“Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg was widely regarded as “a major figure in contemporary literature”, especially for volumes of his collected verse, including Chicago Poems (1916), Cornhuskers (1918), and Smoke and Steel (1920). He enjoyed “unrivaled appeal as a poet in his day, perhaps because the breadth of his experiences connected him with so many strands of American life”, and at his death in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson observed that “Carl Sandburg was more than the voice of America, more than the poet of its strength and genius. He was America.” [Wikipedia.]
Robert Elwood Bly was born in western Minnesota in 1926 to parents of Norwegian stock. He enlisted in the Navy in 1944 and spent two years there. After one year at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, he transferred to Harvard and thereby joined the famous group of writers who were undergraduates at that time, which included Donald Hall, Adrienne Rich, Kenneth Koch, John Ashbery, Harold Brodky, George Plimpton, and John Hawkes. He graduated in 1950 and spent the next few years in New York living, as they say, hand to mouth. He returned to Minnesota close to the old farm where he grew up.
Sparrow Addendum: Bly published with Grey Sparrow Journal from its infancy [2009] to the present. His talent and consideration were instrumental in the growth and development of Grey Sparrow and Snow Jewel as literary journals.
BIOGRAPHIES
Duane Anderson currently lives in La Vista, NE. He has had poems published in Fine Lines, Cholla Needles, and several other publications. He is the author of Yes, I Must Admit We Are Neighbors (Cyberwit.net – 2021) and On the Corner of Walk and Don’t Walk (Pacific Poetry Press, 2021).
A graduate of Lesley University’s MFA Creative Writing program, KB Ballentine’s seventh collection, Edge of the Echo, launched May of 2021 with Iris Press. Published in North Dakota Quarterly, Atlanta Review and Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal, among others, her work also appears in anthologies including Pandemic Evolution (2021), In Plein Air (2017,) and Carrying the Branch: Poets in Search of Peace (2017). Learn more at www.kbballentine.com
In 1998 Christopher Barnes won a Northern Arts writers’ award. In July 2000, he read at Waterstones bookshop to promote the anthology Titles Are Bitches. Christmas 2001, he debuted at Newcastle’s famous Morden Tower doing a reading of poems. Each year he read for Proudwords lesbian and gay writing festival and partook in workshops. 2005 saw the publication of his collection Lovebites published by Chanticleer Press, 6/1 Jamaica Mews, Edinburgh.
Dmitry Blizniuk is an author from Ukraine. His most recent poems have appeared in Poet Lore, The Pinch, Salamander, Willow Springs, Grub Street, Magma Poetry and many others. A Pushcart Prize nominee, he is also the author of The Red Fоrest (Fowlpox Press, 2018). He lives in Kharkov, Ukraine. Member of PEN America. Poets & Writers Directory:
http://www.pw.org/directory/writers/dmitry_blizniuk
Roger Camp lives in Seal Beach, CA where he tends his orchids, walks the pier, plays blues piano and spends afternoons with his pal, Harry, over drinks at Saint & 2nd. When he’s not at home, he’s traveling in the Old World. His work has appeared in Rust + Moth, Poetry East, Gulf Coast, Southern Poetry Review and Nimrod.
Billy Cancel is a Brooklyn based poet/performer. His collection Mock Through Rasping Crow is out on BlazeVOX Books. His poetry has been published in Boston Review, PEN America, Sand Journal, and Bombay Gin amongst others. With Thursday Fernworthy (Lauds) he makes up the noise/pop band Tidal Channel who performed his noise poetry sequence Buttercup Tantrum Mutton Encore at Ravenna Museum of Art in November 2019 as part of the Transmissions VII Festival. In 2013 he appeared in Marianne Vitale’s production Missing Book Of Spur at the Performa 13 festival. His contribution to 4 Words was broadcast as part of the 2016 Liverpool Provocations Art Festival. He’s read at the Poetry Project New Year’s Marathon twice. In December 2019 Billy Cancel & his work were featured in London based culture magazine Hero. In April 2021 he was a poet in residence as part of the Brooklyn waterfront Poets Afloat reading series. URL www.billycancelpoetry.com
Jo-Anne Cappeluti earned her Ph.D. in English at the University of California at Riverside and taught creative writing for 30 years at California State University, Fullerton. She continues in retirement now to ponder the imagination-driven creative process that invites—and goads—the intellect to examine truths that by nature can neither be proven nor dis-proven. Her poetry appears most recently in Goldman Review, Whistling Shade, and Blue Unicorn.
Len Carber, 74, a retired teacher [America, Japan, Taiwan, Cambodia], in his 8th decade became a published poet in 49 literary magazines, online/in print, in the US, UK, Canada, Romania, India, and Italy; in 2020 a trade publisher released under his pen name, Nolo Segundo, a book length collection titled The Enormity of Existence and in 2021 a 2nd book, Of Ether and Earth. The poet’s 3 primary themes are the not-so-brave new world of aging; that inscrutable and most powerful emotion greeting cards trivialize as love; and the awareness he’s had for 50 years since having an NDE whilst almost drowning in a Vermont river that he has a consciousness that predates birth and survives the death of the body. While 99.9% of his life has been quite mundane, he has experienced enough of the inexplicable to suspect there is a Mystery permeating and acting on the Universe, and this—call it God, Allah, Brahman, Karma—is beyond the comprehension of a being who can only think one thought at a time or be in one place at a time.
Formerly a UK-based University scientist, Hugh Cartwright is now retired. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, where writing provides a diversion from his doomed attempts to grow Canadian oranges. His stories have appeared in Nature Futures, Foxglove Journal, Meniscus, The Drabble, and elsewhere.
Diana Marie Delgado is the author of the chapbook Late Night Talks with Men I think I Trust (Center for the Book Arts, 2015) and Tracing the Horse (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2019). A National Endowment for the Arts fellow and recipient of numerous scholarship and grants, she currently resides in Tucson where she is the Literary Director of the Poetry Center at the University of Arizona. She holds MFA degrees in poetry from both Columbia University and the University of California, Riverside.
Gary P. English was raised in El Paso, TX, but has spent most of his adult life in Mississippi and Louisiana. He lives in Baton Rouge, LA, where he and his partner share a home with two dachshunds and two cats. He has written poetry since he was in junior high and writes free verse, experimental, and traditional poems. He likes to write etudes in poetry on one subject to discover where those different techniques and forms take him. He served in the U.S. Air Force, including a tour in South Korea, and worked as a journalist at several newspapers in the South.
Adele Evershed is an early years educator and writer. Born in Wales, she has lived in Hong Kong and Singapore before settling in Connecticut. Her prose and poetry has been published in a number of online and print journals such as Every Day Fiction, Free Flash Fiction, LEON Literary Review, Grey Sparrow Journal, High Shelf, Hole In The Head Review, Monday Night Lit, Eclectica Magazine, Tofu Ink Arts Press, Wales Haiku Journal, Shot Glass Journal, Sad Girls Club. and Green Ink Poetry among others. Adele has recently been shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize for poetry and the Staunch Prize for flash fiction, an international award for thrillers without violence to women. Visit her website @thelithag.com
Kate Flannery lives in the small college town of Claremont, California, where she also practices law. Her work has been published in Chiron Review, Shark Reef, Ekphrastic Review, and Golden Streetcar as well as other literary journals. Flannery’s heart remains in the Pacific Northwest where she grew up and returns occasionally to breathe.
Born in Zimbabwe, Clive Aaron Gill has spent time in Southern Africa, Europe, and North America. He creatively draws from his experiences in these continents. His inspiration also stems from his imagination, listening to people’s stories and reading. More of his stories are available at: amazon.com/author/cliveaarongill
Aine Greaney is an Irish-born author living in Newburyport, Massachusetts. In addition to her five published books, she has placed essays and stories in outlets such as Creative Nonfiction, The Boston Globe Magazine, The New York Times, and Salon. Her work has been Pushcart nominated and cited in Best American Essays. She leads creative and wellness writing workshops for healthcare support groups, libraries and schools throughout New England and is on the faculty of the Narrative Medicine Certificate Program at Baypath University. Her website is at www.ainegreaney.com.
Michael Green lives in Kettering, Ohio with his wife and five children. He is interested in writing fiction as well as poetry. He has published in Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Modern Haiku, Blue Lake Review, others.
Batnadiv HaKarmi is a writer and visual artist who currently resides in Jerusalem. Her work has been published in Poet Lore, Radar Poetry, and most recently in Belmont Story Review. Her work can be followed on www.batnadiv.com and on Instagram @batnadiv_art
Moriah Hampton received her PhD in Modernist Literature from SUNY-Buffalo. Her fiction, poetry, photography, and photopoetry have appeared in Wordgathering, Entropy Magazine, Rune Literary Collection, Brief Wilderness, The Sonder Review, and elsewhere. She currently teaches in the Writing and Critical Inquiry Program at SUNY-Albany.
Michael Harper is an MFA candidate at the University of Idaho. His work has appeared in Litro Magazine, The Manzano Mountain Review, and Decomp Journal.
Scott G. Harvey teaches psychology at SUNY Buffalo State and resides in the Niagara Region of Ontario with an ever-changing mixture of humans, cats, dogs, and chickens. He is the author of the philosophically-infused bildungsroman Savagely Noble. His short-fiction has appeared in Burningword Literary Journal, Short Story Avenue, 50-Word Stories, and Visual Verse.
Eva Heisler has published two books of poetry: Reading Emily Dickinson in Icelandic (Kore Press, 2013) and Drawing Water (Noctuary Press, 2013). Her poems have appeared in many journals, including BOMB, Crazyhorse, and Poetry Northwest. Honors include the Poetry Society of America’s Emily Dickinson Award and fellowships at MacDowell and the Millay Colony for the Arts.
Keith Hoerner (BS, MFA) lives, teaches, and pushes words around in Southern Illinois. He is frequently featured in lit journals/anthologies (80+ to date, including decomP (USA), Fiction Kitchen Berlin (DE), and Litro (UK)—to name just a few). He is founding editor of the Webby Award recognized Dribble Drabble Review, and his memoir, The Day the Sky Broke Open, is a recent Best Book and American Writing Award Finalist. A collection of short fiction and poetry, Balancing on the Sharp Edges of Crescent Moons, publishes later this year.
Michael Lee Johnson lived ten years in Canada, Vietnam era. Today he is a poet in the greater Chicagoland area, IL. He has 244 YouTube poetry videos. Michael Lee Johnson is an internationally published poet in 43 countries, several published poetry books, nominated for 4 Pushcart Prize awards, and 5 Best of the Net nominations. He is editor-in-chief of 3 poetry anthologies, all available on Amazon, and has several poetry books and chapbooks. He has over 536 published poems. Michael is the administrator of 6 Facebook Poetry groups. Member Illinois State Poetry Society: http://www.illinoispoets.org/
Emory D. Jones holds a Ph.D. and is a retired English teacher who has taught in high school and in several community colleges. He has five hundred and ninety credits including publication in such journals as Writer’s Digest, Smokey Blue Literary and Arts Magazine, The Avocet, The Light Ekphrastic, Big Muddy; A Journal of the Mississippi River, Three Line Poetry, Auroras & Blossoms, Pegasus, Halcyon Days Magazine, Falling Star Magazine, Pasques Petals, 50 Haikus, The Cumberland River Review, The Delta Poetry Review, Calliope, Deep South Magazine, Modern Poetry Quarterly Review, and Encore: Journal of the NFSPS. He lives with his wife in Iuka, Mississippi.
Tyrel Kessinger lives in Louisville, Ky with his family and some annoying animals. You can find his work and his many non-viral tweets here: @KessingerTyrel.
Sarah Kortemeier is a poet and librarian living in Tucson, Arizona. Her debut collection, Ganbatte, won the Felix Pollak Prize in 2019 from the University of Wisconsin Press. She holds an MFA in Poetry and an MA in Library and Information Science, both from The University of Arizona. Her poetry has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Ploughshares, Alaska Quarterly Review, Fairy Tale Review, Sentence, and The Feminist Wire, among others. She currently serves as Library Director at The University of Arizona Poetry Center.
Josef Krebs has a chapbook published by Etched Press. His poetry also appears in 72 issues of 32 different magazines, including American Writers Review, the Bicycle Review, Burningword Literary Journal, Calliope, The Cape Rock, The Chaffey Review, Inscape, Mouse Tales Press, Organs of Vision and Speech, Tacenda, The Bohemian, Agenda, The Corner Club Press, Crack the Spine, The FictionWeek Literary Review, the Aurorean, Carcinogenic Poetry, 521magazine, Former People, The Bangalore Review, Grey Sparrow Journal, IthacaLit, New Plains Review, Inwood Indiana Press, Free State Review, Poetry Nation, Witness, From Whispers to Roars, Nine Cloud Journal, Carcosa, DASH Literary Journal, and The Cats Meow. A short story has been published in blazeVOX. He’s written three novels and five screenplays. His film was successfully screened at Santa Cruz and Short Film Corner of Cannes film festivals.
Peter Leight has previously published poems in Paris Review, AGNI, FIELD, Beloit Poetry Review, Raritan, Matter, and other magazines.
Bojan Louis (Diné) is the author of the poetry collection Currents (BkMk Press 2017), which received a 2018 American Book Award, and the nonfiction chapbook Troubleshooting Silence in Arizona (The Guillotine Series 2012). He is an assistant professor in the Creative Writing and American Indian Studies programs at the University of Arizona.
Ron McFarland retired after 50+ years of college teaching (English), mostly at the University of Idaho. His twenty-odd books include a study of regional memoir, The Rockies in First Person (2008), Appropriating Hemingway: Using Him as a Fictional Character (2015), a biography of Brevet Lt. Col. Edward J. Steptoe and the Indian Wars: Life on the Frontier, (1815-1865), and his prose and poems on angling, Professor McFarland in Reel Time (2021). His book on prolific Chicano writer Gary Soto is slated for publication next year as Gary Soto: A Career in Poetry & Prose. His current projects include a book of short stories tentatively titled The World According to Wibbles and a collection of poems, A Variable Sense of Things.
Andrea McLaughlin is a trauma therapist living in Los Angeles. She also holds an MFA from Columbia University. Her fiction has been shortlisted twice for Glimmer Train, received Honorable Mention in the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest, and has appeared in Anomaly. Her poetry is forthcoming from River Styx.
Linda McMullen is a wife, mother, diplomat, and homesick Wisconsinite. Her short stories and the occasional poem have appeared in over ninety literary magazines. She received Pushcart and Best of the Net nominations in 2020. She may be found on Twitter: @LindaCMcMullen.
DS Maolalai has been nominated eight times for Best of the Net and five times for the Pushcart Prize. His poetry has been released in two collections, Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden (Encircle Press, 2016) and Sad Havoc Among the Birds (Turas Press, 2019.)
Ken Massicotte is a poet, musician, and carpenter who lives in Hamilton, Ontario. He has published in several journals, including: Wilderness House Literary Review, Gray Sparrow, Poetry Quarterly, Ginosko, Crack the Spine, Matador, Sleet, and Grain.
Andrew Alexander Mobbs is the author of the chapbook, Strangers and Pilgrims (Six Gallery Press, 2013). A Pushcart nominee, he’s grateful that his poems have appeared/are forthcoming in New Delta Review, Frontier Poetry, Southwestern American Literature, Thin Air Online, Bayou Magazine, and elsewhere. He co-edits the online lit mag, Nude Bruce Review, and studies for his MFA at Oregon State University. Mobbs served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia.
Ivan de Monbrison is a poet, novelist, and artist born in 1969 in Paris.He has studied languages in Paris, and then worked for the Picasso Museum, before dedicating himself to his own creativity. He has been published in literary magazines globally. Monbrison does not believe that his art is of any real significance; he does it as some kind of a tribal ritual, fully aware that vanity is one of the worst enemies of most poets and artists, and tries to stay away from it as much as possible.
Bruce Morton splits his time between Montana and Arizona. His poems have appeared in various magazines, most recently in Muddy River Poetry Review, Ibbetson Street, Rat’s Ass Review, and Soul-Lit. He was formerly dean at Montana State University Libraries.
A resident of Connecticut, John Muro’s a graduate of Trinity College, Wesleyan University, and the University of Connecticut. His first volume of poems, In the Lilac Hour, was published by Antrim House in 2020, and it is available on Amazon. Muro’s poems have been published or are forthcoming in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Euphony, Moria, Penumbra, River Heron and Sky Island. Muro is also a two-time, 2021 Pushcart Prize nominee, and his second volume of poems, Pastoral Suite, will be available in the spring of 2022.
Simon Perchik is an attorney whose poems have appeared in Partisan Review, The New Yorker and elsewhere. For more information, including his essay “Magic, Illusion and Other Realities” and a complete bibliography, please visit his website at simonperchik.com [Simon passed away June 14, 2022 at 98 years of age.]
Paul C. Rosenblatt has published stories in Streetlight Magazine, Writing Disorder, Avatar Review, Shark Reef, October Hill, and other literary magazines. As an academic social scientist, he has published 14 books and more than 200 journal articles and chapters in edited books, with
Grey Sparrow Journal 