CONTRIBUTORS TO THE HOLIDAY MELEE:
BROOKS
Annastatia Brooks is from the beautiful island of Newfoundland, Canada. She is an amateur poet studying English and Social Justice, and she works as a journalist for her campus Journal as a University contributor. She is working towards becoming a full-time writer so that she may continue to share her works with the world.
BURRIS
Allison Burris igrew up in the Pacific Northwest and currently lives in Oakland, California. Her poems embrace the whimsical and cozy, explore human connection, and affirm the power of stories. She received her MLIS from San Jose State University and her poetry appears or is forthcoming in various journals, including Muleskinner, After Happy Hour Review, Passionfruit, The Marbled Sigh, and Avalon Literary Review.
DIAMOND
Bill Diamond lives in Colorado where the Rocky Mountains are both an inspiration and distraction. He writes to help figure it all out.
DOYLE
Anthony Doyle is a misplaced Irishman, author of the novel Hibernaculum, the forthcoming Jonah’s Map of the Whale (poetry) and two children’s books in Portuguese. He’s a member of Old Scratch Press. Find him.
EDELMAN
Bart Edelman’s poetry collections include Crossing the Hackensack (Prometheus Press), Under Damaris’ Dress (Lightning Publications), The Alphabet of Love (Red Hen Press), The Gentle Man (Red Hen Press), The Last Mojito (Red Hen Press), The Geographer’s Wife (Red Hen Press), Whistling to Trick the Wind (Meadowlark Press), and This Body Is Never at Rest: New and Selected Poems 1993 – 2023 (Meadowlark Press). Most recently, he has taught in the MFA program at Antioch University, Los Angeles. His work has been anthologized in textbooks published by City Lights Books, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, the University of Iowa Press, Wadsworth, and others.
FINDLAY
Hugh Findlay’s. writing and photography have been published worldwide. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2020 for poetry, and the Best Microfiction Anthology 2024, he is in the third trimester of life and hopes y’all like his stuff. Instagram: @hughmanfindlay. Find him.
FITZGERALD
Jane H. Fitzgerald is a retired middle school history teacher, who is now a writer. She has written four books of poetry including, Notes From the Undaunted. Fitzgerald has been featured in many print journals and online sites. A few of these are: Instant Noodles, Your Daily Poem, Isele Quarterly Magazine, Little Old Lady Comedy, and Green Ink Poetry. Fitzgerald hopes that her writing creates a bridge of understanding to others. She loves her family, friends, writing, and working with colors. Fitzgerald enjoys living in Florida.
FLEMING
Robert Fleming lives in Lewes, Delaware. He retired from writing television comedy and game shows to literary writing. Fleming’s twists bring the reader to the limit to find truth. Listeners heard Robert reading his Beat-Poetry in May at They-Call-Me-Mitch, an online reading series in San Francisco, California; in April his play the 8th wonder had a casted reading at the Playwright’s Collective; and he co-hosts a local artist share at the Lewes, Delaware library. Readers read his writing in publications in United States, Canada, and Australia. Fleming is a repeat contributor to Local Gems Press, Radical Fairy Diary, Devil’s Party Press, Failed-Haiku, Rehoboth Beach Writer’s Guild, Spilled-Ink Virginia, and Camp Rehoboth art shows. His poetry and word-art will be in Ethel Zine and Failbetter. Follow Robert. See his new book White Noir.
GOLLADAY
Morgan Golladay has been intrigued with words all her life. Her poetry reflects this, and she uses illusion and allusion in her writing. Much of her work focuses on her native Shenandoah Valley, as well as coastal Delaware. Golladay says that poetry originated as an oral form, and she thinks it works best when it is heard. To that end it must be concise, simple, and tight. The poet bears the responsibility to speak old truths in new ways, to encourage the reader/listener to consider ideas from a different point of view. To do this the poet must be vulnerable, must allow their inner thoughts and fears and secrets to surface. This is particularly difficult in a society that doesn’t share its hurts, its fears, its pain. And that poetry, of love, loss, sadness, fear, and joy binds us together in our humanity and give us opportunities to grow.
Golladay has worked with non-profits as a volunteer and staff member, been a librarian, a blood donor recruiter, and a customer service and purchasing agent for a residential water-well wholesaler. Her watercolor and acrylic-collage paintings have won awards, and she is a member of the Mispillion Art League in Milford, Delaware, where she currently lives. An emerging poet, her work has been published in the Broadkill Review, Halloween Party ’21, and Instant Noodles. She has published short stories in HP-21 and Instant Noodles, and is currently editing her first novel. Her short stories have won both state and national awards. The Song of North Mountain, her first book of poetry, was published in May of 2024. Follow Morgan, and here too.
GOLD
Calla Gold owned a jewelry design business for thirty-eight years. Her Indie non-fiction book: Design Your Dream Wedding Rings, From Engagement to Eternity, was released on Valentine’s Day 2019.
Her recent short stories and novelette have been published in Mobius Blvd, Killer Nashville Magazine, and Confetti Magazine.
HOSTOVSKY
Paul Hostovsky’s poems have won a Pushcart Prize, two Best of the Net Awards, the FutureCycle Poetry Book Prize, and have been featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, The Writer’s Almanac, and the Best American Poetry blog. Find him.
IRWIN
James Irwin is a writer in New Jersey. His work has recently appeared in Brevity, Big Windows Review, and Bay to Ocean Journal. He is associate editor of the Atlantic Journal of Communication, and co-founded the film journal Cinematograph. Find him.
JOHNSON
Jamie Johnson is a writer and educator living in Appalachia.
JONES
Eleanor Jones is a public relations executive based in Maryland. Her quirky poetry and evocative prose have been recognized internationally through contests and publications sponsored by the Maryland Writers’ Association, Sun Magazine, Washington Writers’ Publishing House and Wingless Dreamer Publishing. Jones’ nonfiction has appeared in Essence, People, and The Washington Post.
MARIL
Nadja Maril writes prose and poetry that has been published in literary magazines that include, Lunch Ticket, Spry Literary Review and Across the Margin. Her chapbook of poems and memoir, Recipes from My Garden, is scheduled for publication by Old Scratch Press in September (2024). She recently published a children’s book. A former journalist and editor, Nadja has an MFA from Stonecoast at the University of Southern Maine. To read more of her work and follow her weekly blog posts, visit Nadjamaril.com, and get a copy of her new book!
MAZZA
Joan Mazza has worked as a medical microbiologist, psychotherapist, seminar leader, and is the author of six self-help psychology books, including Dreaming Your Real Self (Penguin/Putnam). Her work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Slant, Atlanta Review, The Maynard, The Comstock Review, Poet Lore, and The Nation. Mazza lives in rural central Virginia. Find her.
MOSKALUK
Jonathan Moskaluk lives with his long-time partner on Vancouver Island, BC. He is currently writing his first full-length poetry book and has been previously published in Arboreal, Asylum, Sea & Cedar, The Heron’s Nest, and more.
POLK
J.B. Polk polish by birth, Polk currently lives in Chile. Polk’s first story was short-listed for the Irish Independent/Hennessy Awards, Ireland, 1996. Since she went back to writing fiction in 2020, more than 100 of her stories, flash fiction and non-fiction, have been accepted for publication. She has recently won 1st prize in the International Human Rights Arts Movement literary contest for her story about Victor Jara, a Chilean folk songwriter.
SCHWEI
Stephen Schwei is a Houston poet with Wisconsin roots, published in Wax Poetry & Art, Beneath the Rainbow, Hidden Constellation, Borfski Press, and the New Reader Magazine. A gay man with three grown children and four wonderful grandchildren, who worked in Information Technology most of his life, he can be a mass of contradictions. Poetry helps to sort all of this out. Find him.
SINGLETARY
R. P. Singletary is a rural native of the southeastern U.S.A., and a lifelong writer across fiction, poetry, hybrid forms. Singletary is a budding playwright, with fiction, poetry, drama in Litro, BULL, Rathalla Review, The Rumen, Wasteland Review, EBB – Ukraine, Jonah, Ancient Paths, Screen Door Review, Bending Genres, The Ana, and elsewhere. Find him.
STRIVELLI
Ginger Strivelli is an artist and writer from North Carolina. She writes both fiction and non-fiction. She has written for Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine, Circle Magazine, Third Flatiron, Autism Parenting Magazine, Jokes Review, Cabinet of Heed Literary Journal, The New Accelerator, and various other publications for thirty years. She loves to travel the world and make arts and crafts along with her storytelling and educating through her writing.
THORNE
M. Benjamin Thorne iis an Associate Professor of Modern European History at Wingate University. Possessed of a lifelong love of history and poetry, he is interested in exploring the synergy between the two. His poems appear or are forthcoming in Sky Island Journal, The Westchester Review, FERAL: A Journal of Poetry and Art, Rising Phoenix Review, and Gyroscope Review. He lives and sometimes sleeps in Charlotte, North Carolina.
TURNEY
Rachel Turney is an educator and teacher trainer in Colorado. Her poems and prose are published (or are in press) in The Font Journal, Nap Lit, Pulp, Ranger, Through Lines Magazine, Blink Ink, Bare Back, The Hooghly Review, and Teach Write Journal. Her photography appears in Writers Resist, The Salt, San Antonio Review, Umbrella Factory Magazine, and Ink in Thirds Magazine. Her artwork appears in Cosmic Daffodil. Instagram: @turneytalks Find her.
INSTANT NOODLES 