OPENING LETTERS > FROM THE EDITORS

At the beginning of each month, my wife and I fill out a whiteboard calendar with dry-erase markers. It serves as a visual reminder of our daily happenings, and a chance to talk face-to-face about logistics regarding our work, dogs, travel, and timing. If July has taught me anything, it's this: summer tends to fill up fast.

The paradox is that in this part of the world, as the summer sun stretches our days longer, our calendars get crowded with commitments, and somehow, in all that extended daylight, the hours seem to vanish like an ice cube on sweltering concrete. Too often, I find myself scrambling from place to place, rushing through the day, and allowing joy to slip through the cracks. The second paradox is that the wisdom I'm seeking now as an adult can be found lingering in my childhood memories.

When I was a kid, I read Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls. One of my favorite scenes of the novel depicts a young boy enjoying his very first bottle of soda pop, with vivid descriptions of the fizz on his tongue, tickling his mouth, and the unique sweetness of the strawberry flavor. Later that day, I tried to create my own version of the experience with a can of Welch's grape soda that my Grandma Pearl kept in her refrigerator. To this day, I can still remember the vibrant purple of the aluminum can and the hissing sound as I slowly opened the tab. I poured just a few ounces into a smaller glass so I could see the bubbles pop and fizz, before holding it up to my nose to breathe in the sweet, syrupy scent. Then, I savored each sip, like Charlie Bucket with his birthday bar of chocolate, displaying a strange mixture of restraint, focus, and delight.  

Lately, I’ve been trying to move away from the lived experience of drinking in life through the firehose and being more intentional to sip, savor, and enjoy moments that feel less like obligations and more like invitations. I make an effort to step outside and pay attention to the sensory experience, to walk without a destination in mind, to read for pleasure, or to have a conversation with the people I love. Sometimes that means saying "no" as a final answer or leaving a few boxes on the "to-do list" unchecked. And I'm okay with that. 

Nearly 200 years ago, Henry David Thoreau felt that the hustle and bustle of modern life was too much at times. I can only imagine what Thoreau and thinkers of his age would make of life in 2025. Our world doesn’t always encourage stillness, slowness, or patience, but nature does. Literature does. True connection does. These are the kinds of experiences that don't just pass the time or pack a calendar; they fill it with meaning.

Issue 32 of Sky Island Journal is our invitation to you to pause, stay awhile, and soak in the literary worlds our writers have created for you. We hope you’ll find something here that resonates—poems that stop you in your tracks, stories where you can lose yourself and find yourself at the same time, and essays that encourage reflection.

This issue exists because of the talented writers who entrust us with their incredible work, and we could not be more thankful! We are also thrilled that their work will be read by readers like you, who come for the simple joy of connection through words. We're so glad you're here!

Thank you for joining us. Take your time, read deeply, and allow your minds and hearts to be filled. Sip, savor, and enjoy!

Respectfully,

Jeff Sommerfeld, Co-Founder and Co-Editor

We often talk about “our constellation of over 160,000 readers in 150 countries and our family of over 1,100 contributors hailing from 57 countries.”

Our mission has always been to provide readers around the world with a powerful, focused, free-access, advertising-free literary experience that transports them: one that challenges them intellectually and moves them emotionally. We believe in removing 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.

We use the word constellation because, unless they reach out via email or social media, most of our readers are like stars in the night sky: brilliant, far-away lights that guide us through the darkness. They are beautiful, diverse in origin, and the reason we exist, but, because of their number and distance, most are simply unknowable. That said, most of our contributors were loyal readers—stars in that immense constellation—before they became contributors.

We use the word family because, after we accept our contributors’ work for publication, we often discover that they are “cut from the same cloth” as we are. Despite our differences, we always end up sharing the same independence, positivity, tenacity, grit, compassion, intellectual curiosity, and sense of wonder. This amazes us because we read blind; we do not allow author bios or cover letters with submissions. This means that we choose work for publication based upon the strength of its own merits; we don’t know who the authors are, as human beings, until we send an acceptance and they respond with an author bio and photo. Once we publish a writer, we connect on social media, and we stay in touch regularly via email; sometimes we even exchange letters and gifts through good old snail mail. Whenever a contributor has a new book out, we actively promote it; if they’re launching a new project, we make sure the world knows about it. We earn the trust of our contributors, and we support their growth in perpetuity. Contributors often become admirers of each other’s work, and they reach out to each other in meaningful ways. Friendships are formed, and supportive professional networks are created. We support each other here, and we look out for each other here. We always have our contributors’ backs, and they always have ours.

So, whenever there is a disaster—either manmade or natural—where our contributors live, we reach out immediately to check in and provide whatever support we can. It’s what family does.

We never thought we would be scrambling to check in on our Iranian contributors—Farideh and Shahryar—because our own government had bombed their province on behalf of Israel, a country that had already been bombing their city for several days. This exchange with Farideh over email (and over a course of several days because of unstable internet) provides important perspective for all of us:

***

Subject: Sky Island Journal, Checking In...

Hello Farideh,

Things in your part of the world are getting crazy, and we just wanted to check in with you to make sure that you are okay. We hope that you and yours are doing well and staying safe amidst this chaos.

We're sending strength through these wires and cables!

Much Respect, Jason and Jeff

***

Subject: Re: Sky Island Journal, Checking In...

Dears Jason and Jeff:

In these critical times when we are going through very difficult days in Tehran,

your words full of love and sympathy were very touching to me.

If I survive the Israeli bombings, I will never forget your true kindness.

Yours, Farideh

***

Subject: Re: Sky Island Journal, Checking In...

Farideh!

We're so happy to hear from you, and we’re so sorry that this is happening. Please stay safe, and know that you are in our thoughts and prayers every single day.

Know, also, that sometimes the only way you can effectively fight terror is with art—art that speaks truth from the heart and allows others to see the world through your eyes. This is one of art's great functions in the world; the artist feels catharsis when she creates art, and all those who experience her art gain empathy. compassion, and perspective. Creation is the ultimate antidote for the poison of destruction, and creating amidst the kind of destruction that you are experiencing right now is the ultimate form of bravery. If you are writing during this time, and you want to share it with us, please feel free to email it to us.

We are sending strength!

Much Respect, Jason and Jeff

***

Subject: Re: Sky Island Journal, Checking In...

My Dears Jason and Jeff:

I am deeply grateful for the beautiful message you sent me. I have read it several times and enjoyed your high understanding of art and literature.

At a very sensitive moment, you reminded me of the importance of taking refuge in art and literature with such necessary and rich words. Sometimes watching the tragedies caused by war dulls our minds and souls.

Regarding your question: Thank you for asking if I have written anything about human tragedies. When I was young, the eight-year Iran-Iraq war marked the darkest days of my life, and I wrote a poem about the war, which I am attaching for you. I also wrote a poem a while ago that I am sending. And I have another poem about the importance of art, which I am attaching for you.

And you have no idea how much love and peace your loving and caring presence from afar brings me. THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH!

Yours very sincerely, Farideh

***

Writers, the power to free yourselves with your art is literally in your hands. And once you free yourself, you can start freeing others. Neither the small fists of shallow tyrants, nor the blind cruelty of rigid ideologies, can disavow you of your gifts.

And those gifts—dear reader—are here for you, in abundance. Issue 32 is full of diverse perspectives and brave, beautiful voices that make this precious life worth living and this sweet summer worth savoring. No matter who you are, or where you live in the world, this is a safe space for you to feel, to be challenged, and to grow.

So, welcome to Sky Island Journal. Of the 2,440 individual pieces that we received from around the world for Issue 32, we found these 58 to be the most powerful. Enjoy!

This issue is dedicated to Farideh and Shahryar.

Respectfully,

Jason Splichal, Co-Founder and Co-Editor

Andrei Atanasov > Flash Fiction > Romania

Andrei Atanasov lives in Constanța, Romania. His prose has appeared, in both English and Romanian, in such places as Sky Island Journal, Short Reads, Eunoia Review, Zugzwang, Ficțiunea and elsewhere. He also publishes a semi-regular Substack newsletter called Practice Space.

Barry Yedvobnick > Flash Fiction > Georgia, USA

Barry Yedvobnick’s fiction appeared in Neither Fish Nor Foul, Bending Genres, Brilliant Flash Fiction, Literally Stories, Litbreak Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, 10 by 10 Flash Fiction, and other places. His nonfiction writing, a newspaper health column, received a first-place Georgia Press Association Award. A retired biologist, he also narrates stories for AntipodeanSF radio shows. 

Ben Daggers > Flash Fiction > Japan

Ben Daggers is a short story writer based in Osaka, Japan. He loves to explore the dark edges of fiction, slowly backing away before things get a bit too dark. When not writing, procrastinating, or feeling guilty for procrastinating instead of writing, Ben spends his time doting over an emotionally needy Italian Greyhound.

Benjamin Green > Poetry > New Mexico, USA

Benjamin Green is the author of eleven books including The Sound of Fish Dreaming (Bellowing Ark Press, 1996) and the upcoming Old Man Looking through a Window at Night (Main Street Rag) and His Only Merit (Finishing Line Press). At the age of sixty-nine, he hopes his new work articulates a mature vision of the world and does so with some integrity. He resides in Jemez Springs, New Mexico.

Brent Fisk > Poetry > Kentucky, USA

Brent Fisk’s work has appeared in Rattle, Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, and The Cincinnati Review among other places. He lives in Bowling Green, Kentucky with his wife, Holly. He has recently started sending work out after a long hiatus.

Brian Evans-Jones > Prose Poetry > New Hampshire, USA

Brian Evans-Jones is a former resident of the United Kingdom, now living in New Hampshire. His poems are published or forthcoming in The Inflectionist Review, Cloudbank, The Café Review, Eunoia Review, Stoneboat Literary Journal, and other outlets. He won the 2017 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award from Poets & Writers, and was the Poet Laureate of Hampshire, UK, in 2012-13. He teaches poetry online and in schools.

Catherine Kennedy > Poetry > Ohio, USA + Georgia, USA

Catherine Kennedy studied creative writing and poetry as an undergraduate at Denison University and is a former children’s publishing editor. She splits her residence between Columbus, Ohio, and St. Simons Island, Georgia. Catherine draws inspiration from place and nature, which reflect her midwestern and southeastern roots. Her work has been recently published in Amethyst Review, Third Wednesday, wildscape., and Macrame Literary Journal.

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, his study of landscape change in two centuries of writing about the region, Reimagining Environmental History, was published by the University of Nevada Press.  Both poems featured in this issue of Sky Island Journal were featured in this year's Earth Day poetry hike at a neighboring land trust's Forest Preserve—and each is also incorporated in his next collection, Time Signatures, forthcoming from Cornerstone Press at the University of Wisconsin.

Colleen S. Harris > Poetry > Texas, USA

Colleen S. Harris serves as a university library dean, and among her collection of degrees she holds an MFA in Writing from Spalding University. Author of four books and three chapbooks, her most recent poetry collections include The Light Becomes Us (Main Street Rag, 2025) and Toothache in the Bone (boats against the current, 2025), and her poems appear in Berkeley Poetry Review, The Louisville Review, and more than 80 others.

Dibyangana Maji > Poetry > India

Dibyangana Maji is a young poet from India whose work explores themes of silence, memory, and emotional depth. Her poems have appeared in Spillwords Press, Wildsound Writing Festival, Literary Yard, Academy of the Heart and Mind, and Synchronized Chaos. A firm believer in the quiet magic of language to heal and connect, she often finds herself lost in books, stargazing, or late-night dramas — searching for the stories that feel like home.

Ed Davis > Flash Fiction > Ohio, USA

Ed Davis has immersed himself in writing and contemplative practices since retiring from college teaching. Time of the Light, a poetry collection, was released by Main Street Rag Press in 2013. His novel The Psalms of Israel Jones (West Virginia University Press 2014) won the Hackney Award for an unpublished novel in 2010. Many of his stories, essays and poems have appeared in anthologies and journals such as Write Launch, The Plenitudes, Slippery Elm, Hawaii Pacific Review, and Bacopa Literary Review. He lives with his wife and three cats in the village of Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Erin Dawkins > Flash Fiction > Michigan, USA

Erin Dawkins (she/her) received her MA in English with a specialty in Creative Writing from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Recent fiction has been published in Wild Greens Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, Five Minute Lit, Half and One and elsewhere. She recently completed her debut literary horror novel. In 2025, she received an Author's Fellowship from the Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. 

Hannah Martin > Flash Fiction > Nevada, USA

Hannah Martin is an undergraduate student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas currently pursuing a BA in English with a minor in Anthropology. She originally is from Orlando, Florida and she credits her time there for her preference of writing that she refers to as “weird fiction.” This is her first publication.

Hellen Nuhu > Poetry > Nigeria

Hellen Nuhu is a Nigerian poet and Microbiology student at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi. She sees words as microscopic truths—small yet powerful tools to illuminate the overlooked corners of human experience. Her work explores themes of identity, emotional memory, quiet resistance, and often examines the multifaceted experiences of womanhood.

Jaime Gill > Flash Fiction > Cambodia + United Kingdom

Jaime Gill is a queer, British-born writer happily exiled in Cambodia, where he works and volunteers for nonprofits. He reads, writes, boxes, travels, occasionally socialises. His stories have appeared in publications including Trampset, Blue Earth, Orca, Pangyrus, New Flash Fiction Review, Litro, f(r)iction, and Exposition Review, won several awards including a Bridport prize, and been finalists for the Smokelong Grand Micro and Bath Short Story Awards. He’s Pushcart-nominated and writing a novel and far too many short stories.

Jeffrey Heath > Poetry > Tennessee, USA

Jeffrey Heath formerly lived as a cat stalking the shores of South Florida. He currently lives in Memphis, Tennessee, where he works for a non-profit. His work has appeared or is forthcoming online and in print in Poetry Super Highway, Eunoia Review, Synesthesia Literary Journal, The Syzygy Poetry Journal, Wildscape. Literary Journal, and as a feature in Neologism Poetry Journal and on Goodreads, among others. He is the founding editor of January House Literary Journal.

Jennifer Markert > Creative Nonfiction > Pennsylvania, USA

Jennifer Markert is a writer, mother, and marketing professional currently living in Pennsylvania with her family of four and two cats. A lifelong storyteller and decades-long poet, she studied creative writing at Temple University with work most recently published in KHORA and forthcoming in several fall issues. Her debut memoir, a story of creation in times of plague, is currently in the works.

Julie Anne Kleinman > Poetry > California, USA

Julie Anne Kleinman is a poet based in Oakland, California. Her poetry recently appeared in Reed Magazine and The Penn Review and is currently nominated for Best New Poets 2025. Find her online at https://www.instagram.com/julie_is_a_poet/ , where she enjoys spontaneously sharing her poems and photographs and generally documenting her almost-obsessive love affair with Oakland.

Julie Benesh > Poetry > North Carolina, USA

Julie Benesh is author of the poetry collection, Initial Conditions, and the poetry chapbook, About Time. She has been published in Tin House, Another Chicago Magazine, Florida Review, Sky Island Journal, and many other places, earned an MFA from Warren Wilson College, and received an Illinois Arts Council Grant. She holds a PhD in human and organizational systems. She is currently relocating from Chicago to Black Mountain, North Carolina.

Katie Shapiro > Creative Nonfiction > California, USA

Katie Shapiro works in the mental health field and is an avid reader, occasional poet, and writer who seeks to make sense of our complex world through the written word. Driven by the urgency of current events, and their impact on the human experience, she explores contemporary issues through both personal reflection and broader social commentary. Katie brings eleven years of sobriety to her perspective on healing, resilience, and the ongoing work of understanding ourselves and our communities. A recovering ballerina and lover of the California landscape, culture, and food, she brings a deep appreciation for beauty and movement to her written work.

Kiara Tiozzo > Creative Nonfiction > Florida, USA

Kiara Tiozzo is a young writer from Florida who specializes in creative nonfiction. Her work is inspired by the mundane aspects of daily life, which often go overlooked despite all they have to teach us about ourselves.

Kimmy Chang > Poetry > Texas, USA

Kimmy Chang is working toward her first chapbook. She is a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet whose work has appeared in Trampset, Stone of Madness Press, and Landlocked. She studied poetry at Stanford and works as a Computer Vision Engineer. Originally from McKinney, Texas, she enjoys spoiling her two tiny, rambunctious fluffs.

Lorrie Ness > Poetry > Virginia, USA

Lorrie Ness is a poet in Virginia whose work can be found in numerous journals, including THRUSH, Palette Poetry, Trampset, and Sky Island Journal. She was nominated for multiple Best of the Net and Pushcart Prizes. Her collections, Heritage & Other Pseudonyms (2024) and Anatomy of a Wound (2021) were published by Flowstone press.

Luther Allen > Prose Poetry > Washington, USA

Luther Allen writes poems from his mostly unmanaged 10 acres of mountainside near Bellingham, Washington. He was born in New Mexico and lived 40 years in the Southwest before moving to the Northwest. His academic work centered primarily on biology and geography; he is a retired building designer. He has published two volumes of poetry: The View from Lummi Island and A Spiritual Thread. His work is included in numerous journals and anthologies, including WA 129; Refugium, Poems for the Pacific; For Love of Orcas; Washington Poetic Routes; I Sing the Salmon Home; New Mexico Poetry Anthology 2023; The Madrona Project (Human Communities in Wild Places; Art in a Public Voice; and The Empty Bowl Cookbook);  Black River: Death Poems; Death Lifespan, Vol 12; and Writing the Land: Washington. He views writing as his spiritual practice.

Maia Brown-Jackson > Poetry> Pennsylvania, USA

Maia Brown-Jackson is a Pushcart-nominated, award-winning writer whose second poetry collection, Gifted, opens for pre-orders this autumn with Nymeria Publishing. In her spare time, she volunteers with a Yazidi NGO, accidentally started studying quantum physics because several hours ago she looked up the qualities of neutrinos for a poem, and wastes time with the world’s sweetest, clumsiest cat.

Maria B. Olujic > Creative Nonfiction > California, USA + Croatia

Maria B. Olujic, Ph.D., is an anthropologist and writer who served as Deputy Minister of Science and Technology in wartime Croatia during the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia. Her work appears in Brevity, 100 Word Story, The Panorama, Catamaran, Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, Beyond Words Magazine, and Penstricken. She explores memory and gendered violence, bridging personal and political histories shaped by diaspora, dislocation, and survival. Her memoir, Fields of Lavender, Rivers of Fire: A Memoir of War, Womanhood, and Bearing Witness, is currently under editorial review. She divides her time between California and Croatia.

Marian Kilcoyne > Creative Nonfiction > Ireland + Northern Ireland

Marian Kilcoyne is an Irish writer. She has been widely published in Ireland, USA, UK and Europe. Her poetry collection, The Heart Uncut, was published in 2020 by Wordsonthestreet publishers Galway. She divides her time between Killadoon in County Mayo and Belfast City.

Mark Connelly > Flash Fiction > Wisconsin, USA

Mark Connelly’s fiction has appeared in Peregrine Journal, The Brussels Review, Killer Nashville, Möbius Blvd, Indiana Review, Bristol Noir, The Berlin Review, Third Wednesday, Altered Reality, Cream City Review, Cerasus Magazine, and 34th Parallel. In 2005, Texas Review Press published his novella, Fifteen Minutes, which received the Clay Reynolds Prize.

Mark Dunbar > Poetry > Illinois, USA

Mark Dunbar lives in Brookfield, Illinois. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Grist, Red Rock Review, Spellbinder, Bicoastal Review and the Ekphrastic Review, among others. He attended Kenyon College where he was the recipient of the American Academy of Poets Award.

Maya Miracle Gudapati > Poetry > Virginia, USA

Maya Miracle Gudapati (she/they) is a biracial bisexual poet born and raised in Boise, Idaho. She is an MFA poetry candidate at George Mason University, where she co-coordinates the Incarcerated Writers Project through Phoebe Journal. Their writing can be found or is forthcoming in Peach Fuzz Magazine, Eunoia Review, Jeopardy Magazine, and elsewhere.

Pam Crow > Poetry > Oregon, USA

Pam Crow is an award-winning poet who lives in Portland, Oregon. Pam’s work has been published in Green Mountain Review, Carolina Quarterly, Ploughshares, The MacGuffin, and other national journals. She is the winner of the Neil Shepard award for poetry and the Astraea award for emerging lesbian poets. Her book Inside This House was published by Main Street Rag press in 2008.

Preeti Talwai > Prose Poetry > California, USA

Preeti Talwai writes from the California coast, where she is also a research executive in the technology industry. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Typehouse Magazine, and Unbroken, among others, and her fiction is held at U.C. Berkeley's Rare Book Collection. She has been twice-nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and her chapbook, Chronic is forthcoming from Bottlecap Press.

Rachel Beachy > Poetry > Kentucky, USA

Rachel Beachy lives in Kentucky with her husband and children. Her poems have appeared in Ephemera, Freshwater, The Orchards Poetry Journal, Sky Island Journal, Wildscape. Literary Journal, and others. Her debut collection, Tiny Universe, will be published by Kelsay Books.

Richard Cole > Poetry > Texas, USA

Richard Cole is the author of three books of poetry: The Glass Children (The University of Georgia Press), Success Stories (Limestone Books), and Song of the Middle Manager (winner of the Grayson Books 2021 Poetry Book Contest, Grayson Books). He is also the author of a memoir, Catholic by Choice (Loyola Press). His poems and essays have been published in The New Yorker, Poetry, Hudson Review, Sun Magazine, The American Journal of Poetry, The Main Street Rag, The Penn Review, Image Journal, and various anthologies. Honors include an NEA fellowship, a Loft Mentor Series award, two Pushcart Prize nominations, and a Bush Foundation grant. Cole works as a business writer in Austin, Texas.

Sabine Chu > Poetry > Massachusetts, USA

Sabine Chu is originally from New York City and now lives in Boston, where she studies math and urban planning. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Eunoia Review and Neologism Poetry Journal.

Sian Maciejowski > Poetry > United Kingdom

Sian Maciejowski is a London-based writer and poet, born in Zambia and raised in the UK, where she lives with her husband and daughter. Her work explores the complexities of the human experience, often focusing on small, easily missed moments, believing these hold the deepest truths. She is particularly drawn to how writing can offer clarity and voice in a world that often feels overwhelming. Her poetry has appeared in Ink & Marrow Literary Magazine and was longlisted for the 2021 erbacce–prize for poetry. She is currently at work on her debut poetry collection.

Steve Lambert > Poetry > Florida, USA

Steve Lambert was born in Louisiana and grew up in Florida. His writing has appeared in Saw Palm, Tampa Review, Louisiana Literature, Chiron Review, New World Writing, The Pinch, Broad River Review, Longleaf Review, Cortland Review, Sky Island Journal, and many other places. His poetry manuscript, lies about the weather, was a finalist for the Terry J Cox Poetry Award (Regal House, 2025). In 2018 he won Emrys Journal’s Nancy Dew Taylor Poetry Prize. He is the recipient of four Pushcart Prize nominations. Interviews with Lambert have appeared in print, on podcasts and radio. He is the author of the poetry collections Heat Seekers (2017) and The Shamble (2021), the chapbook In Eynsham (2020), and the fiction collection The Patron Saint of Birds (2020). His novel, Philisteens, was released in 2021. The collaborative fiction text, Mortality Birds, written with Timothy Dodd, appeared in 2022, as the first title from Southernmost Books. He and his wife live in Northeast Florida.

Svetlana Litvinchuk > Poetry > Missouri, USA

Svetlana Litvinchuk is the author of a debut poetry chapbook, Only a Season (Bottlecap Features, 2024) and a forthcoming full-length collection, Navigating the Hallways by Starlight (Fernwood Press, spring 2026). Nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net, and a finalist for the Slippery Elm Poetry Prize, her poetry appears in Pleiades, swamp pink, About Place, Flyway, ANMLY, Inflectionist Review, Strange Horizons, Rust + Moth, Sky Island Journal, and elsewhere. Originally from Ukraine, she now tends her garden in Missouri. She is the Managing Editor of ONLY POEMS. 

Sydney Enslen > Flash Fiction > Georgia, USA

Sydney Enslen is a fiction and poetry writer based in Fort Benning, Georgia. She is entering her third year of the English program at Bryan College, where she also plays on the university’s volleyball team. Her work has appeared in Bryan’s campus literary magazine, Dandelion. When she’s not writing, Sydney enjoys hiking with friends, tending to her many plants, and reading the latest high fantasy novels.  

Valentina Fulginiti > Poetry > New York, USA

Valentina Fulginiti is an educator, scholar, mother, and writer based in Ithaca, New York. An alumna of the Universities of Bologna (Italy) and Toronto, she is a Senior Lecturer of Italian at Cornell University.  Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in the Sacramento Literary Review, Panoplyzine, and Merion West. Her debut novel, winner of the Premio Bianciardi Inediti 2024, is forthcoming in Italy with ExCogita. She can be found shackled at her desk grading papers, hiking in the Finger Lakes, or on instagram @effe.valentina