A

Sarah Ahmad lives in Pakistan. She likes to call herself a strug-
gling poet and artist as in a world where life is so fragile, not
knowing if you will return alive every time you step out of the
house. Getting someone to acknowledge your art is a real
struggle. Her poetry has appeared in various online and print
magazines, including Leaf Garden Press, Mad Swirl, Otoliths,
Stone's Throw Magazine and Ruthless Peoples. Sarah hopes
to do some good in the world, but doesn't know what yet. She
despises a typical 9 to 5 job--it gives her migraines.

Lester Allen resides in the western hills of New York, where he
lives with his cat Geoffry and a perpetual hard-on for words. His
work has recently appeared in Poesy & Full of Crow.

Lester Allen

B

Melanie Browne lives in Texas. Her poems can be seen at
various places, including Houston Literary Review, Word
Riot, Mad Swirl and Outsider Writers (the "Not Your Bitch"
poetry series). She is a co-editor at Leaf Garden Press.

C

Wolfgang Carstens lives in Canada with his wife, five children
and two cats. His poetry and prose are printed on the backs of
unpaid bills.

D

Cassandra Dallett lives in Oakland, CA. She is currently unem-
ployed, a sometime student, and a full time mama. When not
cooking for an army, she writes poetry and short stories of
memoir. Her work has been published in Cherry Bleeds, The
Milvia Street Journal, Street Spirit, Opium Poetry2.0, Criminal
Class Review and The Beat Museum of San Francisco.

Colin Dardis is a poet, songwriter and artist based in Belfast,
Northern Ireland. He edits the poetry journal, Speech Therapy,
and helps run an open mic poetry night called "Make Yourself
Heard." He spends his days watching wrestling videos while
turning white pages into black ones.

Matthew Dexter is an American anomaly living in Mexico. He
writes novels, memoirs, poetry, journalism articles, and short
stories. When not writing, Matthew enjoys life by the ocean,
reading and being inspired by beautiful beaches and breath-
taking views. No candlelit dinners on the beach, though. He’s
afraid of Pirates.

Matthew Dexter

Richard Dripping is a performance poet from England who
doesn't do bios.

G

Mat Gould doesn't beg to be published, but he has threat-
ened an editor or few just for the sake of doing so. * He is
currently feeding the hyena and on the verge of putting
together another chapbook. You can arrange a fight with
him through The Luxman Empire.

* Editor's Note: not this editor, mofo!

H

Joseph Hargraves grew up in a trailer park with a Genius
IQ. He never recovered from either of those catastrophes.
His writing has been published in The Guardian UK, The
South African Times, James White Review and the New
York Quarterly; but that was before he became a hermit.
He is currently working his way back to a semblance of
poetic communication.

Paul Hellweg has felt, for his whole life, as if he didn’t fit in.
Then, a few months ago, he discovered a new world of
kindred spirits in the poetry universe--both online and at
readings throughout the LA area. Paul is thrilled to have
found a place where he fits in just fine, sober or not.

Jenna Humphrey lives in San Francisco: specifically, on
an alley that is romanticized for its graffiti. She is a bad
speller with a despondent worldview, who sometimes
performs in an imaginary band called Bodysuit. Jenna
has had work published elsewhere online; a search will
yield Google results that consist of her work and Internet
content about the popular novel Gossip Girl, a character
of which shares her name.

Jenna's blog: eattheblueswithbloodyteeth.blogspot.com.

L

Roberta Lawson lives on the coast of England. Her work
has previously appeared in publications such as Sein
Und Werden, Zygote In My Coffee, Ditch and Prick Of
The Spindle.

Roberta blogs at: http://mermaids-singing.blogspot.com

Simon Leigh is an over-educated Australian living in Toronto.
He has three poetry books and a novel under his belt, which
must be rather uncomfortable when he's sitting down.

M

Ally Malinenko has had work published in Alembic, Blind
Man’s Review, Small Brushes, Jack Magazine, Delirio, The
Unknown Writer, Zygote in My Coffee, Sugar Mule, HeART,
Whiskey Island Magazine, Words-Myth, The New Yinzer,
Orange Room Review, Why Vandalism? and Mad Swirl.

Ally is also a contributing poet to Reading Ground Blog-
azine. Her first book of poems, entitled The Wanting Bone,
was recently published by Six Gallery Press.  She is cur-
rently working on a children's novel and lives in Brooklyn
with her husband and two cats.

Michael Mc Aloran was Belfast born, but his family moved
to the south of Ireland due to 'The Troubles'. Since then,
he has travelled extensively throughout Europe, living for
brief spells in both Holland & Italy. He studied Fine Art &
Design, but withdrew after one disillusioned year. He still
continues to paint obsesssively when he can afford to.

Michael has been writing poetry sporadically for almost a
decade, but has only recently begun to submit. His work
has been published by Poetry Monthly International, Full
of Crow, Gloom Cupboard, Counterexample Poetics and
WritingRaw, and has work forthcoming in Clockwise Cat,
Deep Tissue, The Delinquent, Why Vandalism? Blaze-Vox
and Origami Condom. Michael also entertains himself with
cigarettes and alcohol.

Richie McCaffery was born in Newcastle in 1986 and has
lived in Stirling and Edinburgh where he received an MLit
in Scottish Literature. He has been published in Magma,
Peterloo and Poetry Scotland, and recently received an
Edwin Morgan Poetry Bursary which he used to tour the
Outer Hebrides by bike.

Charlotte McEachin once tried to be an academic and sub-
mitted to the Missouri Philological Association's journal,
PMPA--and got accepted. But it didn't feel like acceptance.
So, now she teaches on the border of Mexico, at Laredo
Community College, questions and combats the Patron
System (perhaps to her peril), submitted her writing with
hesitation, and won Honorable Mention and Third Place
at the Annual Laredo Poetry Festivals in 2008 and 2009.
She feels more accepted here than she has comfortably
felt in her whole lifetime.

Her poem, "Mourning Now," is in the fifth issue of G.E.M.
She suspects that its content may complicate the world's
view of her, and that is rather satisfying.

Michelle Mead is a writer from New York's Hudson Valley.
She is a co-editor of a children’s magazine called Whimsy
where she also contributes book reviews and poetry. Inter-
views with authors and illustrators appear on her blog, at
www.whimsytalks.blogspot.com.  Michelle's writing has
been published in various e-zines such as Clockwise Cat
and EMG-Zine, as well as in the literary magazines Songs
of Innocence (And Experience), Trespass and Polluto. She
has also authored a chapbook, Moongirls and Nightdreams.

Michelle Mead

Mike Meraz is a poet from Los Angeles who currently lives in
New Orleans. He is the author of two books of poetry: Black-
Listed Poems and All Beautiful Things Travel Alone. Both are
available at Lulu.com and Amazon.com.

Mike is also the editor of Black-Listed Magazine.

N

Tony Nesca was born in Torino, Italy in 1965 and moved
to Canada at the age of three. He was raised in Winnipeg
but relocated back to Italy several times, until he finally
settled in Winnipeg in 1980. He taught himself how to
play guitar and formed an original rock band, playing
the local bars for several years. At the age of twenty-
seven, he traded his guitar for a Commodore 64 and
started writing seriously.

Tony has published six chapbooks of short stories and
poems, five novels, two books of stories and poetry, and
has been a contributor to the underground lit scene for
eleven years, being published in innumerable zines, both
online and in print.

He currently lives in Winnipeg with his wife, Nicole-Isabella.
The couple are the editors of the underground publishing
company, Screamin' Skull Press.

P

Zachari J. Popour was born April 11th, 1985 and is a life-
long resident of Huron County, Michigan. He is just like
you: both the best and worst person to varying degrees
of perception and comprehension.

R

Andrew Rihn does not have a MFA, nor has he been pub-
lished in the cutting-edge WhoYouKnow Review. He does,
however, have a blast writing poems.

Jason Ryberg is the author of seven books of poetry, six
screenplays, a few short stories, a box of loose papers
that could one day be loosely construed as a novel, and
a couple of angry letters to various editors. He lives in
Kansas City, Missouri. His latest collection of poems,
Blunt Trauma, was co-authored with Iris Appelquist. The
book was published by Spartan Press, and is available
at www.prosperosbookstore.com.

S

Willie Smith is a nano-poet hanging by the skin of his teeth
to the belief that suicide is not a viable option. His novel
OEDIPUS CADET is available at amazon.com and Black
Heron Press. His earlier story collections collections Solid
Gas, Stories from the Microwave, Go Ahead Spit on Me and
Execution Style are collector's items.

Willie Smith

T

Michelle Tooker is a displaced New Yorker who lives and
works in Philadelphia. She’s been writing creatively since
literacy. Her inspiration comes from lived and imagined
experiences, including time spent abroad. She has been
to more than 30 countries, and plans to visit at least 100.

W

Lise Whidden is a writer from North Carolina. Her work has
appeared in Shine! A Literary Journal, Lily Literary Review,
Hiss Quarterly, The Dead Mule, Crimson Highway, Subtle
Tea, Mad Hatter's Review, Triggerfish, Nothing But Red,
Toronto Quarterly and Dogplotz.

Danielle White was born and raised in Uxbridge, Massachu-
setts. She graduated from Franklin Pierce University in May
2009 with a BA in English. She enjoys reading and writing
poetry (obviously) and also enjoys drinking red wine.

Y

Changming Yuan grew up in rural China and now teaches
writing in Vancouver. Yuan's poems have appeared or are
forthcoming in Barrow Street, Best Canadian Poetry 2009,
Cortland Review, Exquisite Corspe, London Magazine and
others. His first collection, Chansons of a Chinaman has
recently been released by Leaf Garden Press.

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