Author Bios

Angela Arnold is a writer, poet, artist, a creative gardener and an environmental campaigner. Her poems have appeared in print magazines, anthologies and online, both in the UK and elsewhere. First collection In Between: ‘inner landscapes’ and relationships (Stairwell Books, 2023). She lives in North Wales. Twitter/X @AngelaArnold777

Nicole Bird's work has appeared in Angel City Review, Monadnock Underground, As Surely as the Sun, Ariel Chart International Literary Journal, and The Acentos Review, among others. Her writing has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She was selected to participate in Season 19 of AWP’s Writer to Writer Mentorship Program and currently works as a Creative Writing instructor in Orlando, Florida. You can read more about Nicole at nicolebirdthewriter.com.

Born and raised in Montana, J Carraher is a San Francisco Bay Area writer whose recent work appears in such venues as Sunspot Lit, Cirque, Pensive, Wild Roof Journal and others. She studied folklore at UC Berkeley where she received a bachelors in Anthropology, holds a Masters of Science from UCSF and works as an obstetric nurse, sexual assault forensic examiner and lecturer. J lives with her family on a small farm in Freestone, California.

Relief’s 2024 cover artist is Jennifer Davis.

Amy Devine is an artist from a lineage of artists whose work has been featured in several publications including Orange Peel, Gems and Beyond the Veil Press. She is based in Sydney, Australia and she is inspired by history and the narrative of humanity.

Tiffany Farr loves to travel and collect rocks and postcards along the way. She currently lives in Tennessee with her sassy but sweet chihuahua, Maria. Her work has appeared in Microfiction Monday Magazine, Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, and the international literary magazine Tears in the Fence. She loves Jesus a whole lot, and enjoys seeing the best Author there is receive all the glory

Anne Gerard lives in Las Vegas, where she is pursuing an MFA. Born in Detroit, and raised in the midwest, she misses the Great Lakes every day

Jessica Goodfellow’s books are Whiteout (University of Alaska Press, 2017), Mendeleev’s Mandala, and The Insomniac’s Weather Report. She’s had poems in Ploughshares, Scientific American, The Southern Review, Verse Daily, and Best American Poetry. Jessica lives and works in Japan.

Patricia L. Hamilton is the author of The Distance to Nightfall (Main Street Rag Publishing) and Even Now (forthcoming from Kelsay Books in 2025). She won the 2015 and 2017 Rash Award for Poetry and has received three Pushcart nominations. Recent work has appeared in Ibbetson Street, Reformed Journal, The Common Language Project: Ascent, and Slant. Newly retired from teaching college English, she resides with her husband in Jackson, Tennessee.

Laurie Klein’s new collection House of 49 Doors: Entries in a Life releases this spring (Poiema Poetry Series, Cascade—where you can also find her first book, Where the Sky Opens). Her essays and poems have appeared in EcoTheo, Brevity, Presence, The Christian Century, Radix, Ekstasis, The Curator, The Amethyst Review, and elsewhere. Learn more at https://lauriekleinscribe.com/

Arah Ko is a writer from Hawai'i and the author of Brine Orchid (YesYes Books 2025) and the chapbook Animal Logic (Bull City Press 2026). Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Anthology, Best of Net, and Best New Poets and is published or forthcoming in American Poetry Review, Ninth Letter, The Threepenny Review, Poetry Northwest, and elsewhere. She received her M.F.A. in creative writing from the Ohio State University and is a Ph.D. student in creative writing at the University of Cincinnati. Catch her at arahko.com.

Elina Kumra is a BIPOC writer and lives in San Jose, California. Her poems and fiction have been published in Quarterly West, Wingless Dreamer, Reed Magazine, Up North Lit, Writer's Digest, Quibble Lit, StreetLit, Coffin Bell, Polyphony Lit, Death Rattle, Typishly, Cathexis NorthWest Press, Tint Journal, and Peauxdunque Review. She is 2024 Reed Magazine Emerging Voices Winner, a Finalist in Quarterly West, Fractured Lit, Ouroboros, and a Semi-finalist in the Nine-Syllables Chapbook Contest.

Michael Lyle is the author of the poetry chapbook, The Everywhere of Light (Plan B Press) and his poems have appeared widely, including Atlanta Review, The Carolina Quarterly, Crannóg, The Hollins Critic, Plainsongs and Poetry East. He lives in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains after careers as a TV Producer/Director, an English teacher and an ordained minister. http://www.michaellylewriter.com

Alicia A. McCartney lives with her husband and daughter in southwestern Ohio, where she writes and works as a professor of English literature. Her poetry has appeared in Ekstasis and Amethyst Review.

William Miller is the author of eight collections of poetry. His most recent collection is The Crow Flew Between Us published by Kelsay Books in 2020. His poems have appeared in many journals, including The Penn Review, The Southern Review, Shenandoah, Prairie Schooner and West Branch. He lives and writes in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Brandon James O’Neil is a poet and scholar originally from Rochester, Michigan. His work has appeared in Plough, Image, and The Dewdrop.

Paul J. Pastor is Executive Editor for Nelson Books, is an essayist, poet, and occasional critic, and is the author of several books, including Bower Lodge and the forthcoming The Locust Years (2025). His work has been published widely, including in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Dappled Things, Presence, Books & Culture, The Windhover, and Ekstasis. He lives in Oregon.

Moira Pirsch is a fifth Generation Irish American poet born in Wisconsin and based in Maui, HI. She is the author of The Sidewalk Ends at the Beach, published by Little People Big Word Press in 2008. She co-edited the 2022 Hawaii Youth Poet Laureate Anthology published by the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. She earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University, and her Masters Degree from Harvard University. Her scholarship focuses on the intersections between race, spirituality and resilience during challenging times. She believes in miracles.

Daniel A. Rabuzzi (he / his) (www.danielarabuzzi.com) has been published in, among others, Crab Creek Review, Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality & the Arts, Asimov's, Harvard Review, New Letters, Chicago Review of Books, and Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. Pushcart nominee. He earned degrees in the study of folklore & mythology and European history. He lives in New York City with his artistic partner & spouse, the woodcarver Deborah A. Mills (www.deborahmillswoodcarving.com).

Kimbol Soques has been writing since before she got her first typewriter at age 3. In poetry, she strives to pare down to the bone, using white space like breath. Her work has been published in a variety of places, including Quartet and the Seven Hills Review, where she received the 2023 Penumbra first prize. Kimbol also has been nominated for Best of the Net. She lives and writes in Austin, Texas. Visit kimbol.soques.net for links to her published poetry

Dr. Melvin Sterne earned his PhD in English from Florida State University, where he studied fiction writing with Robert Olen Butler and Julianna Baggott. He has published two novels (Zara and The Shoeshine Boy) and two collections of short stories (The Number You Have Reached and Redemption). He has published 42 individual short stories, with several winning awards and a few also being subsequently anthologized. He currently serves as Associate Professor in the Humanities and Social Science Department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen, China, campus). He teaches literature and creative writing. He lives in Singapore when he is not teaching in China.

John Allen Taylor is the author of the chapbook Unmonstrous (YesYes Books, 2019). His poems appear in Booth, DIAGRAM, Nashville Review, The Common, diode, Poetry Northwest, Pleiades, and other places. He directs the Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship Program and coordinates the writing center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Lately, he has taken up rockhounding. For more, visit johnallentaylor.com.

After living and working in central Indiana for seventeen years, Kresha Richman Warnock and her husband retired to the Pacific Northwest right as the pandemic hit. Since then, Kresha has developed a writing practice. She is currently working on her memoir and other essays. Her words have been recently published in Dorothy Parker’s Ashes https://www.dorothyparkersashes.com/cops/ cop-weddingcop-funeral, the anthology Proud to Be (Vol. 13), where her essay “The Survivor” won an honorable mention, and The Brevity Blog. For a more complete list of her writing, please view her website, https://kresharwarnock.com/

Joshua Wren lives in Baltimore, Maryland and learned how to write plays and poems in Western Massachusetts.

Bethany Besteman is the managing editor of Reformed Worship, and the worship pastor at her church in Maryland. She holds a Ph.D. in English language and literature from Catholic University of America. Her poetry has appeared in Ekstasis, Presence: a Journal of Catholic Poetry, Reformed Journal, Cable Street, and Solum Journal.

Michael Brooks received his MFA from Pacific University and teaches writing classes at Hope College. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Southampton Review, Redivider, Appalachian Review, Qu Literary Magazine, EcoTheo Review, Wayne Literary Review, The Windhover, and BULL.

Melinda J. Combs lives in Huntington Beach, California, where she writes, surfs, and watches as many sunsets as possible. Her nonfiction pieces have appeared in Fourteen Hills, in anthologies entitled Cat Women, Woman’s Best Friend, and Far From Home, all published by Seal Press. Her fiction has appeared in Fiction Southeast, Gargoyle, and other journals.

Michael Dechane is the author of The Long Invisible (Wildhouse Publishing, 2024). His work has appeared in Image, Spiritus, Tar River Poetry, Lake Effect, and elsewhere. He and his partner are owner-custodians of a home built in 1900 in a cove forest on the French Broad River north of Asheville, NC.

Chris Duffy lives in northern NJ. His poems have been included or forthcoming in Canary, Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality and the Arts, NJ Bards, Paterson Literary Review, The Closed Eye Open, Snapdragon: A Journal of Art and Healing, Tiny Seed Journal, The Halcyone, and several anthologies.

Recent winner of The Western Humanities Review Poetry Prize and runner-up for the Humboldt Prize, Florida Review, Madelyn Garner’s writing has appeared in The Best American Poetry, Alaska Quarterly Review, Salamander, Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Laurel Review, Pembroke Magazine, The Pinch, and Southern Indiana Review, among others. She is the co-editor of the poetry anthology, Collecting Life: Poets on Objects Known and Imagined. Her debut poetry manuscript, Hum of Our Blood, co-winner of Tupelo/3: A Taos Press July Open, was published in 2017.

Evan Gurney is an associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina Asheville. His poems and essays have appeared recently or are forthcoming in Broadkill Review, Contrary, storySouth, Tar River Poetry, and elsewhere.

Carrie Heimer writes and teaches in Fairbanks, Alaska. Her poetry has appeared in Atlanta Review, Comstock Review, Windhover, Rock & Sling, and Dappled Things. Her recent work borrows titles from lines of dialogue in her favorite films as she reflects on how our most beloved art reflects our experiences, values, and struggles. Her poetry collections and prayer podcast are available through her website: www.poetryissalt.com.

Emily Kingery is the author of Invasives (Finishing Line Press, 2023), a semi-finalist in the New Women’s Voices Series and a finalist at Harbor Editions and Thirty West Publishing House. Her work appears widely and has been selected for multiple honors and awards. She teaches creative writing and literature at St. Ambrose University and serves on the Board of Directors at the Midwest Writing Center, a non-profit supporting writers in the Quad Cities community (mwcqc.org).

Melissa Kuipers’ short story collection, The Whole Beautiful World, was published in 2017 with Brindle & Glass. Her fiction and non-fiction have appeared in publications like Plough, The Christian Century, The New Quarterly and Joyland, and she is a regular contributor to The Banner and Christian Courier magazines. She has an MA in Creative Writing from University of Toronto. In addition to writing, she serves as a chaplain to Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario where she lives with her husband and two children.

Gary Lark’s most recent collections are Easter Creek (Main Street Rag), Daybreak on the Water (Flowstone Press) and Ordinary Gravity (Airlie Press). His work has appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, Catamaran, Rattle, Sky Island and others. https:// garylark.work/

Amy Lindquist currently lives in St. Paul, Minnesota where she enjoys writing, singing in a choir, and teaching Jr High English. Her poetry explores the intersection of faith, humor, and memories of rural Montana where she grew up. She has published works with Montana Woman, Collected, Ekstasis and Solum Literary Press.

D.S. Martin is Poet-in-Residence at McMaster Divinity College, and Series Editor for the Poiema Poetry Series from Cascade Books. He has written five poetry collections including Angelicus (2021), Ampersand (2018), and Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis (2013). He and his wife live in Brampton, Ontario.

Hoshea Miller (they/he) is a recent alum of Indiana Wesleyan University, where he studied Writing and Illustration. As a student, Miller was the Design Editor of the student literature and art magazine, Caesura, a designer and copywriter for the Indiana Wesleyan Theatre Guild's PR Team, and a Writing tutor at the Ink Well. They are currently working on editing and illustrating their middle-grade poetry book, The Rainbow Plaid Fall Coat, and Other Better and More Funny Poems, and keeping an eye out for exciting career opportunities. You can find them at changelingarts.com.

Devon Miller-Duggan's books include Pinning the Bird to the Wall (Tres Chicas, 2008), Alphabet Year (Slant, 2017), and Slow Salute (Lithic Press, 2018). She lives in Delaware, which, once the oceans rise, will probably be the smallest state since it has more below-sea-level land than Rhode Island.

David J.S. Pickering is a native Oregonian. His first poetry collection, Jesus Comes to Me as Judy Garland, received the Airlie Prize in 2020. His poetry has received three Pushcart nominations, and it is published in a variety of journals including Passager, Tar River Poetry, Mantis, Fireweed, Lips, Reed Magazine, and Gertrude Journal. David lives with his husband in Portland Oregon where, even as you read this, he is likely drinking too much coffee.

Kimberly Ann Priest is the author of Slaughter the One Bird (Sundress 2021), tether & lung (Texas Review Press, 2025), and Floralia (Unsolicited Press, 2025). An assistant professor of first-year writing at Michigan State University, her work has appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, Copper Nickel, and Birmingham Poetry Review. She lives, with her husband, in Maine.

Patty Seyburn has published five books of poems: Threshold Delivery (Finishing Line Press, 2019); Perfecta (What Books Press, 2014); Hilarity (New Issues Press, 2009), Mechanical Cluster (Ohio State University Press, 2002) and Diasporadic (Helicon Nine Editions, 1998). She is a professor at California State University, Long Beach.

Randy Smith founded and directs the BFA Program in Creative Writing at Belhaven University in Jackson, MS. He has published poetry in Ruminate, Tupelo Quarterly, Prometheus Dreaming, Yemassee, and Sandstorm. His creative nonfiction has appeared in Gulf Stream Magazine and Sierra Nevada Review. In 2018, two of his poems were finalists for the Tupelo Quarterly Open Poetry Prize judged by Denise Duhamel.

Marjorie Stelmach is the author of seven volumes of poems, most recently, The Angel of Absolute Zero (Cascade, 2022) and Walking the Mist (Ashland Poetry Press, 2021). Her work has appeared in American Literary Review, Boulevard, Ekphrastic Review, Gettysburg Review, Hudson Review, Image, Notre Dame Review, Prairie Schooner, and others.

Heather M. Surls' reporting has appeared or is forthcoming in outlets like Religion News Service, Christianity Today, Hidden Compass, and Plough Quarterly, while her creative nonfiction has been published in journals like River Teeth, Catamaran, Brevity, Ruminate, and The Other Journal. "Yet I Will Rejoice" is excerpted from her memoir-in-essays, for which she is seeking a publisher. She lives in Amman, Jordan, with her husband and two sons.

Cynthia R. Wallace is Associate Professor of English at St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan. Her creative and critical writing has appeared in journals including The Kenyon Review, Commonweal, Sojourners, The New England Review, Toronto Quarterly Review, Religion and Literature, Literature and Theology, and elsewhere. She is author of the books Of Women Borne: A Literary Ethics of Suffering (Columbia UP, 2016) and The Literary Afterlives of Simone Weil (Columbia UP, 2024).

Jerah Winn is a writer and language enthusiast whose work has appeared in the Wesleyan Life magazine and in Indiana Wesleyan University’s literary journal, Caesura. She cares about sharing hope by sharing stories with people, and her writing often explores the meaning of home.

Diana Woodcock has authored seven chapbooks and six poetry collections, most recently Heaven Underfoot (2022 Codhill Press Pauline Uchmanowicz Poetry Award https://www.codhill.com/product/heaven-underfootdiana-woodcock/), Holy Sparks (2020 Paraclete Press Poetry Award finalist https://paracletepress.com/products/holy-sparks) and Facing Aridity (2020 Prism Prize for Climate Literature finalist). A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and Best of the Net nominee, she received the 2011 Vernice Quebodeaux Pathways Poetry Prize for Women for her debut collection, Swaying on the Elephant’s Shoulders. Currently teaching at VCUarts Qatar, she holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Lancaster University, where she researched poetry's role in the search for an environmental ethic.