John Ballantine
John Ballantine is professor at Brandeis International Business School. He teaches courses in economics, finance and energy and is director of a one year program in finance. John received his bachelor degree in English from Harvard University and master’s degree and Ph.D. from University of Chicago and NYU, respectively. He has been writing on the side for many years. Over the past five years, John has been part of weekly “Writing Down the Bones,” Natalie Goldberg’s writing group in Concord, Ma. where free form writing practices and creativity are encouraged. His recent reflections and memoir vignettes are an outgrowth of the voice that emerged from these writing classes. John continues to make time for writing, reading and discovering our wonderful complex world while teaching full complement of classes at Brandeis.
Melissa Tombro
Melissa Tombro is an Associate Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY, in New York City, where she teaches writing. In addition to teaching, she volunteers for the New York Writers Coalition, where she runs writing workshops for at-risk and underserved populations. She lives in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, with her husband Matt and their dog Lily. Her work has appeared in Eclectica magazine.
Timothy Schirmer
Timothy Schirmer currently lives in the last lovely little corner Manhattan, a place called Alphabet City, where he’s happy to walk down the street with his headphones on. His writing has recently appeared or is forthcoming in RATTLE, FriGG, The Adirondack Review, The Monarch Review, Quiddity, Bluestem, Gertrude, Punchnel’s and elsewhere. You can find him online at: timothyschirmer.com.
A.J. Huffman
A.J. Huffman has published seven solo chapbooks and one joint chapbook through various small presses. Her eighth solo chapbook, “Drippings from a Painted Mind,” won the 2013 Two Wolves Chapbook Contest. She also has a full-length poetry collection scheduled for release in June 2005, titled, “A Few Bullets Short of Home” (mgv2>publishing). She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and her poetry, fiction, and haiku have appeared in hundreds of national and international journals, including Labletter, The James Dickey Review, Bone Orchard, EgoPHobia, Kritya, and Offerta Speciale, in which her work appeared in both English and Italian translation. She is also the founding editor of Kind of a Hurricane Press.
Ron Riekki
Ron Riekki’s books include “U.P.” (Ghost Road Press) and “The Way North: Collected Upper Peninsula New Works” (Wayne State University Press, chosen by the Library of Michigan as a 2014 Michigan Notable Book). May 2015, Michigan State University Press publishes “Here: Women Writing Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.” His plays include “All Saints’ Day” (Ruckus Theater), “Dandelion Cottage” (Lake Superior Theatre), and “Carol” (equity production, Stageworks/Hudson).
Melissa Pheterson
Melissa Pheterson received her B.A. from Cornell University and her M.A. in journalism from New York University. Currently, She is a freelance writer of health and lifestyle content for local and national media. For a recurring feature on restaurants, she invites chefs into her home to guide her through the re-creation of a meal featured on their menu, despite her fear of knives and heat. In her spare time, she volunteers at her local synagogue’s museum of Judaica. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The New York Times, Bacopa Literary Review, decomP, Diverse Voices Quarterly, The Healing Muse, Jelly Bucket, JewishStoryWriting.com, Jerusalem Post, Louisville Review, Minetta Review, Oklahoma Review, Quiddity, Rubbertop Review, Talking River, Wild Violet, numerous Gannett News Service publications, on the websites Salon.com and iVillage.com, and in the anthology “Have I Got a Guy For You.” She received two honorable mentions for magazine articles from Writer’s Digest and recently received an Award of Excellence from the New York News Publishers Association in feature writing.
Garrett Hines
Garrett Hines is based out of New Orleans. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from Southeastern Louisiana University. His work has appeared in Southern Road Trips Magazine, and the Literary Journal Gambit. He was also a panelist in the 2009 Tennessee Williams Festival, where he read his short story “Keya”.
John Repp
John Repp is a poet, fiction writer, essayist, and book critic. His most recent collections of poetry are “Music Over the Water” (Alice Greene & Co., 2013) and “Fat Jersey Blues” (University of Akron Press, 2014).