Poet and essayist Joanna Penn Cooper is the author of The Itinerant Girl's Guide to Self-Hypnosis (Brooklyn Arts Press) and What Is a Domicile (Noctuary Press). Joanna holds a PhD in English from Temple University and has taught at Marquette University and Fordham University. Her work has appeared in The Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day, South…

Mia Ayumi Malhotra is the author of ISAKO ISAKO (forthcoming September 2018), winner of the 2017 Alice James Award. She holds a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from the University of Washington, and her poems have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Indiana Review, The Greensboro Review, Best New Poets, and DISM…

Michael Meyerhofer’s fifth book of poems, Ragged Eden, is forthcoming from Glass Lyre Press. He’s also the author of a fantasy series and serves as the Poetry Editor of Atticus Review. His work has appeared in Rattle, Hayden’s Ferry, Ploughshares, DIAGRAM, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, and other journals. For more information and an embarrassi…

TJ Jarrett is a writer and software developer in Nashville, Tennessee. Her recent work has been published or is forthcoming in Poetry, African American Review, Boston Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Callaloo, DIAGRAM, Third Coast, VQR, West Branch and others. She has earned scholarships from Colrain Manuscript Conference and Vermont Studio Center; f…

Hari Alluri is the author of The Flayed City (Kaya, 2017), Carving Ashes (CiCAC, 2013) and the chapbook The Promise of Rust (Mouthfeel). His poetic, curational and translation work appears in anthologies, journals and online venues, recently through The Margins, Poemeleon and Poetry International. A co-founding editor at Locked Horn Press and recip…

Lynne DeSilva-Johnson (they/them) is a nonbinary queer interdisciplinary creator, cultural scholar, and educator. Lynne is the founder and creative director of The Operating System, a radical open source arts organization, online platform, and publisher. Prior to teaching at Pratt, they were an adjunct in the CUNY system for 10 years, as well as a …

Born in Wonju, Republic of Korea and adopted by a steelworker and homemaker in Oklahoma, Jennifer Kwon Dobbs is a poet, essayist, and scholar with interests in creative writing, critical adoption studies, Asian American literature, and Korean literary translation. She holds a BA in English from Oklahoma State University, an MFA in Poetry from the U…

A Minnesota-born daughter of Vietnam War refugees, Jenna Lê earned her B.A. in mathematics before obtaining her M.D. She lives and works as a physician and educator in the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire. She is the author of two full-length collections of poems, Six Rivers (NYQ Books, 2011), which was a Small Press Distribution Poetry Bestsel…

Saba Syed Razvi is the author of In the Crocodile Gardens (Agape Editions), heliophobia (Finishing Line Press) Limerence & Lux (Chax Press), Of the Divining and the Dead (Finishing Line Press), Beside the Muezzin’s Call & Beyond the Harem’s Veil (Finishing Line Press). Her poems have appeared in journals such as The Offending Adam, Diner, TheTHE Po…

Jon Tribble is author of two collections of poems: Natural State (Glass Lyre Press, 2016), and, And There Is Many a Good Thing (Salmon Poetry, 2017). His third book, God of the Kitchen, is forthcoming from Glass Lyre Press in 2018. He is the recipient of a 2003 Artist Fellowship Award in Poetry from the Illinois Arts Council and his poems have appe…

Brent Fisk is a writer from Bowling Green, Kentucky with over 300 poems, essays and short stories published so far. He has an B.A. in English Literature, and an M.A. in Creative Writing from WKU.---Host - Neil AikenProducer - Jenna YokoyamaMusic“Conviction” by Little Glass Men“Twosome” by Podington Bear…

Lee Herrick is the author of Gardening Secrets of the Dead (WordTech Editions, 2012) and This Many Miles from Desire (WordTech Editions, 2007) and a Fresno Poet Laureate emeritus (2017-2017). His poems have been published widely in literary magazines and anthologies.​ He is the founding editor of In the Grove and has guest edited various projects, …

Jessica Piazza is the author of three poetry collections: Interrobang (Red Hen Press, 2013), the chapbook This is not a sky (Black Lawrence Press, 2014) and Obliterations (with Heather Aimee O'Neill (Red Hen Press, 2016). Interrobang won the 2011 To the Lighthouse Prize from A Room of Her Own Foundation and the 2013 Balcones Prize from the Balcones…

Helene Achanzar is a Kundiman fellow who has earned awards from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc. She is a freelance writer who has written for Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Vice Media. Helene will be beginning her MFA studies at University of Mississippi this fall.---Host - Neil AikenProducer - Jenna Yo…

Noel Pabillo Mariano is a storyteller & community arts activist. They’re the editor of the anthology Press Start & Game On: Voices On Gaming and he is the author of the chapbooks, A Girl Named Hemingway (Eight Point Star Press) and Dispatches from the Mushroom Kingdom (Hyacinth Girl Press). Their poetry has appeared in or is forthcoming in Connotat…

Jeannine Hall Gailey recently served as the second Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington and the author of Becoming the Villainess, She Returns to the Floating World, Unexplained Fevers, The Robot Scientist's Daughter, and winner of the Moon City Press Book Prize, the upcoming Field Guide to the End of the World. Her work has been featured on NPR's …

Hélène Cardona is a poet, literary translator and actor. Her six books include Life in Suspension (2016), and Dreaming My Animal Selves (2013). Her translations include Beyond Elsewhere (by Gabriel Arnou-Laujeac, 2016), recipient of a Hemingway Grant; Ce que nous portons (Dorianne Laux, 2014); The Birnam Wood (by her father José Manuel Cardona, for…

YA novelist Valynne E. Maetani talks about her strange obsession with a particular kind of weird and gaudy fashion accessory and how it ultimately informs how she sees the world and what she thinks of how the world sees those who are a bit different. More at http://www.thelitfantastic.com---Valynne E. Maetani grew up in Utah and obtained a Bachelor…

In a particularly geeky conversation, host Neil Aitken and poet David Campos unpack Campos' obsession with collaborative roleplaying and computer games, as well as how the lessons we learn at the game table carry over into both realms of writing and academic work. Visit www.thelitfantastic.com for more info.---David Campos, a CantoMundo Fellow, is …

Poet Eugenia Leigh discusses her obsession with worldbuilding, whether in poetry, literary fiction, or fantasy realms. We geek out over JRR Tolkien's own obsession with language and the creation of founding myths, the intersection between faith and fantasy, and what exactly "selah" means. Check us out at www.thelitfantastic.com.---Eugenia Leigh is …