Troubadours

Carlton Lloyd Smith

Technology Director and Founder, Troubadour 21 - Carlton is a poet, writer, dreamer and professional techno-geek residing in Southeast Michigan. His obsession is learning and growing and his favorite color is Crayola® cornflower blue. Visit his poetry website at poetry.unclesol.net, Visit his blog at www.unclesol.net, friend him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/unclesol, or follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/unclesol

Olga Kazantseva

I was born and grown in Russia, but, probably, I'm not even from this planet... People become too serious as they become older and I'm still looking for a perfect world. I'm hopeless in my searching for an ideal, but, never forgotten, it appears in sunsets, sunrises, rains, winds, sky, and air, I begin to draw or photograph... Dreams come true...

W.B. Burkholder

Content Editor, Troubadour 21 - Bill is a Poet, Author, Digital photographer. You can find his work at Nirvanasgate

Carla Dodd

Content Editor, Troubadour 21 - Thanks to Mr. Gackstetter, my eighth grade creative writing teacher who let us write for extra credit if we didn't like our assignments, I have been a poet (on and off) since I was 13. I have a degree in journalism and have written more than 1,000 article, but really started into literary writing for good in the past few years. My work has been published online at Erotique and Poetry Life and Times, and I have been published in college publications and as part of a collection, After the Storm. View my work at www.yourewritedear.com

John Kirkland

I am a college student and I love to write.

Zoey Day

I'm a young aspiring writer / poet / photographer. Whether it'll work out is anyone's guess.

Karma 'Sweetmain'

"For Poetry, He’s Past His Prime, He Takes An Hour to Find A Rhyme; His Fire is Out, His Wit Decayed, His Fancy Sunk, His Muse A Jade. I’d have Him Throw Away His Pen, But There’s No Talking to Some Men." (Jonathan Swift)

Charlie Daly

I am 21 years old. I live in San Diego, CA. I grew up in Boston and rural Ireland. I love freeze-dried ice cream. I have work in: Shoots And Vines Gloom Cupboard, Writers bloc (Rutgers), the San Diego Writers Ink Anthology, ROOTS, Steez Magazine and The Survivor’s Review. http://charliedaly.wordpress.com/ http://www.pw.org/content/charlie_daly

Bob Pastorella

By day, Bob Pastorella is a hardworking salesman at his local Honda dealership. By night, he writes weird stories he hopes to publish. He is currently polishing up a vampire novel, and is starting a novel about man-made mythological creatures. Bob Pastorella lives in Southeast Texas.

McQueen

29 year old romantic dreamer. I believe in happy ever afters and that everyones dreams can come true x

Robert Gervais

Robert is a creative writer from Southern California who works on his resume when he's not creating comic book scripts and short fiction. His brief stint as a blacksmith's apprentice left him embittered with manual labor and he's a member of the National Fisherman's Club (some deviant placed a bumper sticker on his car to prove it).

Alex J. Martin

Alex J. Martin lives and writes in Northern England, where he spends most of his time watching Kieslowski films and brushing cigarette ash from his jeans. It's not as if you're busy, so he dares you to read his blog: http://alxjmartin.wordpress.com/

Julie M Tate

Julie M. Tate has appeared in literary journals such as Papyrus, anthologies such as The Great American Poetry Show and her first chapbook, The Rough Chronicles of Bipolar Romance, was published this year. She is the owner, author and editor of Gossip and the Devil (www.devilgossip.com), a creative/lifestyle blog providing interviews with independent artists in a variety of mediums and commentary on culture, music and travel. She is also the owner and sole designer for Modern Orphan Designs (www.modernorphandesigns.com). She currently resides in Tulsa, OK though she considers Chicago, IL home. She is a modern orphan.

David Avisror

Visual artist, age 50, Tel-Aviv, Israel

Dawn Juliet Flower

conceptual artist/ photo/video/sketching. Moved from New Zealand - living in Basel, Switzerland. Lived in Europe, Malaysia, Mallorca, Australia. 2000 - Ba Arts Honours 1st - Fine Art - digital film/ photography. Previous work can be seen under: www.freewebs.com/dawnjulietflower/

Ron. Lavalette

(Sample published work at: Eggs Over Tokyo) Ron. started reading and writing poetry seriously in the late '60s, when a floral-necktied student teacher dumped a bunch of books on his desk, one of which was Ferlinghetti's A Coney Island of the Mind, which caused him to re-think his (conventional, public school-stunted) opinion of poetry. Later he got married, and later he got divorced. He lived for a while with a blackout Cuervo drinker. Fortunately, before the new millennium got underway, he met his true love, moved to Vermont, and started getting his stuff published. He's not quite dead yet.

Patricia Carragon

Patricia Carragon is a New York City poet and writer. Her publications include Poetz.com, Rogue Scholars, Poets Wear Prada, Best Poem, Big City Lit, CLWN WR, Chantarelle’s Notebook, Clockwise Cat, Ditch Poetry Magazine, Mobius Magazine, The Toronto Quarterly, Luciole Press, Eviscerator Heaven 4, Flutter, The Best of Stain, Up the Staircase, Battered Suitcase, Kritya, Inscribed, Live Magazine, Tamarind and more. She is the author of Journey to the Center of My Mind (Rogue Scholars Press). She is a member of Brevitas, a group dedicated to short poems. Patricia hosts and curates the Brooklyn-based Brownstone Poets and is the editor of the annual anthology.

Tammy Ho Lai-ming

BIO: Tammy Ho Lai-ming is a Hong Kong-born writer currently based in London, United Kingdom. She is an assistant poetry editor of Sotto Voce Magazine and a founding co-editor of Cha: An Asian Literary Journal (http://asiancha.com), the first Hong Kong-based online literary publication. Her photography has previously been published or is forthcoming in BluePrintReview, Counterexample Poetics, Foundling Review, Ouroboros Review, Postal Poetry, Stirring and Toward the Light: Journal of Reflective Word and Image, among other places. More at http://sighming.com.

Missy Bickel

Self taught poet who resides in Oklahoma and who has a thirst for words. A fan of free verse and Haiku's. Structured verse while a mainstay in society has to many rules and regulations for me. Give me a pen and fine paper and I'm at home. People who know me, know I say all the time I bleed ink. Though unlettered in poetry, it is what moves my soul.

Ali Abdolrezaei

Ali Abdolrezaei was born on 10 April 1969 in Northern Iran. He completed his primary and secondary education in his city of birth and after receiving his diploma in mathematics passed the nationwide university entrance exams. He graduated with a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tehran Technical and Engineering University. He began his professional poetic career in 1986 and became one of the most serious and contentious poets of the new generation of Persian poetry. Abdolrezaei has had an undeniable effect on many poets of his generation through of his poetry as well as his speeches and interviews. He is also one of the few poets who succeeded in expressing his unique poetic individuality. His eight varied books of poetry – From Riskdom, Shinema, So Sermon of Society, Improvisation, This Dear Crying, Paris in Renault, You Name this Book and Only Iron Men Live in the Rain – endorse his poetic creativity and power. Publication is forthcoming for his poetry collection La Elaha Ella Love and the multi-textual Hermaphrodite. Both have received diverse critical reviews. Nearly all well-known poets and critics of Persian poetry have written about Abdolrezaei’s work. In September 2002 after his protest against heavy censorship of his latest books such as So Sermon of Society and Shinema, he was banned from teaching and public speaking. He left Iran and after staying a few months in Germany, followed by two years in France, he moved to London, where he has been living for the last three years.

Lois Bassen

Lois Bassen just won the Atlantic Pacific Press 2009 Drama Prize, and in the past a Mary Roberts Rinehart Fellowship for an alternative history novel, German Sabbath, about the successful assassination of Adolf Hitler on the day after the Night of the Long Knives, June 30, 1934. She has been published in many lit magazines (Kenyon Review, American Scholar, etc.) and online (Minnetonka, Conteonline, The Externalist, etc.). A Vassar grad, she has been married for 42 years, has two adult daughters (a doctor and a teacher), and recently moved from NYC to Rhode Island. She is a prizewinning, produced, and published playwright (Samuel French, MONTH BEFORE THE MOON, NEXT OF KIN at New York's ATA, 2 other plays in OH, NC), and commissioned co-author of a WWII memoir by the young Scottish bride of Baron Hajime Kawasaki (THISTLE & CHRYSANTHEMUM).

Bhuwan

Bhuwan Thapaliya was born in Kathmandu, Nepal and is one of the most widely read Nepali poet writing in English in the West. His writing is imbued with the art and culture of Nepal that he grew up with. Bhuwan has written more than 1000 poems but his writing is not only about statistics: it is about spreading the message of global peace, love and solidarity. His poetry books include, most recently, “Our Nepal, Our Pride(Cyberwit.net ( ISBN 978 – 81- 8253 – 115 -4) ”, narrative verses of love, peace and human understandings(http://www.amazon.com/Our-Nepal-Pride-Bhuwan-Thapaliya/dp/8182531152), and his poetry has been published in the CD’s and Books; The New Pleiades Anthology of Poetry (ISBN 1- 878431-52- 8) and Tonight: An Anthology of World Love Poetry( The Poets Printery, East London, South Africa,2008, pp.118, Paperback, ISBN 0-620-41372-7). His poetry has been published in leading literary journals such as Kritya, Vallance Review, Nuveine Magazine, Poetry life and times, Longfellow Literary Project, Poets Against the War, Voices in wartime, Tajmahal review, Autumn Leaves, Mindful of Poetry - Page for Africa Etc. His poems were featured by the FM in Britain(On PAGE ONE with Tony Stringfellow ( http://www.wcrfm.com). Leading Nepali dailies and weeklies including The Kathmandu Post, The Himalayan Times, Newsfront, The Rising Nepal and VOW featured his poetry book (Our Nepal, Our Pride). The Kathmandu Post Coverage of his first book launch could be read here: http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=159664. He has read his poetries in various venues in South Korea, Bangkok, Cambodia and Nepal. His second poetry collection,” Safa Tempo and other Poems”, to be published from Nirala Series, India, will hit the market in Jan 2010.

Richard Thomas

Richard was the winner of the ChiZine Publications 2009 “Enter the World of Filaria” contest. His short story “Maker of Flight” was chosen by Filaria author Brent Hayward and Bram Stoker Award-Winning editor Brett Alexander Savory. Publishing credits include Cemetery Dance (Shivers VI, late 2009), 3:AM Magazine, Word Riot, Dogmatika, Troubadour 21, The Oddville Press, Colored Chalk, Cause and Effect, Gold Dust, Vain, Nefarious Muse and Opium. He is a member of the Horror Writer's Association. Visit http://www.whatdoesnotkillme.com for more stories.

KE

You can see KE's work at www.roundingofthestone.blogspot.com

Julie M. Tate

Julie M. Tate is a recent graduate from Oklahoma State University with a B.A. in English and a creative writing emphasis. Her work has appeared in literary journals such as Papyrus, anthologies such as The Great American Poetry Show and her first chapbook, The Rough Chronicles of Bipolar Romance, was published this year. She is the owner, author and editor of Gossip and the Devil (www.devilgossip.com), a creative/lifestyle blog providing interviews with independent artists in a variety of mediums and commentary on culture, music and travel. She is also the owner and sole designer for Modern Orphan Designs (www.modernorphandesigns.com). She currently resides in Tulsa, OK though she considers Chicago, IL home. She is a modern orphan.

Paquita Roth

Paquita Roth is originally from Spain, where she was a journalist and interpreter for the Majorca Daily Bulletin. She currently lives in Michigan with her two teenage children, and teaches Spanish and English. Writing and dancing are her passions. She is now highly allergic to dating. Check out her blog on dating at http://www.adventuresindating.net

Henry W. Leung

Henry W. Leung studied creative writing at Stanford University and the National Book Foundation's summer writing programs. His work has appeared in Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine, Lantern Review, Xanadu, and the forthcoming Solo Café 6.

AJ Zane

AJ Zane was coached by Blanche McCrary Boyd at Connecticut College where he recently graduated. His work has not yet been published. When not writing about the future, zombies, or a small Boston suburb called Monoton he designs websites.

Mitch James

Mitch was born and raised in Illinois. He now writes from his home in Pennsylvania.

Holly Schwartz-Coignat

Holly lives in France with her husband and cat-turned-paperweight. When she's not writing she's either running, cooking, or struggling with the French language. She enjoys studying medieval philosophy but hasn't found a use for it yet.

Darlyne Baugh

Darlyne Baugh worked in the film and television industry for over 20 years. She is graduated from Emerson College. Currently, she lives in New Jersey.

Ronald Paxton

Ronald Paxton is a writer of short fiction living in Charleston, South Carolina. His work has been published online by a number of literary magazines, including Literary Road, Piker Press, Muscadine Lines, Quill and Parchment, and Imitation Fruit. His goal is to publish a print collection of his stories.

Tom Fillion

Tom Fillion is a graduate of the University of South Florida. He teaches mathematics and coaches golf and tennis at a Tampa public high school. His short stories have appeared in many online publications. For a complete list please visit: http://dreammechanic.blogspot.com

tikulicious

I am a blogger and a creative writer. My dreams are my threads with which I weave the yarn of life. I am a poetess, a tale weaver and a dreamer. I am the change I want to see..I love life and all that it stands for.Curious, adventurous and always ready to learn something new ..That’s me. Proud to be a woman…..I am much more than just what you see. With each day and each experience I add something new to my treasure of life …Some of my poems have been published online and in an anthology of poems.

Rick Huffman

I am a retired police officer. I am now working in the private security field. I am 60 years old, married with three daughters. I have written several short stories. I served in the US Army during Vietnam. I've held a license as a private investigator. I've been an elected mayor. I served twenty years as a police officer/sergeant/training officer/detective.

Anne Whitehouse

Anne Whitehouse is the author of the poetry collection, BLESSINGS AND CURSES (Poetic Matrix Press, 2009), the novel FALL LOVE, now available as a free download from Feedbooks and Smashwords, or at Amazon Kindle or an app from IndiaNIC at the iTunes store, and the poetry collection, THE SURVEYOR'S HAND. Her chapbook, BEAR IN MIND, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press in 2010.

T. Ricks

I am a Wordsmith from Detroit, Michigan. Getting out the words is the one thing that I know for sure...

Kelcey Wells

Kelcey Wells is a Brooklyn based writer of poetry and fiction.  His most recent project, Music for End Times, is a chapbook of experimental poetry and prose that examines society’s millenarian tendencies through the glass of the final days of the twentieth century. He shakes out his demons on the blog Night Thief Confessional and is currently at work on his first novel, tentatively titled Time Stretch.

Nabina Das

Nabina lives two lives, shuttling between USA and India. Her first novel “Footprints in the Bajra” is available from Cedar Books, India, while her poetry and short stories have been published in a variety of literary journals and anthologies in North America, India and Australia. Selected as an Associate Fellow for the prestigious Sarai-CSDS Fellowship 2010 (New Delhi India), Nabina has won prizes in the poetry contests organized by Prakriti Foundation (Chennai, India) in 2009, and by HarperCollins-India and Open Space in 2008 (India). Nabina is also a 2007 Joan Jakobson fiction scholar from Wesleyan Writers’ Conference, and a 2007 Julio Lobo fiction scholar from Lesley Writers’ Conference. A journalist and media person in India and the US for about 10 years in all, Nabina blogs at http://fleuve-souterrain.blogspot.com/ when not writing. Formally trained in Indian classical music, she has performed in radio and TV programs and acted in street theater productions in India. A bilingual with a Linguistics Masters, Nabina writes in three languages and is an editor with the literary journal Danse Macabre (USA).

Guy Lancaster

Guy Lancaster is the editor of the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, as well as the creative materials editor of the Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies. He holds degrees in English and theology, as well as a Ph.D. in Heritage Studies. He has published one novel, The Queen of Purgatory, along with numerous short stories, personal essays, interviews, academic works, and book reviews in a variety of journals, both in print and online.

Michael Indorato

Michael Indorato is a prolific painter, with a zeal for harnessing his inner emotional states to create incredible, deeply personal works of art. As one views his paintings, we can immediately sense the energy vibrating off the canvas. Objects, places, plants and figures are broken into linear configurations that swirl into a colorful cyclone. Reality, it seems, is just a jumping off point for Indorato; pictorial realism is not his concern, but rather to exude the raw emotions and transmit them to his audience. This physicality is often magnetic. "Every painting is a wrestling match," Indorato explains. "Some flow with beauty and grace and others are an ugly reflection of a pessimistic point of view, uncertain of the past, present or future." Using acrylic or oil paints, Indorato renders sprawling cityscapes, surrealist landscapes, or still-life studies with his characteristic, surrealist explosion of energy. When turning his attention toward the figure, however, his subjects become himself and each of us, whisking bodily features away in an entrancing psychological tumult.

Chris Deal

Chris Deal writes from Huntersville, NC, and has published over 50 stories, poems, book reviews and essays. His collection, Cienfuegos, will be published early 2010 by Brown Paper Publishing.

phoenixpoet

I’m a loveable eloquent klutz whose words might just clear your mind’s dementia long enough for you to recognize truth again when you see it in the mirror & remember what love looks like, even scribbled in imaginary markers on the heart of your best friend. They might inspire you to run away with a stranger you kissed in the street. Or, you might even be inspired to pick up a pen & write. Either way, it should be pretty amazing. Phoenix, a.k.a. Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory, a performance poet based out of Jersey City, NJ, is the founding member of Spitting Images, the first-ever New Jersey City University poetry slam team. She was also a semifinalist at the 2009 Brave New Voices International Poetry Slam along as part of 2009 N.J. Youth S.L.A.M., where she was also chosen to be a member of the 2009 Brave New Voices Green Team to write on the topics of the global environmental issues and climate change. For more information, visit http://phoenixpoet.info.

Dan Leo

"Dan Leo lives and works in Philadelphia, PA, in a slightly shabby apartment in a 169-year-old building. He loves to write and he has many favorite authors, most of whom seem to be deceased, including Marcel Proust, Henry de Montherlant, Richard Stark, Kingsley Amis, and Patricia Highsmith."

Emeniano Acain Somoza Jr

Emeniano Acain Somoza, Jr. is a global worker at a steel manufacturing multinational in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Widely published in the Philippines (Philippine Studies, Vol 53 No 2; ANI - Cultural Center of the Philippines Annual Literary Journal; Philippine Graphics; Philippines Free Press; Philippine Star) and on the internet (A Survey of Philippine Literature, Open Mic Haiku, Salt River Review, Artists I Love, and most recently on The Gloom Cupboard) he considers himself a staunch follower of Ayn Rand's Romantic Objectivism, he is the spiritual advisor of Gordot and Dwight, his roommates. The first is a goldfish, the other, a Turkish Van cat.

Jennifer Williams

Owner of The Sweet Epiphany and mother of 3 beautiful children.

Susana Cordovi

Angela Nichols

I am everybody's little sister...

Sweta Srivastava Vikram

Sweta Srivastava Vikram (www.swetavikram.com) is an author, poet, blogger, and marketing professional living in New York. She is a graduate of Columbia University in New York. She has published a book of poetry, Pabulum. Her chapbook of poetry, Kaleidoscope: An Asian Journey of Colors, will be published in winter 2009. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in EGO Magazine, Recovering The Self: A Journal of Hope and Healing, India Currents, Mirage Books, Desijournal, Rangoli, Beckoning for Change, Breadcrum Scabs Magazine, Tsar Publications, and Kala Kahani. Sweta is often seen at poetry readings in New York City.

R Jay Slais

Some of R Jay Slais’ recent publications include poems at Barnwood, MiPOesias, Oranges & Sardines, The Pedestal Magazine , The Rose & Thorn, and Twisted Tongue. A single father raising his two teenagers, he fell in love with poetry and himself on the same day. He writes from his home in Romeo Michigan while working as an engineer/inventor for a Metro Detroit automotive industry supplier.

MaryEllen Letarte

Poetry spices my life - reading, writing, speaking.

William Crawford

William Crawford has been writing creatively for over twenty years; he has been published on odd occasion, most recently in Leaf Garden Press, and Calliope Nerve. He’s been known to read his work live on his more salient nights. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and works in the music industry; he is also involved in animal rights. His first full length collection of poetry, Fire in the Marrow, will be published by NeoPoiesis Press in 2010. He is not the type of person who will only make a brief appearance in his own life story.

April

If I am to describe my life story in several words, I usually give a quote of my own: "I'm a statue that just seems broken, I'm the truth that's still unspoken, I'm an arrow of love... What's love? - You've never known... I'm your fear, so deeply hidden, I'm the myth you don't believe in, And you never will - you cannot understand a word." This quote describes me as a mystery that is still to be discovered. And, I guess, this mysterious side of me is revealed mostly in my works, written with the purpose to tell people more about me and my life experience, to share and spread my ideas and thoughts, to help people with my creativity somehow, showing them that they are not alone. I've been writing for almost five years now. But it took me five years to become not only a poet, but a songwriter, mostly a lyricist. And I want my future to be connected with this all somehow, as there is nothing better than to do what you truly love to do. You can find out more about me through my creative works here: http://april-abd.bravehost.com/Homepage.htm

Michael Lee Johnson

Michael Lee Johnson is a poet and freelance writer from Itasca, Illinois. His new poetry chapbook with pictures, titled From Which Place the Morning Rises, and his new photo version of The Lost American: from Exile to Freedom are available at: http://stores.lulu.com/promomanusa. The original version of The Lost American: from Exile to Freedom, can be found at: http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-46091-7. Michael has been published in over 22 countries. He is also editor/publisher of four poetry sites, all open for submission, which can be found at his Web site: http://poetryman.mysite.com. All of his books are now available on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=michael+lee+johnson. E-mail: promomanusa@gmail.com. Follow Michael Lee Johnson On: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Lee-Johnson/605601763 Twitter: http://twitter.com/poetrymanusa MySpace.com: http://www.myspace.com/469391029 Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Lee_Johnson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Poets

CL Bledsoe

CL Bledsoe is the author of two poetry collections, _____(Want/Need) and Anthem. A third collection, Riceland, is forthcoming later this year. A chapbook, Goodbye To Noise, is available online at www.righthandpointing.com/bledsoe. A minichap, Texas, is forthcoming from Mud Luscious Press. His story, "Leaving the Garden," was selected as a Notable Story of 2008 for Story South's Million Writer's Award. He is an editor for Ghoti Magazine http://www.ghotimag.com He blogs at Murder Your Darlings, http://clbledsoe.blogspot.com

Connie Stadler

Constance Stadler has published over 300 poems and three chapbooks in her ‘first manifestation’ as a poet twenty years ago, and has just released two chaps Tinted Steam (Shadow Archer Press) Sublunary Curse (Erbacce) an eBook, Paper Cuts (Calliope Nerve). A new book Responsorials (with Rich Follett) will be released in fall 2009 (Neopoeisis Press).

Nik Korpon

Nik Korpon is from Baltimore, MD. He likes to bang on the keyboard until something intelligible comes out, or his head hurts, whichever comes first. His novel, STAY GOD, will be published in December 2010. His stories have appeared in 3:AM, Everyday Genius and Featherproof Books' TRIPLEQUICK, among other places. He is a contributor to the Outsider Writers Collective, a Fiction Editor for ROTTEN LEAVES Magazine, and co-host of the LAST SUNDAY, LAST RITES reading series in Baltimore. Visit him at www.nikkorpon.com

Tim Buck

Tim Buck lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas and is retired after too many years in retail sales. He self-published a novel in 2005 -- Séance in B Minor -- and his essay "The Art of Conversation" was included in the anthology Vocabula Bound (Marion Street Press). In early 2008, he formed a musical duo with guitarist Robin Willhite, and they released a CD (Omen) that summer. One of Tim's songs from that disc -- "Gathering Storm" -- will be included in a compilation CD by Quickstar Productions to promote awareness about climate change and the need for responsible stewardship of the planet's resources.

Christopher J. Dwyer

Christopher J. Dwyer is a writer from Boston, MA. His work has appeared in such publications as Gold Dust Magazine, Red Fez, Twisted Tongue Magazine, Sex and Murder, Dogmatika, Colored Chalk and various fiction anthologies. He can be reached through his official website: www.christopherdwyer.com.

Gail Gray

Writer, poet, artist. Owner Shadow Archer Press, Editor Fissure Magazine, a publication of experimental poetry, fiction and art. You can find her work at www.shadowarcherpress.com

Tom Sheehan

Bio note: Tom Sheehan’s books are Epic Cures and Brief Cases, Short Spans, from Press 53; A Collection of Friends and From the Quickening, from Pocol Press. His work is currently in new anthologies from Press 53, Home of the Brave, Stories in Uniform and Milspeak: Warriors, Veterans, Family and Friends Writing the Military Experience. He has 14 Pushcart nominations, the Georges Simenon Award for fiction, a story in the Dzanc Best of the Web Anthology for 2009 and a nomination for Best of the Web 2010. His novels include Vigilantes East, Death for the Phantom Receiver and An Accountable Death. His poetry books include The Saugus Book; Ah, Devon Unbowed; and This Rare Earth & Other Flights. He served in Korea, 1951-52, with the 31st Infantry Regiment. He has many Internet and print magazine appearances, has appeared in 11 print issues of Ocean Magazine, has 134 cowboy stories on Rope and Wire Magazine, recorded works in Qarrtsiluni, work in Rosebud, Lady Jane Miscellany, Perigee and Writing Raw, etc. He helped co-edit and issue two books on his hometown of Saugus, MA, sold 3700 to date of 4500 printed ( 842 total pages in the two books) with color sections, text, timelines, nostalgia and history, all proceeds for Saugus High School graduates via the John Burns Memorial Scholarship. Tom’s web site is at http://www.milspeak.org/TomHome2.htm.

Deonte Osayande

An up and coming poet/activist from Detroit,Mi. Attending the University of Detroit Mercy. Has read/performed poetry at the 38th Annual Conference of Midwestern Literature, and the Converging Aesthetics exhibit at the University of Toledo.

Steven B. Smith

I've been a poet 45 years, artist 44 years, ArtCrimes publisher 23 years, AgentOfChaos.com publisher 7 years, WordRocker 5 years, Walking Thin Ice co-blogger 3 years. Born in Bitterroot, raised on Paradise Prairie. Farm boy, car thief, Naval Academy, expelled for dope, high society marriage, armed robbery, jail, escaping the cops, illegal loft dweller, ArtCrimes, rat attacks, overdose, celibate, remarried, expat. I've run from the cops ten times, got away nine. You can find my work at WalkingThinIce.com

Heather Ann Schmidt

Heather Ann Schmidt is an adjunct professor at Oakland Community College. She edits tinfoildresses poetry journal and is the publisher for recycled karma press. Her poems can be found in various online and print journals. Her chapbook, Channeling Isadora Duncan, was recently released from Gold Wake Press. She also has a full collection of poems forthcoming from Village Green Press and a chapbook: The Bat's Lovesong: American Haiku, coming out in November from Crisis Chronicles Press. She received her MFA from National University and hopes to begin pursuing her PhD at Union Institute in 2010. You can find her at www.heatherannschmidt.synthasite.com

Tony Renner

Tony Renner is a late-bloomer. He earned his M.A. in American Culture Studies from Washington University in St. Louis some 29 years after graduating from high school. Almost immediately after completing his Master's thesis, Renner started painting. One of his first works received an award of excellence from Art St. Louis. Renner started a web log to post a batch of poems that he wrote as a high school student, and started writing new poems to post during National Poetry Month. Renner gave his first poetry reading in August of 2009.

Shelley Seale

Shelley Seale is a freelance writer based out of Austin Texas, but she vagabonds in any part of the world whenever possible. Shelley is the Sustainable Travel Columnist at The Examiner, and has written for National Geographic's GeoTourism guides, Washington Magazine, Transitions Abroad, Travel Roads and Andrew Harper Traveler Magazine among others. Her new book, The Weight of Silence: Invisible Children of India, follows her journeys into the orphanages, streets and slums of India where millions of children live without families. Her mantra is “travel with a purpose.” You can read more at http://weightofsilence.wordpress.com.

Ingrid Henkel

Ingrid Henkel has been writing in her diary since she was 16. At 17, she started writing for the school newspaper, then went back to writing in her diary. Now she is taking up writing seriously instead of seriously writing in her diary.

Jen Pezzo

Editor of *Mnemosyne* Literary Journal

Lane Robbins

Mr. Robbins is a Southeast Michigan native, like many others. He is a poet, memoirist, essayist and photographer, among other things. This man has spent most of his twenties living in and visiting Buddhist temples throughout the world. Now he returns to the social activist milieu in order to save the world.

John Ecko

John Ecko dances upon the fine line of the written word and then jumps off the edge of the visual experience. Visual Poetry is the result. His favorite means of expression is presently through shape poems with a touch of text art. He enjoys pushing this form of poetry to the outer limits and beyond. John has recently published a book of poetry entitled, "Signs of Life". More of his work and information regarding his book, can be found at his website at http://eckovision.wordpress.com. John is presently accepting visual poetry submissions as well as inviting all to join in his unusual monthly contest for traditional and prose poets.

Joseph Meckes

I've always loved poetry, not all poetry, but the stuff that makes you laugh or cry. I've been writing poetry for family and friends since college but have resisted pushing my poetic style to a public medium until now. I guess I'm a senior citizen since AARP has solicited my membership which I just haven't wanted to accept yet. I am busy with my career as a manufacturing software consultant, spending time with my wife of 34+ years, involved with our two daughter's lives, and my grandsons. Oh those grandsons! I've been blessed in many ways but most of all with health and family. I'm a world traveler and have been dumb struck many times by the beauty of God's world and the complexities of his creation. I hope you enjoy my poetry. Please feel free to contact me; I enjoy the interaction with other creative writers.

Susan Walker

I am happily married with 2 children 16 and 19. I am a fairly new poet in that I have just found the courage to share my poetry with a wider audience. When I'm not writing or hanging out with my family, I enjoy yoga and studying Sanchin-Ryu karate where I have earned my 2nd degree black belt.

James Lehan Paulin

Eclectic poet, fisherman and photographer Retired Automotive Design Sculptor Lives in Livonia or Traverse City Michigan http://www.writerscafe.org/writers/fish/

Dianne Borsenik

Dianne Borsenik is a former flowerchild and current redhead. Active in the local poetry scene, she co-hosts the popular poetry series "Lix and Kix" the third Tuesday of every month in Cleveland, Ohio. Her poems have appeared in, among others, Slipstream, Nerve Cowboy, Voices of Cleveland, The Magnetic Poetry Book Of Poetry, Haggard and Halloo, Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac, Lyricist Review, The City Poetry, and Deep Cleveland Junkmail Oracle. Actor Jonathan Frid used three of her poems in his program Genesis Of Evil. You can find Dianne's work at http://www.myspace.com/poetofthelotus

Pela Via

Pela Via is a wife, a mother, a wildly-lazy homemaker, and a writer. Visit online: pelavia.com

Anthony David Jacques

I started out as a slave at Wal-Mart. Since then I’ve sold women’s clothing, bagged groceries, booked international travel, roasted coffee, repossessed cars, survived cancer and christianity, gotten married, written a novel or two, and now I grade diamonds between slaving over manuscripts. Put simply; Writing is what I do to make sense of everything else. I write from experience, often fictionalizing interesting people or places, and the occasional spectacular asshole.

John Rachel

Prompted by the trauma of graduating high school and having to leave my beloved city of Detroit to attend university, the development my social skills and world view were arrested at about age 18. This affliction figures prominently in all of my creative work. I have written two full-length novels. My first is titled "From Thailand With Love" about the trafficking of adolescent girls from Southeast Asia for prostitution in the U.S. It is set in New York City but travels through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Myanmar. I have no publishing deal for it so far. However, an agent who works the film industry in Los Angeles has it under consideration with several filmmakers, including Appian Way, Leonardo Dicaprio's production company. A screenplay version of "From Thailand With Love" is in the works. I recently finished "The Man Who Loved Too Much", an epic which tracks the life of a very bright, if enigmatic young man, as he tries to discover who he is and where he fits in the world. I have a number of short stories which have been published. The strange story "Spider Man" (an excerpt from "The Man Who Loved Too Much") appears in the New York magazine Full of Crow. "Baby Fever" and the just finished "Moon Walk" are appearing in the print and online magazine Down In The Dirt. The Bay Area humor magazine Hobo Pancakes is running "Dr. Gender Bender" in their May 2010 quarterly. The Chicago-based Midwest Literary Magazine has "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" in both their print and online editions (May 2010). My political pieces "Make Love Not War" and "Outsourcing" (both adapted excerpts from my novels) respectively appeared in The Fear Of Monkeys and Ascent Aspirations. "Happy Meals and Kisses From The Earth" (excerpted from "From Thailand With Love") is being published in the online and print magazine Wanderings. "Guerilla Warfare" is appearing in the July 2010 issue of the Australian print magazine The Mutant Life. I also recently found out that my very quirky extremely short story "Peaches" is being published by the British print magazine Carillon. It is less than a page long and is about an adolescent girl who dropped her baton at a peach festival and was so upset it destroyed her life. What can you do, eh? I have also written for theater and my black comedy "Sex, Lies and Coffee Beans", which included nine original songs, was produced in Portland, Oregon, my last permanent home town. I have a B. A. degree in Philosophy, and have been a music producer most of my life. My last permanent residence was Portland, Oregon where I had a state-of-the-art recording studio, music production house, and publishing company. I recorded and produced several artists in the Pacific Northwest, releasing and promoting their music on radio across the United States. While writing my two novels, I have lived in Spain, Italy, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Thailand, Japan Nepal, India and Malaysia. I effectively am homeless but having a great time of it.

Robert Zanfad

Robert Zanfad was born October, 1962 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A child of a visual artist and a writer, adolescent rebellion was realized in an embrace of mathematics, science, and engineering, though the draw of the arts remained deeply compelling. Zanfad has expressed these aspects of himself through painting and poetry, at times drawing upon the influences of science as inspiration for his art. As father of four, Friend to many, and lover of nature and music, he has found in the world spiritual inspiration which informs his writing.

Annamarie Torpey

Annamarie Torpey was raised by feral cats in the wilds of San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood. At the age of 5 (human years), great floods washed her to the East Bay where she was promptly de-clawed and enrolled in kindergarten. The next several years were spent attending local schools and adjusting to the ways of humankind. Upon her graduation from MacGregor High in Albany, CA she began the complicated task of translating Tolstoy's "War and Peace" into her native cat language. When that effort proved fruitless (actually, it was doomed to failure from the get-go on account of there being no word in cat language for "war"), she began working as a nanny in Berlin, Germany. She currently works as a nanny in California and spends her spare time choreographing an interpretive dance based on Beatrix Potter's collected works. She hopes to have it finished by 2011 when it is scheduled to be performed by the first ever all-feline dance troupe. She is also a part-time student at the College of Marin.

Patricia Travers

Born, raised and lived most of my life in Erie, PA. For years these stories have been running around my head, now I've decided to let them out.

Fereshteh

I am a 50-year old Iranian woman. I have a PhD in English literature and teach at Goethe University. I write poems, short stories and criticism both in English and Persian and translate from German and English.

Rhonda

Born in metro Detroit, Rhonda's work fuses poetry and music. Whether it's life, love, loss, self-realization or faith, few topics are off-limits. Her work has been heard at museums, clubs, festivals, bars, schools, churches, halls and a number of other venues.

Valencia Vanner

I found more joy in sorrow than you could find in joy. Sara Teasdale

Chidi

Chidi is a 31 year old writer, originally from Nigeria, now living in London and working in project engineering.

editor

Troubadour 21 Staff

Yemet

I am a 24-year-old stone carver/stone mason driven by the love for all things that are beautiful. I live in Norman, Oklahoma with my wife Janelle. To write has been my passion since early childhood, to write beautifully remains still but a dream.

Sasha Walker

edward j rathke

edward j rathke lives in Minnesota where he is finishing his degree in behavioral neuroscience. He can be found at http://edwardjrathke.wordpress.com/

Donald Pesavento

Donald Pesavento is a 21st century Buckaroo Banzai from the Heartland of America.

Jonathan Stark

Famed for his relentless tenacity, impeccable work ethic, and literary sense, Jonathan Stark is an award-winning producer. He is one of busiest independent producers in New York City today. Mr. Stark, whose first narrative feature, I Killed You ‘Cause I Had To (2008) won Best Feature Horror/Thriller at the Dark River Film Festival. In addition to his successful feature film, Mr. Stark has produced numerous entertaining short films, including the documentary The First Stop to Catharsis (2008), psychological thriller Hellmira (2009), and film noir Jamine (2009). As a producer for Sonador Entertainment, LLC, Mr. Stark is currently developing the feature film, Living Legend (2011), which is to be directed Bruce Beresford (Driving Ms. Daisy and Double Jeopardy) and co-star Cuba Gooding. Mr. Stark studied screenwriting and film development privately with Marilyn Horowitz, a New York University award winning screenwriting professor, script doctor, and producer. He also attended production and screenwriting boot camps with Larry Meistrich, of Sling Blade fame and Blake Snyder, author “Save The Cat, The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need!” Mr. Stark was vice-president of NYCscreenwriter, an organization dedicated to demystifying the craft of screenwriting. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Iona College and an advanced diploma from New York University. Jonathan resides in lower Manhattan with his wife Sandra.

Caleb Ross

Caleb has been published widely. He hopes to peddle a published novel on Kansas City streets someday. He is the author of the fiction chapbook, Charactered Pieces, from OW Press. Homepage: www.calebjross.com

Joseph Powell

Joseph Powell is a writer living in Burbank, CA with his wife, stepdaughter and two chihuahuas. He is the author of four poetry chapbooks and is currently working on a collection that will feature the best ones from those books and will hopefully be available soon. He is also working on a screenplay.

Paula Dawn

A combination of talent drawn form a vivid imagination and the motto, "Always Be in the Process of Becoming and Never Just Being," is how I try to live everyday. Inspired by a mother/artist and a father/photographer and a home/studio; one could say I know not of life without some form of art although I have not always been an active participant. Recently the metamorphosis from viewer to creator unleashed endless possibilities as each day brings forth a blank canvas to be drawn upon...whether it is to be photograph, a collage, a poem or a sketch or a piece of multi mediums. The wonder of "it all" is what brings the personal pleasure that allows me to share with others a passing moment of thought or a stroke of color caught in time and space in this collage we call life.

John Burroughs

John Burroughs, aka Jesus Crisis, is a Buddho-Taoist pacifist, poet, playwright, composer, and seeker in Elyria, Ohio. His works have appeared in dozens of print and online publications, ten of his musical stageplays were commissioned by the State of Ohio to be performed by prisoners as community service, and his poetry chapbooks include Bloggerel, Identity Crises and 6/9. Founder of the Crisis Chronicles Press and Online Library, John co-hosts the Lix and Kix Poetry Extravaganza at 7 p.m. every 3rd Tuesday at the Bela Dubby Art Gallery and Beer Cafe in Lakewood, Ohio - just west of Cleveland - and is currently writing a book about his 11 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Find him at www.crisischronicles.com.

Courtney McClenahan

Visit Courtney's web site at www.clenphotography.carbonmade.com

Randy Calligan

Bio Randy Calligan is a Production Manager in the food service industry in Salem, Oregon. He likes music and cooking, and loves his wife and daughter. By most accounts, he is an unremarkable ordinary middle-aged man. Frankly the only thing that makes him unique is his self-professed right-hemisphere, emotionally-driven sensory perception of the world around him. He seems to always find a very unique take on normal events that others either ignore or miss altogether, and is fascinated with describing the elephant in the living room in great detail for them. Randy has been writing stories and songs for most of his life, and performed as a professional musician for many years.

Russell Kennerly

I am a freelance writer from Iowa.

Patrick Trotti

Born in 1986, I'm a New York college student majoring in Creative Writing. My fiction has appeared in Glass Cases, Six Sentences, Eskimo Pie and Down in the Dirt.

Craig Wallwork

Craig lives in West Yorkshire, England. You can find his stories at Gold Dust Magazine, Sideshow Fables, Colored Chalk, Cherry Bleeds, Theives Jargon, Laura Hird, Beat The Dust, The Beat, and Nefarious Muse. You can find him at: http://craigwallwork.blogspot.com/

David Kowalczyk

David Kowalczyk lives and writes in Oakfield, New York. His poetry and fiction have appeared in seven anthologies and over one hundred magazines and journals, including California Quarterly, The Buffalo News, Maryland Review, and Istanbul Literary Review. He has taught English in Changwon, South Korea and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, as well as at Arizona State University. He was founding editor of the late Gentle Strength Quarterly.

Donal Mahoney

Donal Mahoney, a native of Chicago, lives in St. Louis, MO. He has worked as an editor for The Chicago Sun-Times, Loyola University Press and Washington University in St. Louis. He has had poems published in or accepted by The Wisconsin Review, The Kansas Quarterly, The South Carolina Review, The Beloit Poetry Journal, Commonweal, Public Republic (Bulgaria), Gloom Cupboard (U.K.), Revival (Ireland), The Istanbul Literary Review (Turkey), Poetry Friends, Poetry Super Highway, Pirene's Fountain (Australia) and other publications.

Christopher Woods

Christopher Woods has published a prose collection, Under A Riverbed Sky, and a book of stage monologues for actors, Heart Speak. He lives in Houston and in Chappell Hill, Texas. His photography can be seen in Moonbird Hill

Maggie Voysest

Maggie Voysest is an artist living in Michigan

Grant Segall

I’m a Harvard grad and a Metro reporter at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. I’ve won three national journalism prizes and many statewide ones. I’ve published short stories in college journals and a zine, getting honorable mention in Whiskey Island’s yearly contest. I’ve also written the well-received John D. Rockefeller: Anointed With Oil (Oxford University Press, 2001). Booklist called Rockefeller “fascinating” and “first-rate.” The biography has been republished in Korea and China.

Jay Lewis

I am a graduate of the State University of New York at Fredonia, where I majored in English. I am now working on my Master’s degree at Temple University in Philadelphia. My work has previously been published in From Trees to Canoes, a publication of the Fredonia Writers Guild.

Alli Martel

Alli Martel is currently completing graduate school applications in hopes of earning a degree in library science. In the meantime, she spends her days writing poetry on post-it notes while processing auto insurance policies. She lives in Massachusetts with her long-time boyfriend, a highly neurotic cat, and a modest collection of Asian ball-jointed dolls. This is her first publication.

Kaye Branch

Kaye Branch lives in Oregon and Massachusetts. Her work has been published in Della Donna; The Legendary; Fear of Monkeys; Pens on Fire; Children, Churches and Daddies; and on http://scars.tv.

luminus

Born and raized on the wezt side of Detroit, Jamal “Luminuz” Shabazz found his love for poetry at the age of sixteen. What started az an attempt to write a song became a penchant for spoken word. Venturing out into the world Luminuz relocated to Chicago in 1997 and waz afforded the opportunity to begin honing hiz talent by liztning to the poetz at the hiztoric Cotton Club. Upon returning to Detroit in 1998, he had hiz firzt performance at the original Café Mahogany, and waz given the name “Luminuz” by hiz bezt friend Tony Cortez. He haz recently become a staple in the Detroit poetry community and can be found performing at many of the citiez poetry café’z. Luminuz writez to elucidate life, love, hiz urban enviorment, and the truthez that mozt overlook.

Rodney Nelson

Rodney Nelson's poetry began appearing in mainstream literary journals, e.g., Georgia Review, long ago: but he turned to fiction and did not write a poem for twenty-two years, restarting during this century. There is an entry in the Poets & Writers directory with an outline of the publishing history. He has worked as a book and copy editor and lives in the American Great Plains.

Aaron Rowley

Aaron Rowley is a starving writer in Mississippi.

Terence Kuch

Brief Bio: Terence Kuch is a consultant, avid hiker, and world traveler. His publications and acceptances include Clockwise Cat, Colored Chalk, Foliate Oak, Marginalia, North American Review, Northwest Review, Salt River Review, Slow Trains, Thema, Timber Creek Review, and others. He has studied at the Writers Center, Bethesda, Maryland, and participated in the Mid-American Review Summer Fiction Workshop. His hand-altered B&W silver-print photographs have been shown in public and private galleries in New York, Pennsylvania, D.C., Virginia, and the Carolinas.

Jesse Boyce

I am a recent graduate of the University of Toronto where I specialized in English. My influences range from Leonard Michaels to James Joyce to Tennessee Williams.

Mansor Pooyan

Mansor Pooyan was born in Tehran and studied Economics at Tehran University and Sociology at London University. He now lives in London where he teaches Social Science courses. He has written extensively on Iranian culture, including articles on Iranian modernity and the failure of the Iranian intelligentsia. He has written numerous articles for Iranian Diaspora journals. He is the author of three books such as “Shoot Down Tradition”. His regular poetry and literary critiques are currently published at www.poetrymag.ws

John Grey

Australian born poet, US resident since late seventies. Works as financial systems analyst. Recently published in Connecticut Review, Kestrel and Writer’s Bloc with work upcoming in Pennsylvania English, Alimentum and the Great American Poetry Show.

Paula Munch

Always wanting to write a novel, I just started testing my writing skills out. Working in the medical field for over 14 years has left my back and feet praying for another avenue of work. I'm looking for more exposure and ways to improve my writing skills.

Stephan Ikeda

Stephan will be finishing his undergraduate in English and music next spring.

J.R.Harlan

J.R. Harlan lives in southern California. He is fond of whiskey, women, and words.

Axel Taiari

Axel Taiari is a French writer, born and raised in Paris. His work has appeared in various literary magazines, and he is the creator and co-editor of Rotten Leaves magazine. He is currently working on a noir science-fiction novel. Read more at http://www.axeltaiari.com and http://www.rottenleaves.com

Chris Lawrence

Born 64, writes with an appetite, and lives by the sea.

vicki iorio

Vicki Iorio is a native Long Islander who has been published in various print and on line publications.

Mark Durfee

Just a guy who writes a bit and looks about a bit and writes a bit about what he's looked at.

Jeremy Rich

Jeremy Rich has published several poems in various print and online journals including Watershed, Take Back The Night, Chantarelle’s Notebook, Ceremony, Thick with Conviction, Speedpoets, Poetic Hours, and others. I’m currently an 8th grade Language Arts teacher in Colorado, but was a long time chef in California.

Ben Nardolilli

Ben Nardolilli is a 24-year-old writer living in Arlington, Virginia. His work has appeared in nearly 20 magazines, among them the Houston Literary Review, Perigee Magazine, Canopic Jar, Lachryma and Perspectives Magazine. Ben was previously poetry editor for West 10th Magazine at NYU. He maintains a blog at mirrorsponge.blogspot.com

Denise Hudson

Denise Hudson is a musician from Austin, Texas. She has played the piano, performed, and written songs there for many years. She's written bios for friends and other artistic types, and she's keept various blogs and an extensive journal for the better part of a decade. She is constantly scribbling lyrics and poetry, stories and random articles. A much larger work with a "freaknormous story arc" is also in the throes of development

Tricia Friedman

Tricia is currently working with Peace Corps in rural Morocco. She has worked within International Education in both China and Thailand. Tricia is happy to be able to see her name listed as a 'troubadour.'

P Mascarino

Pierrino Mascarino has published his work in The Linnet’s Wings, The Beat, Bartleby Snopes, Darkest Before Dawn, Dry Bones Anthology. He is currently in Black Lantern, 2 in Hackwriters, 2 in Fear of Monkeys. He has published the print quarterly Invertebrata, the instructional novella, My Aunt Rose, and played the title role in the award winning movie, Uncle Nino. He has appeared on National Television over 6000 times, won the Dramalogue Award in Los Angeles twice, and lettered in football at St. Anthony’s Grammar School in Atlanta GA in 1952.

Aristotle Sinclair

Aristotle Sinclair is a poet of neoteric contemplation. He reads Duane Locke and Constance Stadler to ascertain excellent poetry. He wrote his first poem on 8/13/09, and has received acceptances to Writers’ Bloc, The Catalonian Review, Writing Raw, The Legendary, and several other kind places. In the rarity of spare time, he reads various texts and quotations from philosophers, and thinks Thelonious Monk is the epitome of a jazz genius. He records occurrences at http://aristotlesinclair.blogspot.com

Terreson

Terreson is an itinerant poet, sometime story teller and essayist presently living in Louisiana where he works with honey bees.

Eric Miller

Eric Miller is a retired dentist who has laid down his drill for a quill. His work appears or is forthcoming in Foundling Review, Calliope Nerve, Clockwise Cat, Flutter Poetry Journal, Poetry Friends, The Cynic Online Magazine, Word Catalyst, Short Humour, Word Slaw, Stories that Lift, Blink | Ink, Boston Literary Magazine, Writers’Bloc (Rutgers), The Storyteller, and The Stray Branch.

Felino Soriano

Felino A. Soriano (b. 1974, California), is a case manager and advocate for developmentally and physically disabled adults. He has authored 10 collections of poetry, including “Apperceptions of Reinterpretations” (Calliope Nerve Media, 2009), “r” (please press, 2009), “Search among the Absent Found” (Recycled Karma Press, 2009), and “Among the Interrogated” (BlazeVOX [books]), 2008. He edits & publishes Counterexample Poetics, www.counterexamplepoetics.com, an online journal of experimental artistry, and Differentia Press, www.differentiapress.com, dedicated to publishing e-chapbooks of experimental poetry. Philosophical studies collocated with his love of classic and avant-garde jazz explains motivation for poetic occurrences. His website explains further: www.felinosoriano.com.

Kristina Marie Darling

Kristina Marie Darling is a graduate of Washington University, where she received both an undergraduate degree in English and a master's degree in American Culture Studies. Eight chapbooks of her work have been published, among them Fevers and Clocks (March Street Press, 2006), The Traffic in Women (Dancing Girl Press, 2006), and Night Music (BlazeVox Books, 2008). A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, her poems appear in such journals as Gargoyle, Miller's Pond, Illya's Honey, Big City Lit, and Janus Head: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. Recent criticism has also been published in issues of The Boston Review, Modern Language Studies, New Letters, The Colorado Review, Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee University Review, and other periodicals. Additional awards include residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, the Centrum Foundation, and the Prairie Center of the Arts, as well as scholarships to attend the Squaw Valley Writers Conference and the Ropewalk Writers Retreat.

Marc Mannheimer

I began writing poetry in earnest in 2004. Prior to this I wrote songs. When I found poetry, I found an outlet that was healing and immediate. In these five years, poetry has been a companion on my journey to psychological wellness. I have had poems published in the Lakewood Observer, the Cleveland Reader and have appeared on the on-line Messy Magazine and Deep Cleveland Junkmail Oracle. My poem "Longing is Becoming" won an honorable mention in the 2009 PLAN of NEO poetry contest.

Ernest Williamson

Ernest Williamson III is a 32 year old polymath who has published poetry and visual art in over 200 online and print journals. He is a self-taught pianist,kpainter and PhD Candidate at Seton Hall University. Visit his gallery at www.yessy.com/budicegenius

Emmanuel Osondu

I am an African, an educated professional with a background in education and writing. I am also a published author and a compulsive reader. You can describe me as the quintessential literary man. First, I taught High School English Language and Literature-in-English, then I moved into journalism. Now, I run a media outfit that handles printing, publishing, editing and translation jobs. I am also bi-lingual as I speak [and write] both English and French competently. I believe that life is a precious gift that should be spent in the service of humanity. I also believe in the rights of the child and I am an uncompromising advocate of gender equality and good government. My dream is to see humanity living, for the most part, in accordance with the will of the Almighty. I would also love to see the African continent finally getting it right and developing its immense potential. Big dreams, to be sure, but dreaming is just the first step on the journey to achievement. Peace and love!

Tari Marshall-Day

Tari lives and writes in the United States after passing though 54 countries to get there!

Helen Obispo

Helen Obispo is a teacher in Michigan. She loves her job, but loves her little boy even more. She has always found solace in writing since she could remember. The tales she writes of are true, but names have been changed so her mother won't kill her. :) She continues to live a life that she is convinced is on the big screen in heaven, where all the angels are sitting, eating popcorn and laughing out loud at the hilarious antics being constantly thrown at her in this journey we call life. Check out her blog on dating at http://www.adventuresindating.net

Adam Klimek

Art Editor, Troubadour 21 - You can view more of Adam's paintings, as well as many other types of projects at www.yetistyle.com.

Kenneth Radu

Martin C. Rosner, M.D.

Marc Taurisano

Shonna Gillis

Drew Moss

Sara Brown

Brian K. Ladd

William Doreski

T.R. Healy

Paul Handley

Christina M. Brooks

Brian Lanko

KJ

Bio: KJ lives in Orange County with a wild dog named Mr. Bear. Next week, KJ will be writing a lot of really good poems and studying because he wants to use the extra life he has to write poetry for all and none. Some of his work can be seen in the following places: decomp, Grey Sparrow Press, Litterbox Magazine, Commonline, Ex Cathedra, and Counterexample Poetics.

Liu Hong-ping

Len Kuntz

Bowine

aashsh ameya

Doe Ann Robertson

Gary Beck

Neil Ellman