David Achodo is currently a Graduate Teaching Associate of French and a Graduate Student Senator at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA. He is the “Primary Organizer and Founding Member” of the World Languages and Cultures Graduate Student Association, University of Tennessee, who did excellent work spearheading the formation of this Association. He was previously a Graduate Assistant at the University of Ibadan, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in “French and German.” A speaker of just five languages (French, English, German, Fon, Yoruba) as a Multilinguist, Editor, Translator, Interpreter, Motivational Speaker, and Preacher, Achodo’s research has embraced Translation Studies, Second Language Acquisition, and Comparative Linguistics (African/European languages). And, as a Poet, David Achodo is known for his thought-provoking, metaphysical poems that invoke self-discovery and exploration of the unknown Forces of life regulating all existence and the multiverse.
Jainab Banu is a PhD candidate in Rhetoric, Theory, and Culture. She teaches writing at North Dakota State University, where she has received multiple awards for both teaching and research. Her work, ranging from research articles and book reviews to columns and poetry, has been featured across various platforms, and she has presented widely at conferences. Originally from Bangladesh, she now lives in Fargo, North Dakota with her husband and three wonderful children. Jainab writes in two languages, speaks in four, and dreams in many!
Emma Becker is a writer of poetry and essays, a non-fiction enthusiast, and an academic. She has earned an MA in Composition and a BS in Biotechnology, is working toward a PhD in English, and considers herself both a scientist and a poet. Emma lives in central Virginia with her husband and their gecko and spends her free time at the gym, at coffee shops, and on walks with friends.
Kris Brantner is an author and artist found in Duluth, MN over the winter and in the Twin Cities of Minnesota in the summer. Kris knew from the age of seven that they would be a writer, sharing the magic unique to a good story. They have been referred to as a creative soul and exercise that creativity as much as possible, from painting, drawing, various types of writing, and performing. Fiction writing resonates the most with Kris and is what they write or read in their free time.
Lily Cartier is a writer and poet based in Duluth. Her work often looks at nature, the queer experience, and human relationship with religion. the sun is warm again is her debut chapbook, following a college student’s journey losing and finding faith. She has won many awards, such as the PRIDE Student of the Year and the Lupus Inspiration Foundation for Excellence scholarship. While Lily loves to write, her true passions lie in outdoor spaces, finding home and solace in the glaciated granite of the Minnesota Northwoods.
Jan Chronister is a retired educator, having taught for Viterbo University, the University of Wisconsin-Superior, the College of St. Scholastica, Lac Courtes Oreilles Ojibwe University, and Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College, where she founded the Thunderbird Review. Jan has authored nine chapbooks and three full-length poetry collections, most recently Duluth: Zenith City & Beyond.
Joshua Del Rey is an author and adventurer currently based in Duluth, MN. He has a business degree, an English lit degree, and several small publishing credits. You can find Joshua Del Rey on YouTube and Instagram at @twofeatcreative and on the web by searching his name or at www.twofeatcreative.com
Scott Ennis is a former U.S. Army paratrooper and endurance athlete who has completed the Boston Marathon and the Ironman Triathlon. In 2010, he survived a near-fatal accident and now lives with a TBI. A dedicated sonneteer, Scott has written more sonnets than Shakespeare, and his full name even forms the anagram Sonnettics. Recently, he has begun expanding his writing repertoire to include short stories and plays.
Remi Foust is a passionate reader of young adult fiction, with a particular interest in the impact of book banning on adolescent education. She is currently studying English, writing, and sustainability, with aspirations of pursuing a graduate degree in higher education or library science after graduation. Remi has been honored with the English Program Reed Scholarship and the Joseph E. Duncan Scholarship. In her free time, she enjoys reading, crocheting, and procrastinating projects by working on other projects.
Nickesia Gordon, PhD is Associate Professor in the School of Communication, RIT. Her research focuses on communication and gender, race and nationality as well as communication for social change, with emphasis on the Caribbean region. Additionally, her research agenda includes examining how the Communication curriculum in higher education can engage experiential learning practices and help foster civic/community engagement among college students. Nickesia earned her doctoral degree in Communication and Culture from Howard University, a Master’s degree in English Literature from Clark University, Massachusetts and a BA in Literatures in English from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica. She has always been creative at heart, writing poetry and short fiction since her childhood in Jamica, where she grew up. She was and still is inspired by the post-colonial writings of Caribbean and African authors such as Derek Walcott, V.S. Naipaul, Kamau Brathwaite, Jamaica Kincaid and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, to name a few. Before life as an academic, Nickesia was a television producer and freelance writer for one of Jamaica’s national newspapers.
Ava Gustafson is a casual writer and outdoor activity enthusiast. Recently, she debuted a variety of work in A Picture Book: Journal and Memoir Writings, with pieces similar to Half Moon Lake. Ava’s writing journey is just beginning as she expands her knowledge on Writing Studies and Communication at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. Sonder: Through Our Eyes is her first experience of claiming the label of “published author”. In her limited free time, Ava’s other hobbies include exploring Duluth’s finest coffee shops, spending time with loved ones (including her roommate’s cats), and of course visiting her family’s cabin in Wisconsin.
Violet Hackbarth is a proud city girl who loves her home town of St. Paul. Although she doesn’t write as much as she used to, she’s getting back into the habit of taking the world around her and her experiences, and incorporating it into her pieces of literature and art. Outside of literature, Violet is a volleyball player, cat mom, and is always down for an adventure (she lives by the saying “You Only Live Once”).
Ella Hatfield is an unkempt writer and artist native to the Midwest. She has been published in the University of Northwestern’s Inkstone magazine and received a gold key through the Scholastic Art and Writing Contest in 2022. She specializes in poetry, creative nonfiction, and art she can make as a joke. She dabbles in embroidery, fiction, and most recently, playwriting. When not being massively famous, she spends her time drinking tea, petting dogs, and telling stories to children. If she’s lucky, she’ll never get eaten by a whale, something she fears at all times.
Kaelyn Hvidsten is an avid reader and writer with a concentration in lyric poetry. She is currently studying English and Studio Arts at the University of Minnesota Duluth, though she hopes to someday be a published poet and novelist. Sonder: Through Our Eyes is her first official breach into the publishing world, though she has previously garnered recognition from Penguin Random House for a short story protesting unjust book bannings, taken part in her hometown’s literary magazine, and recently received the 2025 Mike Lenz Creative Writing Prize for her poetry. In her free time, Kaelyn enjoys participating in Duluth writing groups and food security initiatives as well as having fun with her other hobbies, such as hiking, photography, drawing, and frequenting cat cafés.
Auda Ilvedson spent their childhood outside of a small town in North Dakota. “I wanted to capture what it is like to grow up and leave a place so rural and comfortable. Through my piece, ‘Shorter Than the Corn,’ I show that reminiscence hurts, but only because I wish things could stay the same. With life always changing, it is important to remember where you came from.”
Growing up in the big city of Minneapolis Minnesota, Louis Karlsen found comfort in the small, familiar world of his neighborhood block. It was on this block that you would have found young Karlsen playing pretend monsters or inventing countless backyard sports with his brothers and friends. These moments would go on to become some of his most cherished childhood memories. Today Karlsen balances life as a student, cook, and cartoonist. Studying psychology at the University of Minnesota Duluth, he hopes to incorporate his studies into his comics. Inspired by his mother’s phenomenal and diverse cooking, Karlsen found work as a line cook and enjoys trying new recipes to cook at home. He works hard to embody his passions and joys into his comic strip Around the Neighborhood. As Karlsen puts it “Around the Neighborhood is more than just a drawing on a page to me. It’s a way to show the world through my own eyes, so I want to show what I find beautiful”
Saba Khaliq is an educator, researcher and poet based in Rawalpindi/Islamabad. Her poems have appeared in international magazines and journals like The Brussels Review, Fahmidan Journal, Aster Lit and The Lamp. In 2019, her short story, “Revolution Z”, was selected for Literati – South Asian Award for Micro Fiction, and published in an anthology by Dastaan and White Falcon Publishing in India (also available in print at Amazon). She’s currently working on her master’s dissertation which is concerned with representations of ecotopian spaces in South Asian speculative fiction.
Mae Lemm is an avid reader and writer, often found hunched over a good fantasy book or her computer, typing away. She is known for her insatiable interest in fiction writing, poetry, and novel research. In her free time, she dabbles in fantasy and fiction writing as well as writing Dungeons and Dragons campaigns to play with her friends. She grew up in Farmington, Minnesota, where she spent her entire youth before moving up north to Duluth for school. Mae is working toward becoming a college Writing or English professor by beginning with a teaching assistantship in Mankato. If you don’t find her with a good book or teaching classes, Mae is typically off in a corner reading some of her long lasting favorites such as Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Catcher in the Rye, and Game of Thrones.
Ana María Llanos Mabesoy is a writer and educator from Colombia. She is currently based in the United States, where she pursues a master’s in Spanish teaching at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research and writing interests revolve around second language acquisition, translanguaging, and Indigenous language pedagogy. Ana María’s poems and educational projects have explored themes of memory, displacement, and bilingual identity. Her first migration process to the US has inspired her to initiate in poetry writing as a way to reconnect with her origins and homeland.
Elizabeth Manly-Spain has cultivated a deep passion for marketing, film, and writing. Elizabeth, Lizzie, is a lifelong learner who thrives on new and invigorating experiences that challenge her to grow both personally and professionally. Some of her most admirable achievements include serving as Chair President of the Black Student Association at the University of Minnesota Duluth, and earning awards for outstanding marketing research. The days meant only for Lizzie are filled with reading, enjoying the outdoors, and contemplating any and everything with a curiosity that continually fuels her work.
Olivia Meyer is a writer and poet with a love of sound and language. She finds most of her inspiration from the sounds of the world around her; through idioms passed down through generations, songs and lyrics that pass by, and the language of stories that surround her fascination with literature. She has won multiple awards for her writing including the Mike Lenz creative writing award and scholarship, and her interest in writing has led her to perform in poetry and short fiction readings with hopes to publish these works in the future. Meyer studied abroad in Scotland where she discovered a love of travel and adventure which fuels her writing and greater understanding of the world to this day.
Nan Montgomery holds an AA in Arts from North Hennepin College, in Brooklyn Park, MN, and a BA in English, Creative Writing Emphasis, from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. “At the graduation ceremonies, my mother noticed that I received honors when she read cum laude after my name. It was news to me. I was too busy to notice!” Her early work was published in North Hennepin’s Under Construction, and Macalester’s Chanter. Her poems have appeared in Buffalo Bones, The Thunderbird Review, Murder Your Darlings, and The Nemadji Review. According to Montgomery, “Art is a small word for big magic. Painting in oils and watercolor challenges my training each time I pick up my brushes. One-of-a-kind quilts cover the beds of family and friends. Art is any discipline that demands heart, skill, and patience. Writing and the arts are a home for me. My love for books introduced me to great writers of poetry and prose. People, the world around me, events, and the aftermath of events, shape my writing. Duluth is my hometown. The big lake of Superior is my siren. Even when I lived elsewhere, she called me back just to hear her roar! The northland gave me my voice.”
Camellia Paul has a Masters in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University, India with specialisation in Canadian literature and translation studies. She is also a member of the Association of Canadian Studies in Ireland. She has recently presented award-winning research on “Bengal owlscapes” in an international conference at Chungbuk National University, South Korea. Camellia currently works as a Senior Instructional Designer in an ed-tech MNC. Prior to this, she has worked in print media and publishing houses of international repute, and been part of various academic translation projects. Her works of translation, fiction, and nonfiction have been published by The Antonym, San Antonio Review, and Pink Disco Magazine. She is an award-winning visual artist with her poetry and art regularly appearing in books and magazines, as well as online journals like The Fabulist, Livewire, San Antonio Review, The Passionfruit Review, Solstitia, The Fantastic Other, among others. She also has published photographs in The Telegraph, Kolkata, The City Key, and Setu. She has designed academic book covers and posters for international conferences, published by educational and research institutes, such as Sahitya Akademi, Jadavpur University, and Ashoka University. She has recently won the “Best Artist Award” from KPR International (India, Bangladesh, and Nepal). As an independent practitioner of the visual arts and photography, she extensively works on the interface of narratives from the everyday in a pre- and post-pandemic world across rural and urban spaces. Apart from being passionate about Nature, art, and owls, Camellia loves reading, listening to music, and exploring cultures.
Mary Lu Perham, retired, writes purely for the pleasure of it, and has published short fiction and essays in various regional reviews and literary journals. She holds a BA in psychology and an MA in speech communication. Her work experience includes law enforcement, welding and carpentry, teaching in university classrooms and community education workshops, and coordinating programs for nonprofit organizations She now has time to spend playing music and painting landscapes.
Lucas Powell was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, and is a writer, author, artist, and multimedia producer. With a deep love of storytelling, he enjoys exploring the technical, artistic, and philosophical intricacies of stories and their impacts on individuals and society. He is the author of an upcoming multi-book fantasy series focusing on connection, culture, and politics. When not writing fantasy, fanfiction, or media analysis, he loves playing video games, collecting Legos and exploring the world. He lives at home with his family, dog, and two cats. Updates and announcements about his book series can be found on Instagram under the username @song_of_the_wolves.
Erik Rasmussen is multi-hyphenate artist with a focus in theatre and music. In their work, they especially enjoy discussing relationships, queer identity, nature, and history. They recently received the Olive Anna Tezla Fine Arts Scholarship for their academic and artistic work. In their free time, they enjoy crochet, dance, and (of course) reading.
Ryn Richmond is a queer, chronically ill writer who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and Minneapolis. Currently, they live and work in a small coastal town in Aotearoa New Zealand with their spouse and cat. Ryn is a poet, fiction, and nonfiction writer who deals in themes of ecology, conservation, politics, speculative fiction, science communication, health and disability, and queerness. They also edit and format books. Several of their publications can be found at SFPA Halloween, Another Chicago Magazine, and Turbine|Kapohau. Ryn can be found on Bluesky at @rynrichmond.bsky.social and Storygraph at @ryn_richmond.
Riley Sallee explores the worlds of both fiction and non-fiction in her writing. Though she gravitates toward fiction, her work is driven less by a desire for publication and more by self-expression and comfort. A student at the University of Minneosta Duluth, Riley is double-majoring in English and Writing Studies, with an additional certificate in Creative Writing. When she’s not reading or writing, you can often find her skating, skiing, traveling, creating art, or spending time with her friends and many pets.
Savannah Schmelzer served as a reviewer of the non-English language poetry in this collection, using her work in Spanish languages and as a writer to new purposes. She published previously in Tales of Travel.
Jax Wilder has written many emotionally driven fiction and non-fiction pieces, and although they did not contribute a work to this book, they helped put it together. They are an avid artist, hobby farm enthusiast, and two-time black belt in Taekwondo. When they’re not out exploring, they’re at home with their girlfriend, their many plants, and a sassy tuxedo cat.
Oliver Yehlik is an artist fueled by impatience (sometimes) and curiosity (always). He loves to spend time in and traverse many communities, listening to and telling stories along the way. This love shaped his Interdisciplinary Studies B.A. as well as his current work as a Community Engagement Specialist for the University of Minnesota Duluth. Oliver is proud to be a part of Petunia Press, a small collaborative of zinesters who have been giving away zines in exchange for quarters across the state of MN (two members of Petunia Press have coin-op laundry to pay for).