Amy Wright co-edited and introduced the Virginia volume of The Southern Poetry Anthology and served as the 2022 Wayne G. Basler Chair of Excellence at East Tennessee State University. She has authored three poetry books and six chapbooks. Her nonfiction debut, Paper Concert: A Conversation in the Round, (Sarabande Books) won the 2022 Nautilus Gold Award for Lyric Prose. Website: http://www.awrightawright.com
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Donna Harlan has a BS degree from East Tennessee State University and has published one collection of poetry titled Bench by the Pond. Her work has been featured in several publications, and she is a reader for Unlimited Literature and Ariel’s Dream. She resides in Jonesborough, Tennessee with her husband where they delight in watching the sun rise everyday over the lake.
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Shuly Xóchitl Cawood is an award-winning writer and the author of six books, including Something So Good It Can Never Be Enough: poems (Press 53, 2023) and Trouble Can Be So Beautiful at the Beginning (Mercer University Press, 2021), winner of the Adrienne Bond Award for Poetry. She has an MFA from Queens University, and she loves leading writing workshops, hiking, and eating dark chocolate. Learn more at shulycawood.com.
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Jerry Buchanan lives in Southern Appalachia and writes to establish a sense of his own creative voice and to connect with others. His published poems appear in Quill and Parchment, American Diversity Report, and Black Moon Magazine. He explores ways to hone his writing skills with two small groups of Appalachian poets entitled The Seasoned Writers’ Group and the Poetry Society of TN Critique Group.
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Howard S. Carman, Jr. developed interest in poetry later in life. His first collection (But Now I See: Rhymes and Reflections) was published in 2017. His poetry has since won awards from Poetry Society of Tennessee and National Federation of State Poetry Societies, and appears in Tennessee Voices Anthology, We Were Not Alone: A Community Building Artworks Anthology, and Black Moon Magazine. Howard serves on the Board of Directors of the Poetry Society of Tennessee.
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KB Ballentine’s eighth collection, Spirit of Wild, launched in March with Blue Light Press. Her earlier books can be found with Iris Press, Blue Light Press, Middle Creek Publishing, and Celtic Cat Publishing. Published in North Dakota Quarterly, Atlanta Review and Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal, and others, her work also appears in anthologies including I Heard a Cardinal Sing (2022), The Strategic Poet (2021), Pandemic Evolution (2021), and Carrying the Branch: Poets in Search of Peace (2017). Learn more about Ballentine at www.kbballentine.com.
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Natalie Kimbell grew up in Sequatchie County. She has spent forty years teaching English and theater arts there. She is a mother, grandmother and lover of all things that sparkle. Her work appears in Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel, Mildred Haun Review, Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Artemis, and 23 Tales: Appalachian Ghost Stories, Legends and Other Mysteries. Her first poetry chapbook, On Phillips Creek, will be published by Finishing Line Press in 2024.
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Deborah-Zenha Adams is an award-winning author of novels, short fiction, CNF, and poetry, and served as executive editor of Oconee Spirit Press for ten years. Her poetry has appeared in Scapegoat Journal, Sheila-na-gig, The Elevation Review, Blue Pepper, One, The Orchards Journal, JAKE, Blue Unicorn, and Common Ground Review, among other places. Learn more about Adams at https://www.deborah-adams.com
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Kiersten Paxton was born in Bristol, Tennessee, and currently attends Tusculum University as a 3rd-year student. Her short story “My Dogs” was published in Tusculum University’s student journal Sit Lux. She enjoys music, books, and experimenting with different writing styles and genres. She desires to become a writer and published author after she graduates from Tusculum.
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Ray Zimmerman is a poet, book reviewer, and freelance journalist living in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He has published in The Mildred Haun Review, The Avocet, and The Southern Poetry Anthology: Volume VI, Tennessee, from Texas Review Press. His freelance journalism appears on The Hellbender Press website.
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Sherry Poff grew up in the hills of West Virginia. She now lives and writes in and around Chattanooga, Tennessee. Sherry holds an MA in Writing from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is a member of the Chattanooga Writers’ Guild. Her stories and poems have appeared in numerous online and print publications including Artemis, Speckled Trout Review, and Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel.
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Lisa Riley has had a love of writing since she was very young. Her creative spirit led her to participate in the Wordsmith Writing Olympics after being nominated by her beloved teacher, Mrs. Bruhwiler. She graduated with an English degree from the University of Memphis. Lisa became motivated to write again during the COViD-19 pandemic. Her poetry has won several contests with The Tennessee Magazine. Lisa resides in Oakland, Tennessee, with her husband Matt.
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Lisa Kamolnick is a poet, photographer and president of Poetry Society of Tennessee. Military bred, she settled on the northwest Florida coast before relocating to northeast Tennessee. She explores human nature, the human condition, the natural world, and what lies between and beyond. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Black Moon Magazine, The Closed Eye Open, HeartWood Literary Magazine, Encore, SMEOP (HOT), Women Speak and others. She is a member of Lost State Writers Guild and Florida State Poets Association. Learn more at lisakamolnick.com.
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