Staff
Daniel Bowman, Jr.
Editor in Chief
Daniel Bowman Jr. is the author of A Plum Tree in Leatherstocking Country, which released in 2012 with a small press in Chicago. His poems, essays, and fiction have appeared in The Adirondack Review, American Poetry Journal, Books & Culture, The Midwest Quarterly, Rio Grande Review, Seneca Review, Volume 1 Brooklyn, and many other magazines. He grew up in Mohawk, New York, and lives in Hartford City, Indiana, where he is Associate Professor of English at Taylor University. His memoir On the Spectrum: Autism, Faith, & the Gifts of Neurodiversity is out with Brazos Press. He is currently completing revisions on a YA novel called The Autism Journals.
Lydia Channell
Managing Editor
Lydia Channell has a degree in English literature from Taylor University, where she served as a student editorial assistant for Relief from 2022-2025. She also participated on the student team for Parnassus, the campus journal of literature and art, and worked at the writing center as a lead tutor. She now lives in Michigan and spends most of her free time reading or thinking about reading.
Aaron Housholder
Fiction Editor
Dr. Aaron Housholder is a Professor of English at Taylor University. He teaches courses in creative writing, composition, World Literature, 18th-Century British literature, and he occasionally co-leads Taylor's Literary London trip. He also supervises Parnassus, Taylor's journal of art and literature. He has graduate degrees in both creative writing and literature, including a PhD in English Literature from Ball State University. His creative work (fiction, flash prose, CNF, poetry) has appeared in more than three dozen literary journals, including Flash Fiction Magazine, Barren Magazine, The Windhover, Ruminate, The Molotov Cocktail, phoebe journal, and elsewhere. He lives with his family in Anderson, Indiana, where he watches a ton of Cincinnati Reds baseball, writes (mostly) flash fiction, studies Gothic fiction and the narrative shaping of London and other urban spaces, and dreams of cathedrals.
Katie Karnehm-Esh
Creative Nonfiction Editor
Dr. Katie Karnehm-Esh, a 2002 alum of Indiana Wesleyan University, returned to the Midwest to teach composition and creative writing courses in 2008 after completing her Ph.D. in Creative Writing at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. She mentors student editors of Indiana Wesleyan University’s literary magazine Caesura, co-leads a May Term Travel Writing class in Ireland, and teaches community yoga classes, all of which inspire her research and writing. Her essays and poetry have been published in Fourth Genre, The Cresset, The Other Journal, Topology, Whale Road Review, Barren Magazine and Windhover.
Sarah M. Wells
Poetry Editor
Sarah M. Wells is the award-winning author of three nonfiction books and two poetry collections. Her work has been honored with four Pushcart Prize nominations, and six of her essays have been listed as Notable Essays in Best American Essays. She is the recipient of an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. Sarah earned her BA in Creating Writing and her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Ashland University. She has taught and presented at dozens of universities and conferences in the last decade. Sarah is a regular contributor to Root & Vine News and Our Daily Bread’s website for women, God Hears Her. Wells lives in Ashland, Ohio with her husband and three children. Learn more at sarahmariewells.com.
Autumn Wright Graphic Designer
Autumn Wright is a BFA student at Taylor university. In addition to her work with Relief, she also works with Parnassus, the campus journal of literature and art, and both her graphic design and her illustration work has been used extensively by clubs and organizations on campus. Her art will also appear on the cover of the 2025 issue of Relief later this year. In addition to her design work, Autumn enjoys writing and likes creating, creatures, and creating creatures.