Cari (they/them) is a poet and first year MFA candidate who grew up in Massachusetts before embarking on an exploration of the rest of New England. Their writing mainly focuses on the intimacy of human connection and the interconnectedness of gender, sexuality, and disability. Cari received their BA in English with a concentration in writing from Worcester State University and attended the Salem Poetry Seminar at Salem State University during their junior year.

After releasing their first chapbook in 2019 with Ibbetson Street Press, they have gone on to publish work with Awakened Voices Magazine, Cardinal Sins Journal, and Woodcrest Literary Magazine. Lately, they have been admiring the work of poets such as Dorothea Lasky and Dianne Seuss, though their writing is mostly inspired by 2010’s gothic metal. When not writing, Cari can be found at a rock show with a camera in hand or in a coffee shop with a maple latte and cheesy romance novel.

Is Curtis (they/them) is a non-fiction writer and a second year MFA student. In 2022, they graduated with a degree in English Journalism from UNH and their work has since received several awards, including recognition from the New England, New Hampshire, and Maine Press Associations. However, these days their writings tend to be more personal as they dissect gender, sexuality and interpersonal relationships, often through the lens of pop culture critique.

All those hours whittling away their teen years scrolling through social media have to count for something, right? Some of their favorite authors (and recent inspirations) include Madeline Miller, Sarah Vowell, Jerald Walker, Grace Perry, and Carmen Maria Machado. When they’re not reproducing their past on a word doc, they can be found reading, journaling, or watching bad TV with their roommate.

Steph (she/her) has spent the last six years working in print publishing and audio production. She has produced series such as The Heinemann Podcast, Beyond the Letters, Water for Teachers, Rise and Rouse, and Babe Patrol. She is currently a freelance audio editor and producer, as well as a freelance writer. Previously, she wrote for The American Gardener, and spent many, many years working in greenhouses and on landscaping crews.

Steph is interested in ideas of home, sense of self, and political and cultural formation. Writers currently providing the most inspiration include Julie Otsuka, Barbara Kingsolver, Jacquelyn Landgraf, Joan Didion, and Tracey Kidder. You can often find Steph in her community garden plot planting radish seeds, challenging her friends to games of backgammon, and loudly rehearsing karaoke tracks in her car. She resides in Dover, NH with her cat, Calliope.

Amanda Nevada DeMel (she/her) is a speculative fiction author and a second-year MFA candidate at the University of New Hampshire. Her writing often highlights aspects of her own identity, such as neurodivergence, queerness, and Judaism, with a recurring motif of trauma. She works to uplift marginalized voices and pry at the seams of the mundane.

When not writing, reading, or engaging with media in other ways, you can find her sleeping.

Connecticut-raised and always on the lookout for euphoric laughter, TJ Prizio (he/him) spends time hiking and attending bass music shows (if he can find a willing soul to accompany). He enjoys poetry in the vein of Dean Young and Tomaž Šalamun that aims at the under-spoken, but nonetheless universal, spiritual experience of heartbreak and heartmend.

Unsurprisingly, TJ spends time with Sufjan Stevens and Neutral Milk Hotel, the latter of which is represented by a flying Victrola on his shoulder blade. Otherwise, he’ll be listening to the electronic soundscapes of CloZee or CharlesTheFirst. TJ looks to the poetry arranged when artists trust their ear for a sound that feels pre-existing, finding what sat deep within to conjure the eternal.

Cat is a second year fiction student at the University of New Hampshire. She graduated from UConn with a bachelor’s degree in English with a creative writing concentration and film studies minor. Her life has been split between a single American mother and an Irish-national father, so she really had no choice but to become a sardonic writer type.

Cat has spent six years suffering in customer service, with the past two in the trenches of waiting tables for tourists in the Seacoast area. She writes about the horrors of the feminine experience, evil women, and the viscerally weird.