Issue 239 Contributors

Meet the contributors of upcoming Issue 239

Leah Hanson
Leah Hanson is a Creative and Professional Writing student at Central Washington University. Crack the Spine is her first publication.

Justin Karcher
Justin Karcher is a poet and playwright born and raised in Buffalo, New York. He is the author of Tailgating at the Gates of Hell (Ghost City Press, 2015), the chapbook When Severed Ears Sing You Songs (CWP Collective Press, 2017), the micro-chapbook Just Because You’ve Been Hospitalized for Depression Doesn’t Mean You’re Kanye West (Ghost City Press, 2017), and—with Ben Brindise—Those Who Favor Fire, Those Who Pray to Fire (EMP, 2018). He is also the editor of Ghost City Review and co-editor of the anthology My Next Heart: New Buffalo Poetry (BlazeVOX [books], 2017). He tweets @Justin_Karcher

Tianna Grosch
Tianna Grosch has been writing her entire life and received her MFA at Arcadia University last year. She is working on a debut novel about women who survive trauma as well as a memoir. Her work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Ellipsis Zine, Crack the Spine, Burning House Press, Who Writes Short Shorts, New Pop Lit, Blanket Sea Magazine, Echo Lit Mag and Nabu Review (both lit mags of Paragon Press), among others. In her free time, she gardens on her family farm and dreams up dark fiction. Follow her on Twitter @tianng92 or check out her writing on CreativeTianna.com.

Alyssa Hanna
Alyssa Hanna graduated from Purchase College in May 2016 with a degree in Creative Writing and a minor in History. Her poems have appeared in Reed Magazine, The Mid-American Review, The Naugatuck River Review, and are upcoming in Cholla Needles. She has also been nominated for a 2017 Pushcart Prize. Alyssa is a manager at a large pet retail store and intends on pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing. She lives in Westchester with her fish and four lizards.

Kathleen Sands
Kathleen Sands has lived in Arizona, Scotland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Her jobs have included zookeeper, laboratory technician, government policy analyst, and university English professor. This pattern of restlessness (unsurprisingly) characterizes many of her protagonists, including Walter in Pinch Graft. Her stories have appeared in journals, anthologies, and a collection, Boy of Bone, which received an honorable mention in the 2012 New York Book Festival. Her unpublished novel In-Between People was a finalist for the 2017 Brighthorse Prize.

Joanna Arnow
Joanna Arnow is a filmmaker and writer based in Brooklyn. Her short stories have appeared in Glimmer Train Press, Monkeybicycle and Dogzplot. She has directed several films including narrative short Bad At Dancing and personal documentary feature I Hate Myself. Her films have screened at festivals including the Berlinale, New York Film Festival, Rooftop Films, and Hong Kong International Film Festival.

Jim Zola
Jim Zola is a poet and photographer living in North Carolina.

Aisha Phoenix
Aisha Phoenix writes fiction and poetry and has had work published in: Strange Horizons, Litro USA online, Bards and Sages Quarterly, Word Riot and the Bath Flash Fiction anthology. Her poetry has been published in the Oxonian Review of Books and is forthcoming in Peepal Tree Press’s Filigree poetry anthology. Aisha Phoenix is a MIROnline features writer. She works as a postdoctoral researcher and has a PhD in Sociology from Goldsmiths, University of London. She tweets as @FirebirdN4

Tony Burnett
Educated at University of North Texas, Tony Burnett is Managing Editor at Kallisto Gaia Press, home of The Ocotillo Review and The Texas Poetry Calendar. An award winning poet, journalist, activist and songwriter, his poetry and short fiction have been published in national literary magazines and anthologies including Sixfold, Connotation Press, Short Story America, Frontier Tales, Texas Poetry Calendar, Poetry @ Round Top anthology, Tidal Basin Review, Di-verse-city, and Toucan Literary Magazine. He served from 2013 through 2017 as Board President of the Writers’ League of Texas.