Iris Literary Journal Contributors
Volume II, Issue 1
Emily Rankin
Cover Artist and Visual Art CONTRIBUTOR
Emily Rankin was born in Riverside, California, and attended university in Abilene, TX, where she received a BFA in 2011. Her work ranges from Graphic Design and Scenic Painting to collaborative performances with Verstehen, an interactive series that incorporates live painting, sound, and electronics. She is currently based in New Mexico.
ALAN BERN
CREATIVE NONFICTION CONTRIBUTOR
Retired children’s librarian Alan Bern is the author of three books of poetry and has a hybrid fictionalized memoir forthcoming from UNCOLLECTED PRESS. Alan has awards for his poems and stories and is a published and exhibited/published photographer. He performs with dancer/choreographer Lucinda Weaver as PACES: dance & poetry fit to the space, and with musicians from “Composing Together.” Alan runs Lines & Faces, a press with artist/printer Robert Woods.
wendy Blaxland
POETRY CONTRIBUTOR
Wendy Blaxland is an award-winning writer. She has published poetry Australia, England, the United States and Norway and over 110 books, mainly for children, both fiction and non-fiction. She is also a playwright with over 25 plays produced.
CINDY BUCHANAN
POETRY CONTRIBUTOR
Cindy Buchanan grew up in Alaska and earned a BA in English and a teaching degree from Gonzaga University. She attends poetry classes at Hugo House in Seattle, WA, and is a member of two monthly poetry groups. Her work has been published in Chestnut Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, Evening Street Review, The MacGuffin, Rabid Oak, Hole in the Head Review, and other journals.
ROGER CAMP
PHOTOGRAPHY CONTRIBUTOR
Roger Camp is the author of three photography books, including the award-winning Butterflies in Flight, Thames & Hudson, 2002 and Heat, Charta, Milano, 2008. His documentary photography has been awarded the prestigious Leica Medal of Photography. His photographs are represented by the Robin Rice Gallery, NYC.
LINDA CARADINE
CREATIVE NONFICTION CONTRIBUTOR
Linda Caroline is a Portland, Oregon-based writer whose work has appeared in numerous literary journals and whose first book, a memoir, is scheduled for publication in April 2024.
ELAYNE CLIFT
FICTION CONTRIBUTOR
An award-winning writer and journalist, Elayne Clift’s work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Salon.com, and numerous magazines, periodicals, and anthologies. She is a regular columnist for three New England newspapers and a reviewer for The New York Journal of Books. She has published two memoirs, two books of poetry, three short story collections, three essay collections, a travel memoir, and three edited anthologies. Her poem "I Listen,= and My Heart is Breaking" was set to music and performed by the world-renowned acapella group “Sweet Honey in the Rock.” She offers writing workshops at venues ranging from conferences, local libraries, and arts programs to the noted destination spa, Rancho La Puerta, in Tecate, Mexico.
Josh Crummer
POETRY CONTRIBUTOR
Josh Crummer is a poet based out of Saginaw, Michigan. His works primarily grapple with small-town living, love, loss, and the occasional silly nugget. His works have recently appeared/will appear in Poets Choice, Alien Buddha Press, Still Life, and Sky Island Journal.
JESSE CURRAN
CREATIVE NONFICTION CONTRIBUTOR
Jesse Curran, Ph.D., is a poet, essayist, scholar, and educator who lives in Northport, NY. Her creative work has appeared in a number of literary journals, including Ruminate, About Place, Spillway, Leaping Clear, Green Humanities, Blueline, and Still Point Arts Quarterly. She has also published two chapbooks of poetry, Elegy & April and Double Stroller Dreams (Finishing Line, 2019 and 2021).
alice fogel
poetry contributor
Alice B Fogel was the New Hampshire poet laureate (2015-2019). Her latest collection is Nothing But, a series of poems responding to Abstract Expressionism and its effect on our consciousness. Others are A Doubtful House and Interval: Poems Based on Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” which won the Nicholas Schaffner Award for Music in Literature and the 2016 NH Literary Award in Poetry. Recipient of an NEA fellowship, she works one-on-one with neurodiverse students at Landmark College.
JONATHAN KRAVETZ
DRAMA CONTRIBUTOR
Jonathan Kravetz’s plays have been produced in the U.S. and U.K., and he’s a two-time semi-finalist for the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference. His fiction has appeared in The Exposition Review, Cardinal Sins, The Furious Gazelle, Wilderness House Literary Review, Narrative Northeast, All the Sins, and The Rappahannock Review. One of his short stories, “The David,” was adapted into a podcast by Welltoldtales.com. Jonathan teaches Theater Arts at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
lori levy
Poetry contributor
Lori Levy’s poems have appeared in Poet Lore, Rattle, Nimrod International Journal, Paterson Literary Review, Confrontation, and numerous other literary journals and anthologies in the U.S., the U.K., and Israel. She lives with her extended family in Los Angeles, but “home” has also been Vermont and Israel and, for several months, Panama, while visiting her son and granddaughters.
JAYNE MAREK
POETRY CONTRIBUTOR
Jayne Marek has published writings and art photos in Rattle, Salamander, Bloodroot, One, Chestnut Review, Typehouse, Northwest Review, Spillway, Calyx, QWERTY, Notre Dame Review, and elsewhere. Winner of the Bill Holm Witness poetry contest, she has been nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart Prizes. Her six poetry collections include In and Out of Rough Water (2017) and The Tree Surgeon Dreams of Bowling (2018), with another book, Dusk-Voiced (2022).
AMY-SARAH MARSHALL
POETRY CONTRIBUTOR
Amy-Sarah Marshall, who graduated with an MFA in Poetry from George Mason University, has published poems in The Wisconsin Review, Streetlight, The Dewdrop, Brooklyn Review, and other journals. Passionately active in mindfulness and LGBTQ+ communities, she currently manages content for UVA Health in Charlottesville, VA, delighting in her quirky neighborhood and beloved wife, kids, dogs, and cats.
KRIS MARTINEZ
CREATIVE NONFICTION CONTRIBUTOR
Kris Martinez has been in marketing for over 25 years and has owned a digital creative agency near Chicago since 2004. Her work has been published in Entropy, The Manifest-Station, Literary Mama, and Enterprising Women Magazine, where she was honored in 2018 as an Enterprising Woman of the Year. She has been a speaker for Crain’s Chicago Business on entrepreneurship and women-led business has guest lectured at Chicago-area universities and taught writing therapy for eight weeks at a level-one psychiatric hospital near Chicago. In 2020, Kris completed her MFA in Creative Nonfiction and Screenwriting from Antioch University Los Angeles. The essay Kickball Vodka is an excerpt from her memoir and first book. She has also completed a feature-length screenplay of the same story. Kris lives near Chicago with her husband and three teenage children.
PAM MUNTER
DRAMA CONTRIBUTOR
Pam Munter has authored five books and is a former clinical psychologist, performer, and film historian. Her essays, book reviews, and short stories have appeared in more than 200 publications. She was nominated by the Desert Theatre League (Outstanding Original Play). a Pushcart Prize and awarded the Sara Patton Prize. Her latest book is Fading Fame: Women of a Certain Age in Hollywood.
Martha nance
PHOTOGRAPHY CONTRIBUTOR
Martha Nance is a physician in Minnesota whose work is dark but whose world is bright. Her "white" photos were previously published in Iris. Other nature photographs have appeared in journals such as The Esthetic Apostle, The Tiny Seed Journal, Axon: Creative Explorations, and others.
ANNETTE SISSON
POETRY CONTRIBUTOR
Annette Sisson lives in Nashville, TN. Her poems are in Birmingham Poetry Review, Rust and Moth, The Citron Review, The Lascaux Review, Typishly, One, Nashville Review, and others. Her book, Small Fish in High Branches, was published by Glass Lyre Press in May 2022. She was a Mark Strand Scholar for the 2021 Sewanee Writers’ Conference and the 2020 BOAAT Writing Fellow.
WALTER WEINSCHENK
FICTION CONTRIBUTOR
Walter Weinschenk is an attorney, writer, and musician. Walter's writing has appeared in a number of literary publications, including the Carolina Quarterly, Cathexis Northwest Press, The Gateway Review, The Closed Eye Open, The Writing Disorder, Beyond Words, The Courtship of Winds, Griffel, Grey Sparrow Journal, The Write Launch, The Raw Art Review and others. His work is due to appear in forthcoming issues of The Rock Salt Journal and Phantom Kangaroo. Walter lives in a suburb just outside Washington, D. C.
KATHERINE WILSON
CREATIVE NONFICTION CONTRIBUTOR
Katherine K. Wilson is a writer who divides her time between Arizona, Canada, and wherever else she finds herself. She holds a Master of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages degree and spent twenty years teaching in seven different countries. Along with her forays into the genre of creative non-fiction, Katherine has authored/edited numerous educational texts and materials. Her recent piece, “Somewhere,” is forthcoming in The SFWP Quarterly.
