Issue 118 Contributors
Avery C. Castillo is a Mexican American poet, artist, and editor from Harlingen, Texas. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Her work can be found or forthcoming in Huizache, Latino Book Review, Boundless 2024: The Anthology of the Rio Grande Valley Poetry Festival, Equatorial Magazine, and elsewhere. She is currently working to publish her debut poetry collection on chronic illness, pain, and womanhood.
Phoebe Cragon is a technical writer from Shreveport, Louisiana. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Centenary College, and her work has previously appeared in publications such as Rejection Letters, The Bookends Review, and The Writing Disorder.
Kara Dorris is the author of three poetry collections: HitBox (Kelsay Books 2024), Have Ruin, Will Travel (2019) and When the Body is a Guardrail (2020) from Finishing Line Press. Her poetry has appeared in Prairie Schooner, DIAGRAM, Wordgathering, and Puerto del Sol, as well as the anthology Beauty is a Verb (2011). Recently, she edited the anthology Writing the Self-Elegy: the Past is Not Disappearing Ink (SIU Press, 2023). For more information: karadorris.com.
Caitlin Dwyer is a writer from Oregon. She has studied writing at the Rainier Writing Workshop and the University of Hong Kong. Her poetry has appeared in journals such as swamp pink, Pangyrus, Thrush, Beloit Poetry Journal, and Notre Dame Review. Her essays have appeared in Longreads, Narratively, and Creative Nonfiction and been honored with awards and fellowships. She teaches at Portland Community College. www.caitlindwyer.com.
Petra Kuppers (she/her) is a disability culture activist and a community performance artist. Her fourth poetry collection, Diver Beneath the Street, investigates true crime and ecopoetry at the level of the soil, bringing together life and death (2024). Her Gut Botany (2020) was named one of the top ten poetry books of 2020 by the New York Public Library. She teaches at the University of Michigan, was a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow, and is a current Just Tech Fellow (2024-2026).
Victoria Lau holds an MFA degree from Lindenwood University. She was the 3rd place poetry winner for the Random House Creative Writing Competition in 2013. Her poems have been published in Rogue Agent, The Orchards Poetry Journal, Gyroscope Review, and elsewhere. She was also the 1st place winner for the Nancy Dean Medieval Prize in 2020. She was a poetry reader for GASHER Journal and is one of the marketing coordinators for The Adroit Journal. She has taught poetry at Sadie Nash Summer Institute. She is writing assistant at the Borough of Manhattan Community College Writing Center and an English adjunct lecturer at Queens College and John Jay. Follow her IG: victoria.lau_calliope_poet.
Lia Pas is a disabled Canadian multidisciplinary artist working in image, text, and sound exploring body and states of being. Her embroideries have been featured in numerous online galleries, on the cover of the anthology Sharp Notions, and in the SKArts permanent collection.
Sukriti Patny is a writer and poet based in India who turns to the words in a flailing attempt to stay sane. Her work has appeared or will appear in future issues of Subliminal Surgery, Body Talk and miniMag. She currently also runs a non-fiction newsletter on Substack - Soul Gazing - featuring travel writing, nature writing, book reviews and the magic of the everyday. Find more of her writing on instagram @wordsbysu .
Chandra Persaud writes on topics such as trauma, grief, identity, and the immigrant experience. Her work has been published in Defunkt Magazine, The Bitchin' Kitsch, and Brown Girl Magazine. She was born in Guyana, immigrated to the United States with her family as a child, and fully embraces her multicultural identity. She writes from New York. You can follow her writing journey (and say hi!) on Instagram: @pieces_of_acp.
Toni Scales worked as a funeral director's assistant. Her poems have appeared in Lily, Wicked Alice, Stirring, blossombones, and The Pedestal Magazine. Her first poetry chapbook, Blue Rebecca, is scheduled to be published by dancing girl press. You can contact her at toniscalespoet@gmail.com.
Hillary Smith-Maddern is an educator from Greenfield, MA. She loves getting lost in cities with cobblestone streets and befriending cats. Her poems explore the intersections of feminism, grief, and deep-seated rage. She is a two time nominee for the Beal's Poetry Prize, and her poems have been featured in Only Poems, Sheepshead Review, and Ghost Light Review among others.