CONTRIBUTORS
Perle Besserman -- Recipient of the Theodore Hoepfner Fiction Award and past writer-in-residence at the Mishkenot Sha’ananim Artists’ Colony in Jerusalem, Pushcart Prize-nominee Perle Besserman was praised by Isaac Bashevis Singer for the “clarity and feeling for mystic lore” of her writing and by Publisher’s Weekly for its “wisdom [that] points to a universal practice of the heart.” Her autobiographical novel "Pilgrimage" was published by Houghton Mifflin, and her short fiction has appeared in The Southern Humanities Review, AGNI, Transatlantic Review, Nebraska Review, Southerly, and Bamboo Ridge, among others. Her books have been recorded and released in both audio and e-book versions and translated into over ten languages. Her most recent book of creative non-fiction, combining memoir, storytelling, and women’s spiritual history, is A New Zen for Women (Palgrave Macmillan); and her story collection, Marriage and Other Travesties of Love, is currently available online from Cantarabooks. Her latest book, Zen Radicals, Rebels, and Reformers, published by Wisdom Books, was co-authored with Manfred Steger. She has lectured, toured, taught, and appeared on television, radio, and in two documentary films about her work in the US, Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, and the Middle East. Perle currently divides her time between Melbourne, Australia and Honolulu, Hawai’i.
Andrew Campbell-Kearsey has been writing for a few years since retiring as a primary headteacher. He has completed several creative writing courses locally. He lives in a house in Brighton. He can see the sea from his bedroom window. His favourite thing to do is walk along the beach with his crazy dogs. He has won several writing competitions. They are all listed on his site and he writes regularly for a local magazine called The Kemptown Rag.
Joe Churchwell is a writer, living in Kansas. He is the author of The Fruit of Exile, and has had poetry and short stories published in Confluence: Student Literary Review, The Mind’s Eye, The Awakening Review, The California Quarterly, and Danse Macabre.
Ricardo (Ric) Federico lives, works, and writes in south-central Kentucky. Ric's fiction has been featured in Blue Lake Review and he is a contributing author/guest blogger for The Good Men Project, with his essays also featured in various print and online publications. Ric blogs about life and other mysteries at www.ricardo-federicoblogspot.com.
Elizabeth Garcia lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, where she taught Literature and Composition for six years before deciding to write poetry full time until children come along. Her poems have appeared in Borderline, the Segullah Literary Journal, Eudaimonia Poetry Review, and Irreantum, which nominated her for a Pushcart Prize. Some of her work is forthcoming in Poets and Artists Magazine, as well as Fire in the Pasture: 21st Century Mormon Poets. She also serves as an Associate Editor for FutureCycle Press, and Assistant Editor for the Georgia Poetry Society's Reach of Song.
Kenneth P. Gurney lives in Albuquerque, NM, USA with his beloved Dianne. He edits the anthology Adobe Walls which contains the poetry of New Mexico. His latest book is This is not Black & White.
Michael Lee Johnson is a poet, freelance writer and small business owner of custom imprinted promotional products and apparel: www.promoman.us, from Itasca, Illinois. He is heavily influenced by: Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Irving Layton, Leonard Cohen, and Allen Ginsberg. 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. New Chapbook: Challenge of Night and Day, and Chicago Poems, by Michael Lee Johnson: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/challenge-of-night-and-day-and-chicago-poems-%28night%29/12443733?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/2. He also has 2 previous chapbooks available at: http://stores.lulu.com/poetryboy. Michael has been published in over 24 countries. He is also editor/publisher of five poetry sites, all open for submission, which can be found at his Web site: http://poetryman.mysite.com
Gary V. Powell’s stories have appeared in several literary journals and/or finaled in national contests. His story, "Miller's Deer" was selected as runner up for the 2008 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize. Another story, “Trinity,” received an Honorable Mention for the Winter 2010 New Millennium Fiction Prize. A former attorney, he lives and writes in North Carolina near the shores of beautiful Lake Norman with his lovely wife and amazing son. He recently completed his first novel, Lucky Bastard.
Basil Rosa has published fiction, poetry, essays and translations in a variety of magazines. His first novel "Heaven Is A City Where Your Language Isn't Spoken" is forthcoming this year from Cervena Barva Press (www.cervenabarvapress.com). His web site, www.basilrosa.com, offers samples of his published work, as well as a listing of his published books. He holds a graduate degree from the University of Michigan, and teaches at Northern Virginia Community College.
Leslie A. Wootten lives and writes on a farm in Casa Grande, Arizona.
