Poetry

Elijah Burrell is the author of the poetry collections Skies of Blur, TROUBLER, and The Skin of the River. In 2010, he received the Jane Kenyon Scholarship at Bennington College, where he earned his MFA in Writing and Literature at Bennington’s Writing Seminars. His work has appeared in publications such as AGNI, The Hopkins Review, North American Review, Southwest Review, and Crab Orchard Review, and has been featured on the Slowdown podcast. He was named a 2019 Claudia Emerson Scholar for the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Since 2012, he has taught creative writing and literature at Lincoln University of Missouri, where he serves as Professor of English and received the 2023 Missouri Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education. You can learn more by checking his website at
https://www.elijahburrell.com

Nonfiction

Steve Wiegenstein is the author of five books, most recently Land of Joys, a historical novel that takes place at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and in the fictional Ozarks village of Daybreak. Steve grew up in the Missouri Ozarks and worked there as a newspaper reporter before entering the field of higher education. He taught journalism, English, and communication for a number of colleges and universities during his career, but is now retired from teaching and writes full-time. An avid hiker and canoer, he returns to his home region every chance he gets; he also writes and blogs about rural and Ozarks issues at Steve’s Website Link. The son of a rural librarian, he received the Missouri Author Award from the Missouri Library Association in 2022. Scattered Lights was a shortlisted finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award in Fiction for 2021. Slant of Light was the runner-up for the Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction, and This Old World was a shortlisted finalist for the M.M. Bennetts Award in Historical Fiction. The Language of Trees received the Walter Williams Major Work Award from the Missouri Writers Guild in 2018. Steve loves to speak at libraries, civic organizations, and other groups.

Fiction

Matt Dube Matt teaches creative writing and American Literature at William Woods University. He is a founding member of “Inflections” Poetry Society, and though fiction is his favored genre. Matt also writes poetry. Matt’s stories have appeared in Moon City Review, KQ, Front Porch, and elsewhere. He’s the fiction editor for the online journal-turned-print book publisher H_NGM_N. S. Matt was a Well Versed judge for Nonfiction in prior years.

Flash Fiction

Hank Edwards has been writing gay romance for more than twenty years. He has published more than thirty novels and dozens of short stories. His writing crosses many sub-genres including romantic comedy, contemporary, paranormal, suspense, mystery and wacky comedy. No matter what genre he writes, Hank likes to keep things steamy, sassy and heartfelt. Hank was born and still lives in a northwest suburb of the Motor City – Detroit, Michigan.