Harcourt, Choba, where they currently study for a B.A. in English Studies. They are a poet, editor, and cat lover. Their poems have been published in the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, Cortland Review, Anomaly, and elsewhere. A 2023 Gregory Pardlo Fellow at the Frost Place and a HUES Foundation scholar, they currently intern at 20.35 Africa and are a Reader Board Member at Sundress Publications—a recent employment which they volunteer at.

A portrait of the author L.M. Cole, a white person with mid-length brown-red hair in a black shirt, in front of a white door.

Member of the Reader Board

L.M. Cole (She/They) is a writer and artist from North Dakota who now resides in North Carolina. She is the Editor-In-Chief of Bulb Culture Collective and a poetry reader for Moss Puppy Magazine. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks, SALT MOUTH MOSS QUEEN (Alien Buddha Press 2022) and Eat Me(at) Your Earliest Convenience (Kith Books 2023). Her writing and art have appeared in various publications, including The Pinch Journal, CLOVES, The McNeese Review, Stanchion, among others. L.M. is a parent, a pet owner, and a general mess who can be found on Twitter @_scoops__

Close-up of femme-ish presenting middle-aged woman with asymmetrical, short dark hair, nose piercings, and intense eyebrows in front of hanging plant. She is smiling slightly.

Member of the Reader Board

Beth Couture is the Director of the Counseling Center at University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Her clinical interests include grief and loss, LGBTQIA+ concerns, neurodivergence, existential issues, transitions, and creative concerns. Before working at UArts, she worked in community mental health and with adults with autism. Beth is also a fiction writer. Her novella Women
Born with Fur 
was published by Jaded Ibis Press in 2014, and she has stories in Gargoyle, Drunken BoatThe Yalobusha Review, and other print and online journals. She is currently under supervision for her PTR (Poetry Therapy Registration). _

A white woman with long, dirty blonde hair stands before a blurred background of trees. She wears a black turtleneck shirt and gazes into the camera.

Member of the Reader Board

Kenli Doss holds a BA in English and a BA in Theatre-Performance from Jacksonville State University. She is a freelance writer and actress based out of Alabama, and she spends her free time painting scenes from nature, gardening, or writing poetry for her mom. Ken’s works appear in Something Else (a JSU literary arts journal), Bonemilk II by Gutslut Press, Snowflake Magazine, The Shakespeare Project’s Romeo and Juliet Study Guide and A Midsummer Night’s Dream Study Guide, and The White Cresset Arts Journal.

A brown-skinned woman with chin length hair reclines on a flight of stairs, posing with a bright pink book, titled "Friday Night Hand Greande."

Member of the Reader Board

Sierra Farrare is a self-published author and graduate of the University of Baltimore’s MFA Program for Creative Writing & Publishing Arts. As a native Baltimorean and lifelong writer, people-watching has become her favorite extreme sport. When she’s not busy writing, Sierra can usually be found color-coding or organizing her workplace or dissecting obscure pop culture theories.

A headshot of Adriana Rambay Fernandez with long brown hair, dark eyes, and a solemn expression, wearing hoop earrings and a red wrap, set against the backdrop of blue sky, clouds, sand and ocean.

Member of the Reader Board

Adriana Rambay Fernández is a writer, poet, and artist currently living in Virginia. She holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars where she was a recipient of the MFA Fiction Prize. She was also a Writers of Immigration and Diaspora Fellow for Jack Jones Literary Arts. Her writing has appeared in the American Literary Review, Hennepin Review, Four Way Review, and elsewhere. Born in New Jersey to Dominican immigrants, her writing explores the nature of absence, loss, and intergenerational wounds. Adriana is currently at work on a collection of short stories and a collection of poetry.

A white woman sits on a rocky surface with snow-capped mountains in the distance. She has windswept blonde hair in a ponytail and is smiling. She is wearing a yellow tie dye t-shirt, shorts, and hiking boots.

Member of the Reader Board

Jen Gayda Gupta is a poet, educator, and wanderer. She earned her BA in English at the University of Connecticut and her MA in Teaching English from New York University. Jen lives, writes, and travels across the U.S. in a tiny camper with her husband and their dog. Her work has been published in Up the Staircase, Rattle, Jellyfish Review, Sky Island Journal, The Shore, and others. You can find her @jengaydagupta and jengaydagupta.com.

Annalisa is smiling in the reflection of a mirror in a beige plaid sweater vest over a navy blue shirt.

Member of the Reader Board

Annalisa Hansford (they/them) studies Creative Writing at Emerson College. Their poetry appears or is forthcoming in The West Review, The Lumiere Review, and Heavy Feather Review. They are the co-editor-in-chief of hand picked poetry and a poetry editor for The Emerson Review and Hominum Journal.

Close up photo of a blonde haired woman with tattoos in a black dress.

Member of the Reader Board

Layla Lenhardt (she/they) is a poet with ties to Pennsylvania, but currently living in Indianapolis. She is the author of the full-lenght poetry collection Mother Tongue (Mainstreet Rag 2023). She is the Editor-in-Chief of the (on hiatus) national literary Journal 1932 Quarterly. She was a writer in residence at Sundress’s Firefly Farms in 2022, a judge for the 25th Annual Poetry Super Highway Contest, as well as a Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee. Layla works as a gallery curator and lives with her two cats, Beauregard and Giovanni.
An outdoor headshot of Sienna Morgan, a woman with short curly hair, wearing black glasses and a white shirt, smiling.

Member of the Reader Board

Sienna Morgan, who publishes literary art as Sienna L. M., is a poet born, living, and writing in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. She is a recipient of a Pitt County Arts Council at Emerge, Artist Support Grant. She is also the author of her self-published, debut poetry chapbook, Palmade Poiēmas: For This Is My Handiwork, released in November 2023. She was the 2021 Colorism Healing Writing Contest Guest Judge. Her poems, short stories, and essays are published or are planned to be published by Colorism Healing, The Black Light Project, Black Oak Society Magazine, Midnight & Indigo, The Arrow: A Journal of Wakeful Society, Culture & Politics, and more.

A white woman in a black dress and glasses looking at the camera.

Member of the Reader Board

Robin LaMer Rahija is originally from Kansas City but has lived in Kentucky for over a decade. She received her MFA from the University of Kentucky, where she is currently the Department Manager Associate in the Department of English. In 2010, she co-founded and edited Rabbit Catastrophe Press, a handbound, feminist, book arts micropress, which closed in 2020. In 2015, she co-founded Workhorse Writers Collective, a publishing and education platform for poets outside of academia. Her poems have appeared in Puerto Del Sol, FENCE, Guernica, and elsewhere. Inside Out Egg, her first full-length book, will be published by Variant Lit in 2024.

Delaney S. Saul smiles at the camera. She has straight brown hair, blue eyes, and long bangs that brush her eyebrows. She wears a mottled purple top, a gold necklace, and a ruched silk headdress. Her earrings are little burning houses.

Member of the Reader Board

Delaney S. Saul is a writer, editor, and lover of the Pacific Northwest. She is the Associate Editor of the young adult literary journal Voyage YA by Uncharted and a reader for Sundress Publications. She holds an MFA in fiction writing from the Stonecoast MFA Program and is the former Editor-in-Chief of the print literary journal Stonecoast Review. She has done additional work for other publications including Reductress, Carve, and Earshot Press. Her fiction has been featured in Gone Lawn, The Molotov Cocktail, Fast Flesh, and Barrelhouse, among others. Delaney lives in Washington State with her husband and their three-legged dog, Patricia Arquette.
Headshot of Max Stone from the shoulders up, wearing a black button-up and sweater vest.

Member of the Reader Board

Max Stone is a poet from Reno, Nevada. He holds an MFA in poetry and a BA in English with a minor in Book Arts and Publication from the University of Nevada, Reno. Max is passionate about building the literary community in Reno; he frequently organizes poetry readings and worked on the Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl in 2022. He is the author of two chapbooks: The Bisexual Lighting Makes Everyone Beautiful (Ghost City Press, 2023) and Temporary Preparations (Bottlecap Press, 2023). His work has appeared in & Change, fifth wheel press, Frozen Sea, The Meadow, just femme & dandy, Night Coffee Lit, and elsewhere.
Marah Hoffman

Creative Director at Sundress Academy for the Arts; Blog Contributor for We Call Upon the Author to Explain

Marah Hoffman grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania. Since graduating with her bachelors in English and creative writing in 2022, she has lived in Tennessee, Michigan, and now North Carolina. She is an MFA candidate in creative nonfiction at University of North Carolina Wilmington and the Creative Director of Sundress Academy for the Arts. She enjoys genre fluidity, whimsicality, cats, lattes, distance running, travel, and adding to her personal lexicon. Her list of favorite words grows every week.

Z Eihausen

Staff Director at Sundress Academy for the Arts

Z Eihausen is a former SAFTA editorial intern and a student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville where she studies English and Philosophy. She also likes bees.

A long-haired, bearded caucasian person wearing fingerless black gloves, black tights, black shoes with silver lion buckles, and a sleeveless blue dress is speaking into a cordless microphone on a wooden stage. The dress has white stars all over it and depictions of the phases of the moon vertically down its front. Behind them are two blue lights, and a stage curtain illuminated in bisexual lighting.

Spring 2024 Writer in Residence at the Sundress Academy for the Arts

Joey Gould is a queer teacher whose poetry explores faith, grief, longing, birds, & human connection. They wrote The Acute Avian Heart (Lily Poetry Review, 2019) & Penitent > Arbiter (Lily Poetry Review, 2021), while their recent work has appeared in Meow Meow Pow Pow, Miniskirt Magazine, & beestung. They also serve as Poetry Editor for Drunk Monkeys. They have aided in the planning & execution of both the Massachusetts & New York City Poetry Festivals, while leading poetry workshops in schools, libraries, and nursing homes across Massachusetts since 2011. Joey, who performs as Izzy Hexxam in the Boston cast of Poetry Society of New York’s Poetry Brothel, delights in novel poetry performance, including appearances as a carnival barker in a poetry circus, drumming for a poetry/belly dance event, writing poems to order in an art gallery, & hosting an open mic in an alleyway in Salem, MA. Joey writes on location at cool-sounding places like Skunk’s Misery, Mount Desert, and Half Moon Beach.

A light-brown skinned woman is wearing a black, faux-leather off the shoulder dress with matching circular gold earrings and a choker necklace. Her locs are styled in an up-do and she is smiling directly into the camera wearing glasses with a black and white frame and a full face of makeup including light pink lipstick.

Literary Arts Director at the Sundress Academy for the Arts

Denise R. Ervin is a creative writer hewn from the streets, classrooms, and boardrooms of Detroit, all of which taught her to contribute to the narrative of those who live, love, and look like her. She has spent two decades as a teaching artist, performing poetry around the country, and leading workshops for the likes of Midnight & Indigo and Room Project. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in AADUNA, Harbinger Asylum, Third Wednesday Magazine, and others.  Most recently, she was selected as a Writing Fellow by The Watering Hole and a semifinalist for America’s Next Great Author.

Shlagha is wearing a dark blue t-shirt and is standing next to some houseplants. In the background, there is a plain cream wall and a blurred image of a religious deity. She is smiling.

Reading Series Coordinator, Sundress Academy for the Arts

Shlagha Borah (she/her) is a queer multi-genre writer from Assam, India. Her work appears in Salamander, Nashville Review, Identity Theory, Longleaf Review, Rogue Agent, and elsewhere. She is pursuing an MFA in Poetry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and is an Associate Poetry Editor at Grist and Doubleback Review. She has received support for her work from Brooklyn Poets and SAFTA. She is the co-founder of Pink Freud, a student-led collective working towards making mental health accessible in India.

One person posed for a selfie. They have green hair and sunglasses on with a mask under their chin.

Community Outreach Director, Sundress Academy for the Arts

Emory Night is queer author from East Tennessee. They are currently a senior at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and are working on getting their bachelor’s in creative writing. They have worked as an intern for both Sundress Publications and SAFTA. They have been published in The Phoenix, a literary magazine at the University of Tennessee. During their free time you’ll find them hanging out with their cats, playing Dungeons and Dragons, or playing video games.

Alexa White

Grant Manager at the Sundress Academy for the Arts

Alexa White is a mixed-race, neurodivergent writer and graduate of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she earned her BA in creative writing and studio art. While attending, she won the 2022 Bain-Swiggett prize for traditional poetry forms and her poetry and art has appeared in The Phoenix, the school’s literary and arts magazine. Alexa lives in Knoxville, her semi-hometown, and is the Grants Manager at Sundress Academy for the Arts. She takes delight in backroads, quarries, and the last few seconds of sunset and redefines her bedtime nightly.

Photograph of Caroline Webster standing in front of a brick building

Lead Grant Writer, Sundress Academy for the Arts

Caroline Webster lives and works in Raleigh, NC. She is a graduate of Davidson College, where she earned a BA in English and Classical Studies and wrote a lot of poems about slugs. She likes to sing and watch squirrels from her back porch.

Nicole Arocho Hernández

Junior Grant Writer, Sundress Academy for the Arts

Nicole Arocho Hernández is a poet born and raised in Puerto Rico. Their poems have been published in The Acentos Review, Electric Literature, Honey Literary, West Branch, The Academy of American Poets, and elsewhere. Their chapbook, I Have No Ocean, was published by Sundress Publications. Their work has been supported by The Hambidge Center, Tin House, and The Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, among others. They earned their MFA at Arizona State University, where they served as the Translations Editor for Hayden’s Ferry Review. They live in unceded O’Odham and Piipaash lands known as Tempe, AZ.

Chief of Operations at Firefly Farms

Raised in Oak Ridge, TN, Joseph Minarick received his Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Excelsior College in Albany, New York. He enlisted in the Army in 1999 and commissioned as an Armor Officer in 2004. He is currently the Plans Officer for the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, headquartered in Knoxville. Minarick’s interests in Appalachian history and sustainable development led him to co-found Firefly Farms with Dr. Erin Elizabeth Smith in 2012.

Facilities Engineer at Firefly Farms

Gregory Warren received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee in 2012, around the same time he began supporting improvement projects, maintenance, and daily operations at Firefly Farms. When he is not performing duties at the Oak Ridge National Lab, with the Army National Guard, or at Firefly Farms, he can be found riding motorcycles or tinkering in his home workshop.

Poetry Coordinator for the Best of the Net Anthology

Sarah A. Chavez, a mestiza born and raised in the California Central Valley, is the author of the poetry collections, Hands That Break & Scar (Sundress Publications, 2017) and All Day, Talking (dancing girl press, 2014). Her most recent work can be found or is forthcoming in Xicanx: Mexican American Writers of the 21st Century, IDK Magazine, and Five:2:One #thesideshow. Her new poetry project, Halfbreed Helene Navigates the Whole received a 2019-2020 Tacoma Artists Initiative Award. She recently joined the faculty at the University of Washington Tacoma where she teaches creative writing and Latinx/Chicanx-focused courses. A proud member of the Macondo Writers Workshop, Chavez serves as the poetry coordinator for Best of the Net Anthology and is currently in the market for her first multispeed bicycle.

Headshot of Shipra Agarwal wearing a black dress and purple glasses, resting her chin on her hand and holding a pen.

Fiction Coordinator for the Best of the Net Anthology

Shipra Agarwal is a doctor-turned-author who studied creative writing at Harvard. A Pushcart nominee, Shipra writes about the small towns of India, similar to the one she grew up in. She’s currently revising a linked collection, a story from which was published in Witness and nominated for the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize, 2023; another was shortlisted for the First Pages Prize, 2022 and was a semifinalist at the IHLR long story contest, 2022. Her writing has been supported by the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, Sundress Academy for the Arts, GrubStreet, and Women’s National Book Association. Founder of Lityatra—a platform that celebrates the journeys of BIPOC authors—Shipra can be found hiking and kayaking in Arizona, and at www.shipraagarwal.com.

An Asian American person wearing a dark shirt stands in front of a brick wall and smiles.

Nonfiction Coordinator for the Best of the Net Anthology

Descended from ocean dwellers, Ching-In Chen is a genderqueer Chinese American writer, community organizer and teacher. They are author of The Heart’s Traffic: a novel in poems (Arktoi Books/Red Hen Press, 2009) and recombinant (Kelsey Street Press, 2018 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry) as well as chapbooks to make black paper sing (speCt! Books) and Kundiman for Kin :: Information Retrieval for Monsters (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, Leslie Scalapino Finalist). Chen is co-editor of The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities (South End Press, 1st edition; AK Press, 2nd edition) and currently a core member of the Massage Parlor Outreach Project as well as a Kelsey Street Press collective member. They have received fellowships from Kundiman, Lambda, Watering Hole, Can Serrat, Imagining America, Jack Straw Cultural Center and the Intercultural Leadership Institute as well as the Judith A. Markowitz Award for Exceptional New LGBTQ Writers. They are currently collaborating with Cassie Mira and others on Breathing in a Time of Disaster, a performance, installation and speculative writing project exploring breath through meditation, health and environmental justice. They teach in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences and the MFA program in Creative Writing and Poetics at University of Washington Bothell and serve as Writer in Residence at Hugo House.

Jillian A. Fantin

Assistant Editor for the Best of the Net Anthology

Jillian A. Fantin (they/them) is a poet with roots in the American South and north central England. They are a former Sundress Publications Editorial Intern, a 2021 Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Poet Fellow, and a 2020 Jefferson County Memorial Project Research Fellow. With writer Joy Wilkoff, they co-founded and edit RENESME LITERARY. Jillian’s debut micro-chapbook, A Playdough Symposium, will be released this coming summer from Ghost City Press, and more of their writing appears in American Journal of Poetry, Homology Lit, Tilted House, Spectra Poets, Barrelhouse, and poetry.onl, among others.

Hannah Olsson

Managing Editor of Craft Chaps

Hannah Olsson holds a double BA in Cinema and Creative Writing English from the University of Iowa. During her time in Iowa, Hannah was the president of The Translate Iowa Project, an organization devoted to publishing translated poetry, drama, and prose. Her work, both in English and Swedish, has been featured in boundless, earthwords magazine, InkLit Mag, and the University of Iowa’s Ten-Minute Play Festival, among others. Hannah enjoys works that tell stories of ordinary, distorted wonders.

Meg Cass

Fiction Editor of Craft Chaps

Meg Cass is a queer fiction writer and teacher who lives in St. Louis, MO. ActivAmerica, their first book, was selected by Claire Vaye Watkins for the Katherine Anne Porter Prize and was published in 2017. Their stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Ecotone, Foglifter, Mississippi Review, DIAGRAM, Puerto del Sol, Passages North, Joyland and others. Their flash fiction has appeared in the Wigleaf Top 50 and the SmokeLong Quarterly Best of the First 10 Years Anthology. They teach creative writing and publishing at the University of Illinois Springfield.

A photograph of a woman with dark hair wearing a grey jacket standing next to a brick wall.

Fiction Editor of Craft Chaps

Sohini Basak is a freelance editor and writer from India, and currently the poetry editor at Words Without Borders. Her first poetry collection We Live in the Newness of Small Differences was awarded the inaugural International Beverly Manuscript Prize and published in 2018. She studied literature and creative writing at the universities of Delhi, Warwick, and East Anglia, where she received the 2015 Malcolm Bradbury Grant for Poetry. Other honours include a Toto Funds the Arts writing award (2017) and a Vijay Nambisan Sangam House fellowship (2022).

Prose Editor at Doubleback Books

Rebecca Youé is a professional editor from Worcestershire, England. She has a degree in English and American Literature from Keele University and has worked in the publishing industry since graduating in 2012. In 2020 she was a reader for the Highland Book Prize. She is working on her first novel in her spare time.

Bethany Milholland

Poetry Editor at Doubleback Books

Bethany Milholland resides in Southern Indiana and is a research analyst assistant at global law firm. She has a BFA in Creative Writing from the University of Evansville and loves thrift shopping and petting cats.

Assistant Prose Editor at Doubleback Books

Bayleigh Kasper recently graduated from the University of Evansville with a creative writing degree, where she was the co-Editor-in-Chief of The Evansville Review. She dreams of owning a tiny home in her native Colorado where she can adopt cats, make music, write, and eat very judge-worth amounts of chocolate without actually being judged.

Assistant Editor-at-Large at Doubleback Books

Robin Gow is a trans queer poet and Young Adult author from rural Pennsylvania. Gow earned their MFA from Adelphi University where they also teach. Gow runs the trans & queer reading series Gender Reveal Party and serves as a Managing Editor at MAYDAY magazine and The Nasiona. They served for four years as the production editor of the Lantern literary magazine. Also working to produce several zines, Gow loves DIY publishing. Gow is also the author of the chapbook Honeysuckle by Finishing Line Press and the collection Our Lady of Perpetual Degeneracy by Tolsun Books. Their first collection of essays, Blue Blood, is forthcoming spring 2021 with Nasiona Publishing House, and their first Young Adult novel, A Million Quiet Revolutions, is forthcoming Winter 2022 with FSG Books for Young Readers. Their chapbooks have been finalists for competitions hosted by New Delta Review, Glass Poetry, Black Lawerence Press, Digging Press, and Thirty-West Publishing House. Their poetry has recently been recognized by Best New Poets, Brooklyn Poets, Brain Mill Press, and Fearsome Creatures.

Aslan Gossett

Coordinator for Poets in Pajamas

Aslan Gossett is a queer poet from Tennessee with a heart built for southern Appalachia. They hold a BA in English and Philosophy from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where they served as poetry editor for the Phoenix Literary Arts Magazine. They are a two-time recipient of the Margaret Artley Woodruff Award for Creative Writing and were runner-up for both the Bain-Swiggett Poetry Prize for Traditional Forms and Michael Dennett Prize for non-Traditional Forms. Aslan is also an enthusiast of coffee, meditation, and corduroy.

An image of co-curator Gardner Dorton sitting at table inside of a queer bar.

Coordinator for Poets in Pajamas

Gardner Dorton (he/him) is a poet born in Knoxville, TN. He holds a BA in English from The University or Tennessee and an MFA in poetry from the College of Charleston. His poems have appeared in journals like The Florida Review, Narrative, and the Greensboro Review. Gardner also loves his dog Cooper, longer daylight hours, and tea.

Managing Editor of Stirring: A Literary Collection

Luci Brown is an Appalachian highlander currently pursuing nonprofit work in the bourbon barrel hills of Louisville, Kentucky. Her chapbook, Home Brew, was published in 2015, and her work has appeared in Moon City Review, Rogue Agent, Menacing Hedge, and others. She is the managing and poetry editor for Stirring as well as a reader for Best of the Net. She lives with her tall partner, particular child, and strange dogs.

Livia Meneghin

Sundress Reads Editor

Livia Meneghin (she/her) is the author of the chapbook Honey in My Hair. She won Breakwater Review‘s 2022 Peseroff Prize and is a Writers’ Room of Boston Board Member. Her writing has found homes in GasherSolstice LitThrushWhale Road Review, and elsewhere. She earned her MFA from Emerson College, where she now teaches writing and literature. She is a cancer survivor.
Ryleigh Wann

Blog Contributor for Lyric Essentials

Ryleigh Wann (she/her) earned her MFA from UNC Wilmington, where she taught poetry and served as the comics editor for Ecotone. She often writes poems about swamps and the midwest and loves music and making people laugh. Ryleigh has worked as a bartender at a Zoo and with the Parks and Rec. Dept. in Michigan. She currently lives in Brooklyn. Her writing has appeared in The McNeese Review, Longleaf Review, and elsewhere. Her website is ryleighwann.com
Nicole Bethune Winters

TikTok Manager at Sundress Publications

Nicole Bethune Winters is a poet, writer and multi-faceted artist, though her primary love is working with clay. Her first book of poetry, brackish was published by Finishing Line Press, and her work has appeared in Backlash Journal, Wildroof Journal, and Seaborne Magazine. When she isn’t writing or wheel-throwing, Nicole is likely at the beach, on a trail, climbing, or exploring new landscapes with her dog. She currently resides in Southern California, where she works as a full-time artist from her home studio.

 

Lead Designer at Sundress Publications

Kristen Camille Ton is an artist and graphic designer with five years of experience as a professional designer in the world of small business. She holds a double BA in Literature and Creative Writing with minors in Graphic Design and Anthropology. In 2021, Kristen uprooted from Chattanooga, Tennessee and moved to Japan. She lives on the lush southern island of Kyushu, where she enjoys cycling through fields of rice paddies and painting her surroundings.

Graphic Designer at Sundress Publications

Lori Tennant is a poet pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Georgia College and State University. Her undergraduate degree is in graphic design and that merges with her poetry to become Crankies. She is prone to chasing butterflies, storytelling, and pretending to be a mermaid. Nature and myth play a large role in her work.

A tan-skinned Latinx's selfie against the backdrop of an early evening sky. They have black hair and are wearing a striped orange and black long-sleeve shirt. In the background, there is a glass and steel city building. They are standing on a boat labeled "SHORELINE" in white text on the roof of its deck.

Nonprofit Management Intern at Sundress Academy for the Arts

Brendon Blair is an Appalachia-borne writer born and bred on trailer living and warm Mexican cuisine. Having a dual major in Psychology and English from the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Brendon enjoys intertwining the experiences of queer and fostered people in poetry and prose. They also hold an administrative assistantship at the Office of Science and Technology Information in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. When not writing or working, Brendon enjoys playing strategy games, and dreams of owning a cat to call Eggs Benedict.

Portrait of Saturn with tied curly hair, wearing a blue shirt embroidered with flowers and lace, beaming with a smile against a backdrop of blurred foliage. Saturn is wearing a small moldavite necklace as well as a necklace of a tarot card.

Editorial Intern at Sundress Publications

Saturn Browne (she/they) is a Chinese-Vietnamese immigrant and the Connecticut Youth Poet Laureate, East Coast Asian American Student Union (ECAASU) Artist in Residence, and the author of BLOODPATHS. Her work has been recognized by Gone Lawn, GASHER, Beaver Mag, Pulitzer Center, Foyle Young Poets, and others. She is an incoming undergraduate student at Yale University.

Woman who is smiling wearing a black hat against a brick background

Editorial Intern at Sundress Academy for the Arts

Erin Cantrell is a current junior at the University of Tennessee where she is studying Creative Writing with hopes to attend Law School. She loves poetry, pickleball, and bad TV sitcoms. In her free time, you can find her on the volleyball court where she is coaching young girls with dreams bigger than their pigtails.

A black person sitting in front of a field of tulips, smiling widely. They have an afro and wear mint-colored glasses with a navy sweater and gray jeans.

Editorial Intern at Sundress Publications

Whitney Cooper holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Eastern Kentucky University, where they served as editor-in-chief of Jelly Bucket, the graduate literary journal run by the university. They also work as a reader for Atlanta Review. A clerical error was made while earning their bachelor’s degree, and they have been passionate about poetry ever since. Their poetry appears in Glassworks Magazine, Stillpoint Literary Magazine, Calliope, Right Hand Pointing, and SHARK REEF. They live in Metro Atlanta with their partner, cat, and miniature schnauzer mix.

Red-haired woman sitting in front of a floral patterned couch. She is wearing a red shirt and has tattoos on her arms.

Editorial Intern at Sundress Academy for the Arts

Maggie Diedrich is a 23 year old woman who is in her final semester of undergraduate studies at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. She enjoys writing for The Daily Beacon, reading, and music.

A white woman with short blonde hair is standing in front of a brick wall looking at the camera.

Editorial Intern at Sundress Publications

Addie Dodge is a student at Colorado College pursuing a BA in Psychology with a Minor in English. She is a writer currently working as an editor for her college’s literary magazine, Cipher, and is also a clinical intern at a domestic violence shelter in Colorado. She fills her free time with hiking in the mountains and lots of reading.

A brown woman is posing to the side in a greenhouse with a tall green plant. She is wearing a black hijab, varsity jacket, blue jeans, and red handbag.

Editorial Intern at Sundress Publications

Hedaya Hasan is a Palestinian editor and designer based in Chicago. She is currently tackling a BA in English with a Minor in Graphic Design and Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago. Hedaya’s work appears or is forthcoming in Mondoweiss and Allium Magazine. She firmly believes Palestine will be liberated within her lifetime and will return to her hometown of Beit Nabala soon.

Standing in front of green foliage, Erica smiles at the camera. She wears an amethyst colored dress and gold jewelry, with her hair braided around the crown of her head and falling into loose curls down her shoulders.

Editorial Intern at Sundress Publications

Erica Leal is a student writer and journalist at the University of California, Irvine. She is currently enrolled in the Literary Journalism B.A. program and is also pursuing a minor in English. With a passion for both fictional writing and journalism, Erica seeks to create works that spark the imagination as well as inform and inspire. Her diverse writing experience includes both short and long-form narratives, magazine articles, and poetry as well as experience in radio and podcasting.

Caitlin is a young woman, wearing a blue and white striped shirt. She is smiling and has blue eyes and long strawberry blonde hair.

Editorial Intern at Sundress Publications

Caitlin Mulqueen is a senior at the University of Tennessee majoring in English and Journalism. She loves reading, playing piano, watching sports, and the Oxford comma. She has worked as an Editorial Graphics Production intern at ESPN, is a copy editor at The Daily Beacon, a student writer for Tennessee Athletics, a graphics and video operator for the SEC Network, and a marketing/social media intern for the Knoxville Ice Bears. With the majority of her undergraduate work being in sports media, literary media has remained her sincerest passion, finding stories that come out of sports to be as moving as those from literature.

Photo of a young woman standing underneath the branch of a tree. The tree branch is decorated with colorful paper.

Editorial Intern at Doubleback Books

Katy Nguyen is a budding creative studying Sociology and English at the University of California, Irvine. Katy enjoys reading and writing about the little things, music, and peoplehood. In her spare time, she likes to peruse around stationery shops and add more pens to her growing collection.
A tan girl with long, curly, black hair is looking into the camera. She is wearing a purple sweater. In the background is the blurred view of a cafe.

Editorial Intern at Sundress Publications

Hiba Syed is a Pakistani-American writer and reviewer with an appreciation for all genres. Having recently graduated with a BA in English, she fills her time traveling, experimenting in the kitchen, and reading anything she can get her hands on. Currently she resides in St. Louis, Missouri.

A young white woman shown from the shoulders up in a living room, with some picture frames on a wall in the background. She has dark blonde curly hair that reaches her shoulders, and she is smiling. She wears a blue patterned tank top with a white scarf around her neck.

Editorial Intern at Sundress Publications

Isabelle Whittall (she/her) is from Oakland, California and Montréal, Québec. She is currently pursuing an undergraduate Philosophy degree with a Minor in Political Science at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. A believer in the importance of conversation, Isabelle is bubbly and curious, and co-hosts the radio show Hail! Discordia! on CITR 101.9fm.