OPENING LETTERS > FROM THE EDITORS
Sky Island Journal started as a dream, then a conversation over the phone, which continued face-to-face over the winds of the Florida Mountains. Normally, I wait until April of each year to reflect on the journey, but on January 1st we hit a new milestone. Over 150,000 readers from all over the world have been transported by the incredible poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction we have the honor of sharing!
Many people hold the speed of a 5G network in their hands, but for today, I'm more than content to float along the smooth currents of my own 2G mindset. The first "G" is growth. As editors, Jason and I love the challenge of continuing this climb together. We dig in and work to keep our footing when traversing unfamiliar professional territories, discovering vantage points we had not anticipated and creating innovative switchbacks for a smoother path in the future. I enjoy the paradox, knowing in my bones that we gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and our purpose while we simultaneously undergo perpetual change and growth.
Looking over the past 27 issues, we have consistently grown in readership as well. To me, this means that our community of thinkers, dreamers, and fellow human beings inspired by the transformative power of literature continues to grow. Within that community, we have welcomed over 800 gifted, brilliant, and kind poets and writers into the Sky Island Journal family.
The second "G" of my 2B mindset is gratitude. For this one, I'll keep it simple: thank you. We appreciate all the readers who have displayed the curiosity to join us here. Thank you! We are grateful for the writers and poets who have trusted us to explore the world of their words. Thank you! We exist for and because of each and every one of you. Thank you!!
Respectfully,
Jeff Sommerfeld, Co-Founder and Co-Editor
Issue 27 is a stunning refugium of transport, transformation, and transcendence. We can’t wait for you to explore the many worlds, and many lives, that our contributors have so gracefully created for you.
As the svelte winter light wanes, and we find ourselves turning toward the collective hearth of the ether, it can be easy to lose ourselves in the comforting glow—or the dark shadows—that the same flame casts. The internet is the best and worst of us, simultaneously. When we see the senseless, multi-state-sponsored slaughter of over 23,000 civilians in Gaza, for example—roughly 70% of them women and children—it can be difficult to exfil ourselves from the despair of the human condition. It is violence on levels that most of us will never experience. The same news cycles that accurately inform us of this, can also trick us into living in feedback loops and echo chambers. They can make it easy for us to forget that we are more than this moment.
And we are so much more than this moment.
One of the few things that separates us from other animals is that we understand the concept of tomorrow. This is hardly a surprise when you consider that another thing which separates us is language. Language gives us the power to resurrect our past, define our present, and create our future. Language is the sword and compass of the human imagination.
Tragically, language and imagination are precisely the things that we tend to use less of, the more that hatred and violence back us into our respective corners. And those corners are filled with such tension, and such urgency, that we become blind to everything else that isn’t this moment. Tomorrow seems impossible when all we can see, smell, taste, touch, and hear is this moment.
Moment after moment this continues until we forget our past and forsake our future—adrift on a roiling sea of reaction—the regular rhythm of panic and anxiety lulling us into a kind of numbness that can make the art of writing and the joy of reading seem irrelevant.
Well, we refuse to give up on humanity, and we refuse to give in to that numbness. We believe in visualizing and creating a better tomorrow.
As an independent international literary journal, our positive energy, rugged independence, and relentless tenacity keep us strong and publishing in the darkest of hours. We keep a fire burning for readers and writers who may be discouraged by this life or doubting their path. We keep it burning for those who, through literature, want to break free from their matrix programing and feel things they’ve never felt before—see things from different perspectives and be completely transported by the hearts and minds of others.
By keeping the fire burning for others, we are also able to provide some warmth and light for ourselves, and it will always be enough to sustain and guide us to the next issue. Path and purpose. Relentless resilience. Endless evolution. Reading and responding to every submission—then being able to share the work of writers from around the world, with readers from around the world—are privileges beyond the telling. We believe in the power of reading and writing, and we believe that art can make a difference in people’s lives. Our constellation of over 150,000 readers in 150 countries, and over 800 published writers hailing from 50 countries, are fearless inward explorers and brave outward adventurers. They believe in the love that can be found in our shared humanity—even, and especially, during these dark winter hours. That’s what sustains us. That’s what propels us forward into the unknown with every issue.
We’ve elected to leave the "scroll-through” experience and the pop-up ads to other literary platforms. By design, the writing in Sky Island Journal opens as a protected Word document for an authentic, focused, and immersive experience that encourages a close, intimate, distraction-free reading of the work. We want your experience with the work of our contributors to be singular—just as it would be on the printed page, with crisp white paper between your collective fingertips.
Without advertising to distract from and cheapen the literary experience, you can fully engage with the worlds that our contributors have so carefully crafted for you. Without subscriptions and pay walls, you are welcome to read and enjoy whenever you like, wherever you like, regardless of your means. We believe in removing the barriers between readers and access to high quality literature, especially in regions of the world that have traditionally been underserved by English language journals or completely ignored by the literary establishment.
So welcome to Sky Island Journal—where this moment becomes tomorrow: where the desert meets the mountains, the indigenous meets the exotic, and the old ways meet the digital frontier.
Of the 1,624 individual pieces that we received from around the world for Issue 27, we found these 57 to be the finest. Enjoy!
Respectfully,
Jason Splichal, Co-Founder and Co-Editor
Aditi Bhattacharjee > Poetry > India + New York, USA
Aditi Bhattacharjee is an Indian writer, currently pursuing an MFA in Writing at The New School, New York. Her poems have appeared in The Alipore Post, Evocations Review, The Remnant Archive, Greyhound Journal, SLAB, and elsewhere. Her essays have appeared in Lunch Ticket Magazine, Pile Press, Curlew New York & elsewhere.
Alan Swope > Poetry > California, USA
Alan Swope’s poetry has been published in Cider Press Review, Front Range Review, Steam Ticket, Roanoke Rambler, Perceptions, Mixed Mag, Evening Street Press, Medicine and Meaning, Cantos, and Poetic Sun. He is a retired psychoanalytic psychotherapist and an emeritus professor with the California School of Professional Psychology. Alan enjoys family get-togethers, singing, acting, travel, cinema, cooking, and gardening.
Andrea Penner > Poetry > New Mexico, USA
Andrea Penner serves up poetry and prose in her newsletter, “In Our Own Ink,” and her work appears in anthologies and literary magazines. Her book, Rabbit Sun, Lotus Moon (Mercury HeartLink) was a poetry finalist for a 2017 Arizona/New Mexico book award. She lives in Albuquerque on traditional Tiwa lands.
Antonela Pallini-Zemin > Poetry > Argentina
Antonela Pallini-Zemin is a queer spiritual bilingual poet. She holds an MA in Creative Writing Poetry from the University of East Anglia. She is currently finishing her second postgraduate degree, Specialization in Literary Translation at the University of Buenos Aires. Her poems in English and Spanish have been published in different journals, literary magazines, reviews, and anthologies across the UK, the US, Mexico, Argentina, and Spain. Her first Spanish poetry collection, Cafuné, was released in March 2023 (Alción Editora).
Camille Berliant > Flash Fiction > New York, USA
For Camille Berliant, writing is a logical extension of her lifetime love of stories. Her mother and grandmother before her brought family lore to life through the art of vibrant storytelling. Teaching the deaf helped her understand the value of language in all its forms, and her years of work as a psychotherapist revealed the power in the language of the heart. She lives in Rochester, New York.
Carole Greenfield > Poetry > Massachusetts, USA
Carole Greenfield grew up in Colombia and lives in New England, where she teaches English Language Learners at a public elementary school. Her work has appeared in such places as Amethyst Review, Humana Obscura and The Plenitudes. Her first collection, Weathering Agents, was released in summer 2023 by Beltway Publishing.
Catherine Hulshof De La Peña > Poetry > Virginia, USA
Catherine Hulshof De La Peña is a Chicana ecologist and poet. Originally from San Antonio, Texas, she is an associate professor in Virginia and studies climate change in tropical forests. She combines her bilingual heritage and scientific expertise to explore themes at the intersection of language, culture, and climate change. Her work has been published in Dear Human at the Edge of Time: Poems on Climate Change in the United States (Paloma Press), Sin Cesar Literary Journal, and featured on National Public Radio.
Christian Knoeller > Poetry > Indiana, USA
Christian Knoeller is Professor Emeritus of English at Purdue University. His first collection of poems, Completing the Circle from Buttonwood Press, was awarded the Millennium Prize. A Past President of the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature, he also received their Gwendolyn Brooks Prize for Poetry. His most recent book, Reimagining Environmental History was published by the University of Nevada Press (2017). Current projects included a sequel on environmental history, Revisiting Wild America, and a collection of poems entitled Time Signatures.
Christina H. Felix > Poetry > New Hampshire, USA
Christina H. Felix is a poet from the seacoast area of New Hampshire. Her poetry has appeared in CALYX Journal, The Antigonish Review, Sky Island Journal, The Café Review, Common Ground Review, First Traces, Soundings East, and featured on New Hampshire Public Radio and the Rice Pudding Poetry Podcast.
Colette Love Hilliard > Poetry > Missouri, USA
Colette Love Hilliard is a writer and teacher from St. Louis, Missouri. She is the author of the blackout poetry book A Wonderful Catastrophe (Wood & Water Press, 2018), and her work has appeared in Make Blackout Poetry: Turn These Pages into Poems, Harness Magazine, Juste Milieu, The Cincinnati Review Blog, and elsewhere.
Daniel Pié > Flash Fiction > Arizona, USA
Daniel Pié, 73, is a retiree. He was a daily newspaper journalist for 44-plus years, the final 30 as a copy editor at The Arizona Republic, in Phoenix. His stories have been published in Adelaide Literary Magazine, Clackamas Literary Review, INK Babies Literary Magazine, El Portal Literary Journal, Streetlight Magazine, Ignatian Literary Magazine, Hare’s Paw Literary Journal, and Quillkeepers Press. He was the winner of The New Yorker magazine cartoon caption contest for the week of Nov. 21, 2016.
David Axelrod > Poetry > Montana, USA
David Axelrod's ninth collection of poems, Years Beyond the River, appeared in 2021 from Terrapin Books. He is the author of two collections of nonfiction, most recently, The Eclipse I Call Father, published by Oregon State University Press. Recent work appears or is forthcoming in Willow Springs, Terrain, bracken, Weber--The Contemporary West, saltfront, Sky Island Journal, and others. The director of the Eastern Oregon University low residency MFA and Wilderness, Ecology and Community programs, Axelrod makes his home in Missoula, Montana.
David Mathews > Flash Fiction > United Kingdom
Once upon a time, David Mathews was a work psychologist, poking his nose into other people’s trades, putting into words what it means to be effective as a receptionist, a forensic psychotherapist, an archaeologist – anything you like. Now he writes short stories about everyday foolishness and heroics, stories published in Gemini, and in England by Arachne Press and Earlyworks, and in Flash, Brittle Star and Aesthetica magazines. He published a set of stories about scones. He makes scones too. This year he has won the Write-by-the-Sea flash fiction competition in County Wexford, Ireland, and the inaugural Subbub flash competition. Born in Wales, David lives in Bath, England.
E.N. Loizis > Poetry > Germany
E.N. Loizis was born and raised in Athens, Greece. After she finished her translation studies in Corfu, she moved to Germany where she's lived since 2005. She writes poetry and flash fiction/non-fiction. Her work has previously appeared in Maudlin House, pidgeonholes, Stupefying Stories, and others.
Eli Hastings > Flash Fiction > Washington, USA
Eli Hastings is a Seattleite, an author, an editor, a psychotherapist, a father, and less virtuous things. He is kind of embarrassed to have an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in Psychology, but he’s starting to grasp the synergy. His first book, Falling Room, was published by University of Nebraska Press (2006) and his second, Clearly Now, the Rain: A Memoir of Love and Other Trips was released in 2013 by ECW Press. He has placed his words in over a dozen journals, including Cimarron Review, Huffpost, and YES! Magazine and has been anthologized several times; he has work forthcoming in BULL. He’s won awards (but does not talk about his Pushcart Nominations). He served eight years in poetry facilitation and publication with incarcerated and institutionalized (marginalized!) youth. After a decade in mostly Complex Trauma psychotherapy, he now sees a handful of gorgeous humans at Changing Stories Counseling, and he is building out his trauma-informed editorial / coaching services. Really, he’s scheming on a move to Costa Rica.
Elisabeth Harrahy > Poetry > Wisconsin, USA
Elisabeth Harrahy’s work has appeared in Paterson Literary Review, Zone 3, Constellations, The Café Review, Passengers Journal, Ghost City Review, Sky Island Journal, I-70 Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, and Naugatuck River Review, among others, and has received nominations for Best of the Net. She is an associate professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she teaches courses in ecology and environmental toxicology, and conducts research on the effects of pesticides on aquatic organisms.
Gene Twaronite > Poetry > Arizona, USA
A former New Englander, Gene Twaronite is a Tucson poet and author of twelve books, including a fable and young adult novel as well as collections of poems, essays, and short stories. His first poetry book Trash Picker on Mars (Kelsay Books) was the winner of the 2017 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award. His most recent books include the poetry collection Shopping Cart Dreams and the short fiction The Family That Wasn’t: A Fable. Gene’s poems have been described as: “ranging from edgy to whimsical to inscrutable … playfully haunting and hauntingly playful.”
Haley Marks > Poetry > California, USA
Haley Marks is a freshman at West Valley College pursuing her English degree. From the Bay Area, California, her work can be found elsewhere in Blue Marble Review, Writopia, and in a short story anthology by Wingless Dreamer Publisher.
J.W. Wood > Flash Fiction > United Kingdom
J.W. Wood's stories, poems and articles have appeared in many outlets world-wide. Upcoming publications include the anthology, Sinister, from Ink and Quill Press (USA); a critical essay on Zimbabwean film and prose in Porridge (UK), and further stories in American and British magazines. The author of six books of poems and a novel all published with small British publishers, 2024/2025 will see the appearance of collections of stories in the US and Britain. Awards include the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, and literary prizes in the United States and India.
Jasmine Mosher > Flash Fiction > California, USA
Jasmine Mosher (she/her) is a writer, movement practitioner, and evolving interdisciplinary artist. She is currently working on her MFA in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University and holds a BFA and an AA in Dance. Her work can be found in Transfer Magazine and in the Querencia Press anthology Not Ghosts, But Spirits Volume IV.
John Chinaka Onyeche > Poetry > Nigeria
John Chinaka Onyeche is a multi-talented writer. He is a poet, essayist, and teacher of African History. He has authored numerous chapbooks and full-length collections of poems such as: Echoes across the Atlantic, A Night Tale at the Threshold of Howl, We Returned to Kiss the Cross, The Broken Fort, A Good Day for Tomorrow’s Coming, Stateless, 25 Atonements, Chapters of Broken Tale, and The Gathering Of Reeds (which is scheduled for publication in March, 2024 by Ethel Zine Press). His literary prowess has earned him recognition as a Best of Net Nominee 2022, and Pushcart 2023. Beyond his literary pursuits, Chinaka is a devoted husband and loving father of two charming children, Sobeife and Chisimdiri. He hails from Nigeria and primarily writes from the city of Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Being a graduate of History and Diplomatic Studies from the prestigious Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, his literary works reflect his academic discipline in that they discuss issues bordering on African history: slavery, colonialism, nationalism, and post-colonialism, with recourse to how they foreground the future of Africa.
John Muro > Poetry > Connecticut, USA
A three-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize, as well as the Best of the Net Award, John Muro is a resident of Connecticut and a lover of all things chocolate. He has authored two volumes of poems – In the Lilac Hour and Pastoral Suite – in 2020 and 2022, respectively, and both volumes were published by Antrim House. John’s work has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Acumen, Barnstorm, Delmarva, Moria, River Heron, Sky Island Journal, and the Valparaiso Review.
Jose Oseguera > Poetry > California, USA
Jose Oseguera is an LA-based writer of poetry, short fiction, and literary nonfiction. His writing has been featured in Emrys Journal, North Dakota Quarterly, Sonora Review, and Sky Island Journal. His work has also won the Nancy Dew Taylor Award, placed 2nd in the 2020 Hal Prize Contest and been nominated for the Best of the Net award (2018 and twice in 2019) as well as the Pushcart (2018, 2019, and 2020) and Forward (2020) Prizes. He is the author of the poetry collections The Milk of Your Blood (Kelsay Books, 2021) and And This House Is Only a Nest (Homebound Publications, 2024).
Kate Raphael > Creative Nonfiction > Washington, USA
Kate Raphael is a Lambda-nominated novelist, journalist, anarchafeminist and queer activist based in Seattle. She spent eighteen months doing human rights work in Palestine, which led her to write Murder Under the Bridge and Murder Under the Fig Tree, the first English-language mysteries featuring a female Palestinian detective. In 2022 she published The Midwife’s in Town, a story of underground abortion. Her writing has appeared in Sinister Wisdom, Truthout and several anthologies. She was awarded a 2011 Hedgebrook residency and is a producer on KPFA radio Women’s Magazine, where one of her joys is interviewing authors. She holds an MFA from Goddard and hosts the Radical Fiction Facebook Group.
Kelli Short Borges > Flash Fiction > Arizona, USA
Kelli Short Borges writes essays, short stories, and flash fiction from her home in Phoenix, Arizona. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Gone Lawn, The Tahoma Literary Review, Your Impossible Voice, Cleaver, SoFloPoJo, The Penn Review, multiple anthologies, and elsewhere. Kelli is a Best of the Net and Best Microfiction nominee. Often, you can find her at her favorite local bookstore, where she gobbles up books and lemon cake in equal measure. She is currently working on her first novel.
Kelly Martone > Flash Fiction > Arizona, USA
Kelly Martone lives in a national park with her wildland firefighter husband and two children. She finds inspiration in the compositional layers of nature’s palette and the confluence of water and stars. Her romantic fantasy novel is ready to find a home. One of her poems was featured by Medium’s staff for U.S. National Poetry Month. Her writing is forthcoming in Gargoyle Magazine.
Laurence Lumsden > Flash Fiction > Canada
Originally from Dublin but living in Montreal since 2007, Laurence Lumsden used the cover of the pandemic to escape from a career in tech, just to tell stories. He is currently working on a collection of short stories.
Liona Burnham > Poetry > Washington, USA
Liona Burnham teaches writing to community college students in the Pacific Northwest and Northern Virginia but lives in Washington state. In graduate school, she read poetry for the Bellingham Review. Her poems have been published in the Northern Virginia Review, cranky: literary/arts journal, and Bellowing Ark. Most, however, live quietly in her laptop and in plastic bins in her attic.
Lynn Aprill > Poetry > Wisconsin, USA
Lynn Aprill is an award-winning poet and educator whose work has appeared recently or is forthcoming in Creative Wisconsin, Copperfield Review Quarterly, Quartet Journal, Willows Wept Review, Ekphrastic Review and others. A Wisconsin native, she received a BA in English from UW-Eau Claire and an MA in Curriculum and Instruction from UW-Milwaukee. She was ridiculously excited to retire in July and begin her MFA program through Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri. Channeling Matriarchs, her first chapbook with Finishing Line Press, was published in August 2021. She resides with her husband and various dogs on 40 acres in Northeast Wisconsin.
M.B. McLatchey > Poetry > Florida, USA
M.B. McLatchey is a poet and writer living, writing, and teaching in Florida. She is the author of six books, including the award-winning titles Beginner’s Mind published by Regal House; The Lame God, published by Utah State University Press; and her most recent collection of poems, Smiling at the Executioner released in November 2023 with Kelsay Books. M.B. is Florida Poet Laureate for Volusia County, Arts Ambassador for the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Chancellor for the Florida State Poets Association, poetry reader for a Miami-based journal SWWIM, and Professor of Humanities at Embry-Riddle University. Her poetry, published both nationally and internationally, has won several awards and fellowships, including the American Poet Prize.
Mary Christine Delea > Poetry > Oregon, USA
Mary Christine Delea lives in Oregon after growing up on Long Island and living throughout the United States. Recent and upcoming publications include Blood Orange Review, LEON, and the Old Iron Press anthology, Playing Authors. Her poems have also been published in 1 full-length collection, The Skeleton Holding Up the Sky, 3 chapbooks, and many journals and anthologies. Delea has a website that includes a blog where she posts writing prompts every Sunday and poems she loves each Wednesday and Sunday. She recently started a free Substack newsletter, “Peeled Citrus Prompts,” that sends out prompts three times a week. She has a Ph.D. and is a former university professor who now volunteers for various nonprofits.
Matthew McFarlane > Poetry > Michigan
Matthew McFarlane is a writer living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He writes poetry and fiction with an emphasis on image and space, and his work has previously appeared in The Rockvale Review. When he is not writing he enjoys exploring the natural beauty of western Michigan with his fiancé and his dog.
Melanie Steger > Flash Fiction > New Jersey, USA
Melanie Steger is a writer from northwest New Jersey currently pursuing an MFA in Creative and Professional Writing at William Paterson University. Her chosen methods of procrastination when it comes to writing include taking far too many photos of her two cats, over-analyzing movies, and playing egregious amounts of Triple Klondike. This is her first publication.
Michele Evans > Poetry > Virginia, USA
Michele Evans, a fifth-generation Washingtonian (D.C.), is a writer, high school English teacher, and adviser for her school's literary magazine, Unbound. Despite always wearing the color black, she exhibits a certain fondness for blueberries, blue hydrangeas, blues musicians, and Blue Mountain coffee. Michele, a 2023 Pushcart Prize nominee, has been published in Artemis Journal, Tangled Locks, The Write Launch, The ASP Bulletin, and elsewhere. purl, her debut collection of poetry, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press in 2024/2025.
Nadine Fiedler > Poetry > Oregon, USA
Nadine Fiedler has had a long career in communications and as a freelance writer and editor. Her poems have been printed in Cirque, the Oregon Poetry Association yearly journal, and in Windfall: Journal of a Poetry of Place; she was an invited reader at the Portland Winter Poetry Festival.
Noé Varin > Flash Fiction > France
Noé Varin is a French copywriter and creative writer living in Normandy. He has published stories in Arkuiris Editions, Running Wild Press, and Géante Rouge.
Renee C. Winter > Creative Nonfiction > California, USA
Renee C. Winter is a retired attorney who gave up billable hours for more writing time. Her personal essays have appeared in such journals as Catamaran Literary Reader, HerStry, The London Reader, Exposition Review, Star 82 Review, Memoir Magazine, and many others. Her work has also been featured in the anthology Tales of Our Lives: Reflection Pond (2016) edited by Matilda Butler. She is a volunteer teacher at the Santa Cruz County Jails, a program sponsored by the Santa Cruz Poetry Project. This experience has taught her that talented writers can be found everywhere. A proud mother and grandmother, Renee lives in Santa Cruz, California with her husband Paul Roth, and their curly white poodle mix, Louie. She is delighted to become part of the Sky Island Journal family!
Ruth Bavetta > Poetry > California, USA
Ruth Bavetta’s poems have appeared in North American Review, Nimrod, Rattle, Slant, American Journal of Poetry, Atlanta Review, Tar River Poetry and many other journals and anthologies. Her fifth book, What’s Left Over, won the FutureCycle Poetry Book Prize for 2022.
Shahryar Eskandari Zanjani > Poetry > Iran
Shahryar Eskandari Zanjani is a writer, teacher, and editor. His debut book, the culmination of over half a decade of research in linguistics, was published by Booka (2020). He has edited several books at ATU Press and is the translator of Zahhak's Inferno (forthcoming in Markosia). Shahryar’s poetry has won second place in Nine Muses Review’s inaugural poetry contest and has also appeared or is forthcoming in Willow Review and Rill and Grove Poetry Journal, among others. Shahryar lives in Tehran, Iran. Life in the capital of a country that is on the cusp of a major political and cultural revolution is his main creative muse.
Shelby Edwards > Poetry > Washington, USA
Shelby Edwards lives on the edge of an island in northern Washington state. A poet and a writer of creative nonfiction, she keeps a good day job managing the unexpected and spent over twenty-years with the U.S. Army in often dusty corners in faraway places. She is a Hedgebrook alumna and holds an MFA from the Oregon State University. “The Oracle, Speaking” is from her current work in progress.
Skylar Camp > Creative Nonfiction > Ohio, USA
Skylar Camp (she/her) lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her two kids, her partner, and their fuzzy kitty. Her writing focuses on religious trauma, divorce, polyamory, queerness, parenting, and more. Her work appears in The Broadkill Review, Queerlings, and Anti-Herion Chic.
Tawnya Gibson > Creative Nonfiction > Utah, USA
Tawnya Gibson is a freelance writer who grew up in the high desert of southwest New Mexico. She received her degree in journalism and public relations from Utah State University. Her work has appeared in TODAY online, Zibby Mag, Under the Gum Tree, Sky Island Journal, New Plains Review, Blue Mountain Review, Kitchen Table Quarterly, and she was a longtime contributor to Utah Public Radio. She currently lives and works in the mountains of Northern Utah, but her New Mexican roots still occasionally bleed through her work.