Amy Bassin/Mark Blickley – New York, USA
New York interdisciplinary artist Amy Bassin and writer Mark Blickley work together on text-based art collaborations and experimental videos. Their work has appeared in many national and international publications as well as two books: Weathered Reports: Trump Surrogate Quotes from the Underground (Moria Books, Chicago) and Dream Streams (Clare Songbird Publishing House, New York). Their videos, “Speaking In Bootongue” and “Widow’s Peek: The Kiss of Death,” represented the United States in the 2020 year-long world tour of Time Is Love: Universal Feelings: Myths & Conjunctions, organized by the esteemed African curator, Kisito Assangni.
Mark Blickley grew up within walking distance of the Bronx Zoo. François Truffaut’s film The 400 Blows made him want to become a writer because he saw that childhood trauma and abuse could be turned into poignant works of art. Just weeks before the international pandemic shut travel down, Amy Bassin was mugged and had her phone robbed while visiting Barcelona, Spain. She’s hoping for a much more satisfying and triumphant visit abroad once it’s safe to travel. Her upsetting European experience did not result in the knee-jerk reaction of far too many Americans to run out and buy a gun.
Deborah L. Bean – Texas, USA
Deborah L. Bean is a native Texan raised during the height of the moon race, which piqued her interest in science-fiction from a young age. She won First Place from The Writers Guild of Texas for her flash fiction piece “The Visiting Professor,” 2017. Ms. Bean has authored four technical user manuals on Act! Contact Management and Peachtree Accounting for Windows (Wordware Publishing 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002). In 2016, she completed her Graduate Certificate in the Your Novel Year program at ASU’s Piper Center for Creative Writing. She is currently working on her series, The Moabim Chronicles.
Karen Boissonneault-Gauthier – Canada
Karen Boissonneault-Gauthier is a Canadian indigenous photographer and visual artist. When she’s not walking her Siberian Husky under the Northern Lights, she designs with Art of Where. Her publication covers include Synkroniciti, The Feel Magazine, Doubleback Review, Arachne Press, Pretty Owl Poetry, Wild Musette, Existere Journal, Vine Leaves Literary Journal, Gigantic Sequins, and Ottawa Arts Journal, among others. Karen has also been featured in Vox Popular Media Arts Festival, Bracken Magazine, Zoetic Press, New Feathers Anthology, Maintenant 15, Parliament Lit, and Pure in Heart Stories to name but a few.
Visit Karen’s website for more.
Ace Boggess – West Virginia, USA
Ace Boggess is author of six books of poetry, most recently Escape Envy (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2021). His poems have appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Harvard Review, Moon City Review, Hotel Amerika, and other journals. An ex-con, he lives in Charleston, West Virginia, where he writes and tries to stay out of trouble.
John Backman – Upstate New York, USA
A bigender person and quasi-hermit, John Backman (she/her) writes about gender identity, ancient spirituality, strange wrinkles in human behavior, and how they collide from time to time. This includes personal essays in Catapult, Typehouse Literary Magazine, Tiferet Journal, Amethyst Review, and Sufi Journal, among other places. For the past two years John has been named a top 10 creative nonfiction finalist in the Wild Atlantic Writing Awards.
Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or her website.
James Bohen – Minnesota, USA
Jim Bohen is a poet/songwriter from St. Paul, MN. His poems have appeared in the Minnesota Daily, Conclave, Third Wednesday, Talking Stick and elsewhere. He’s been short-listed twice for the international erbacce prize. Unsolicited Press published his first poetry collection, “I travel in rusting burned-out sedans” (2018), and will publish his second, “The Management has seized control of this book,” in 2024. His music CD, “Never Too Late,” contains 12 of the hundreds of songs he’s written (samples at iTunes, cdbaby; search: “J B and the Phantom Band”). Jim and wife Bonnie have two adult children, and do daycare for their two grandchildren.
Sofia Ballesteros – Barcelona, Spain
Sofia Ballesteros (Mexico City, 1979) is the author of the children’s books La Princesa Rana (Textofilia, 2010), and Olga (Libros del Marqués 2021), as well as the short story collections La Sirena voladora y otros relatos (Caligrama, 2015) and Cuentos de Navigay (Libros del Marqués, 2019). She has contributed work to The Same Havoc, a Home Anthology (The Selkie), and SpecBook 2021 (Speculative Books). She was selected to participate in the inaugural Write Toscana retreat with Helen McClory, of whom she translated On The Edges of Vision to Spanish. She lives in Barcelona.
Lisa Brodsky – Minnesota, USA
Lisa Brodsky holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Minnesota and works as a Public Health Director. She was born and raised in Canada and is a mom of four boys. She is currently working on her Associates in Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing at Normandale Community College and was the 2nd place winner in the 2022 Patsy Lea Core Awards for poetry. Lisa places a great emphasis on lived experiences in her work. In addition to writing, she enjoys painting, photography, and raising her Shetland Sheepdogs.
April Boyington Wall – Ontario, Canada
Initially trained as a social worker and therapist, April moved into business consulting early in her career and taught graduate courses in management. Over the years she has written for academic and business publications as well as numerous in-house documents for organizations across Canada and the United States. She has just begun the journey of creative writing, but has been published in Women Writing History in a Global Pandemic, an anthology by the International Women’s Writers Guild, and the Journal of Expressive Writing. She lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband Richard Weisman.
Daisy Blacklock – UK
Daisy is a teenaged writer. She loves writing and her main goal at the moment is to get her writing out into the world in order to achieve her dream career: a full-time writer. She lives in the Lake District, a beautiful place for inspiration and a peaceful place to write.
Paul Beckman – Connecticut, USA
Paul Beckman’s latest flash collection, Kiss Kiss (Truth Serum Press) was a finalist for the 2019 Indie Book Awards. Some of his stories appeared in Necessary Fiction, Litro, Pank, Playboy, WINK, The Wax Paper, and Monkey. He was nominated for 2021 Best of the Web and selected for Best Microfiction 2022. Paul curates the monthly Fbomb flash fiction reading series now entering its seventh year (via Zoom).
Find more of Paul’s work at Paul Beckman Stories.
Michael Bailey – Georgia, USA
Michael Bailey is a retired English/Language teacher living in Marietta, Georgia. His poetry has appeared in Parousia, The Polish-Jewish Heritage Foundation of Canada newsletter, Borderless Journal, The Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine, The Chattahoochee Review, Journal of Gifted Secondary Education, and Shout it from the Mountain Top, An Anthology of Georgia Poets.
AMA Bosco – Italy
Alexander is a philosopher, writer and teacher. He has served seven years as a soldier in the British Army, and has lived and worked in several different countries. He currently speaks Italian, French, and Arabic, in no small part due to his Italo-Lebanese heritage though he prefers to write in English. He now teaches English as a second language and philosophy. He lives with his two cats and fiancée.
Find more on AMA’s website.
Eleanor Addy Binnings – Colorado, USA
A Colorado native who has lived in six other states, Eleanor is grateful for life and all the people she’s known, and she’s happy to finally let go of SOLOTRAMP. Her MFA is from the American University, and she teaches college composition and research for MSUDenver. Latest hobby: making high-protein crackers from flax, seeds, and mushrooms. She likes to create beats behind her poems, and she loves photographing flowers and sunsets. Her creative bucket list is long and detailed. Her illustrated book of toxic love poems is titled DRAMA, and she’s just published her novel SOLOTRAMP.
Find more on Eleanor’s website.
Clara Burghelea – România, Europe
Clara Burghelea is a Romanian-born poet with an MFA in Poetry from Adelphi University. Recipient of the Robert Muroff Poetry Award, her poems and translations appeared in Ambit, Waxwing, The Cortland Review and elsewhere. Her second poetry collection Praise the Unburied was published with Chaffinch Press in 2021. She is Poetry Editor for a different magazine and Review Editor of Ezra, An Online Journal of Translation.Find more on Clara on Facebook.
Ms. Bobbie – Ontario, Canada
Ms. Bobbie, the Art Pixie, is the artist name of Bobbie Kumar, a transgender, disabled artist from Brampton, Ontario. Immersed in art her whole life, Bobbie wrote her first story at the age of 11. She started making short films at the age of 15, and music a year later.
Find more on Bobbie’s website.
Cynthia Bernard – California, USA
Cynthia is a 68 year old woman who is finding her voice as a poet after many decades of silence. She lives on a hill overlooking the ocean, about 20 miles south of San Francisco. Her poetry has been published in Multiplicity Magazine.
Joe Bravaco – New Jersey, USA
Joe Bravaco (with Larry Rosler) co-authored The Almost True and Truly Remarkable Adventures of Israel Potter. It recieved productions in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Missouri. Bravaco and Rosler co-wrote the book for the musical Sundown with composer Peter Link. Sundown was produced in Virginia, New Mexico, and Texas, where it was nominated by the Dallas Drama League for Best New Play or Musical. Joe is the author of All-Star, which had a reading at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theatre; Break Point, produced by Washington D.C.’s Source Theatre; and Matthew’s Navigator, winner of three national one-act play competitions.
Michael Boyd – Johannesburg, South Africa
Michael grew up in Southern Africa, but moved to England as a teenager. Having always been an avid reader, and working for a spell at various film festivals, he decided on a career in teaching English to bring together his interests. This would also allow him to fulfil his longing to return to Africa. he now lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, and recently completed an MA in Creative Writing.
Find more on Michael’s Facebook.
Robert Beveridge – Ohio, US
Robert Beveridge (he/him) makes noise and writes poetry in Akron, OH. Recent/upcoming appearances in Monterey Poetry Review, Creatrix, and Redheaded Stepchild, among others.
Find more on Robert’s website.
Alex Barr – Wales, UK
Alex Barr lives in West Wales and writes poetry, short fiction, and essays. His short fiction collection ‘My Life With Eva’ is published by Parthian Books and he is putting together a third poetry collection. He used to teach architectural design at Manchester Metropolitan University and now teaches Buddhist meditation and creative writing at local venues. His wife Rosemarie is a ceramic artist and he likes to think of her work in people’s homes all over the world. He wishes he had been either Stephen Sondheim or Richard Strauss.
Find more on Alex’s blog.
Steven Bays – Pennsylvania, USA
Steve Bays, is from Brooklyn N.Y. He has attended creative writing classes at his local Community College. He has been published by the Tiferet Journal, and Spank the Carp magazine. Steve is a member of the Lehigh Valley Writer’s Group and has self-published a collection of short stories.
You can find more on Steven’s Facebook.
Kanwalpreet Baidwan – India
Dr. Kanwalpreet teaches Political Science in a college in Chandigarh India. Her poems have been accepted for publication in Canada, Scotland and U.S.A. She has authored 12 books and has been honoured at various forums. Her book, ‘Looking Back With a Twinkle’ is a biography of Oshims Zarenghez Samandari Raikhy’ and was an instant hit. She got a grant for her second book, ‘Rings of Life’, a collection of 13 short stories. She has written books for children and has contributed articles in various newspapers.
Renee Burns Lonner – Los Angeles, California, USA
Renee Burns Lonner is a management consultant for major corporations and a licensed psychotherapist based in Los Angeles. Her published work has appeared in many professional publications, newspapers, and a textbook. Since the pandemic, she has shifted to more creative writing and has been published by Medium, LOL Comedy and the Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop blog. In 2021, she published her first humor book “If You Give a Man a Tesla: A Parody” and is currently working on a collection of essays. This month’s theme “Overcoming” especially resonated with her.
Stanka Bajlozova-Barlamova – Republic of North Macedonia
Stanka Bajlozova-Barlamova is 30 and lives in Valandovo, Republic of North Macedonia. She graduated in Philological faculty “Blaze Koneski” in Skopje on department of Macedonian literature and South Slavic literatures. She had published the book “Siluets” (short stories, 2020). Today she works in The house of culture “25 May” in Valandovo and she organizes many culture events in her home town.
Jack Bates – Michigan, USA
Jack Bates is a writer of short fiction, some non-fiction, and dramatic scripts.
Debasish Banerjee ,West Bengal, India
Debasish Banerjee, lives in West Bengal, India. He is a freelancer and teacher of English language and literature. He made his writing career notable by getting published in some renowned journals across the world. They are Kitaab International (Singapore), YAWP Journal , Otherwise Engaged Literary Magazine (U.S.A), Contemporary Literary Review India (Mumbai) and MockingOwl Roost(U.S.A). He is received the India Prime Authors Award 2021. He believes that creating stories is like unfolding an unknown chapter our life, a pen should never be stopped when creating fantasy.
Peter J. Barbour – Oregon, USA
Pete Barbour has been writing stories for over 30 years. He published a memoir, Loose Ends, in 1987, followed by a series of short stories. He is a retired physician and now full-time author and illustrator. His stories have appeared in many e-zines and publications. Barbour is a member of Bethlehem Writers Group and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. He has written and illustrated three children’s books. “Tanya and the Baby Elephant,” appeared, 2021. Barbour lives with his wife in the Pacific Northwest.
Find more on Peter’s website.
Joshua Boers – Michigan, USA
Joshua Boers lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. When he isn’t writing short stories and screenplays, he can generally be found browsing used bookstores, playing with his cat Mishka, or falling asleep to episodes of Frasier. By day, he is an assistant editor at an independent book publisher.
