Contributors

The following writers have contributed stories and essays to Fiction Attic Press.

Please note: Most contributor bios were written at the time of publication, so many will be out of date and will not list all of the books published by the contributor. The list is a work-in-progress and is far from complete.

Steve Almond (“Chibas Speaks,” issue 10) is the author of eleven books, including the story collections The Evil B.B. Chow and My Life in Heavy Metal, and the bestselling nonfiction work Candyfreak. His fiction has appeared in Tin House, Playboy, Other Voices, The Mid-American Review, Nerve, and many other magazines. He cohosted the Dear Sugars podcast with Cherry Strayed.

Batool Alzubi (“On the Day of the Flood”) is an English PhD student with an emphasis on creative writing and Middle Eastern Literature at Oklahoma State University. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Bacopa Review, Santa Ana River Review, and On the Run.

Stephen Ausherman (issue 13) served as an Artist-in-Residence for Bernheim Forest, KY, Atelier Beeldend Vermogen in Walkenried, Germany, C-Scape at Cape Cod National Seashore, MA, Blue Sky Project in Woodstock, Illinois, and elsewhere. His first novel, Typical Pigs, was nominated for the Peter Taylor Prize and won the Llumina American Writers Contest. His collection of travel essays, Restless Tribes, was released in 2004.

Paige Blackburn is a young writer, poet, and college student from Illinois. Her work has appeared in Unbroken Journal. You can find more of her poetry on Instagram @blackinkburnedpaiges.

Janet Bohac’s fiction has appeared in Palm Circle Press’s 2021 Short Story Anthology.

Danila Botha is a Jewish fiction writer based in Toronto, Canada. She has had two collections of short stories published, Got No Secrets, and For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I've Known, which was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award, the Vine Award for Canadian Jewish Literature, and the ReLit Award. Her novel Too Much on the Inside won a Book Excellence Award for contemporary fiction and was recently optioned for film, and her novel A Place for People Like Us will be published in 2025. She teaches creative writing at the Humber School for Writers and at University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies.

Roger Boyle (issue 14) is Professor of Computing at the University of Leeds in the UK. His skill as a photographer is as limited as his skill in bicycle maintenance. He has a deep affection for southern European countries, in particular Itlay.

Kate Braverman is a widely anthologized short story writer, poet, and novelist. She is the author of four books of poetry, the novels Lithium for Medea, Palm Latitudes, Wonders of the West, and The Incantation of Frida K. She received the Graywolf Prize for Creative Non-Fiction for Frantic Transmissions to and from Los Angeles: An Accidental Memoir. Her iconic short story “Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta" appears in the Norton Anthology of Short Fiction and her short story "Mrs. Jordan's Summer Vacation" won the Editor's Choice Raymond Carver Award. Other awards include the 2005 Mississippi Review Prize and a Christopher Isherwood Foundation Fellowship for lifetime recognition of achievement. Michelle Richmond’s interview with Kate Braverman appeared in Fiction Attic in 2005. Braverman passed away in 2019.

Summer Brenner is the author of a dozen works of fiction that include short stories (Coffee House and Red Hen), noir novels (PM Press, Gallimard serie noire), poems and prose poems (The Figures), social justice novels for youth, and the occasional essay, most notably in Infinite City by Rebecca Solnit. In 2022, The Missing Lover, 3 novellas with collages by poet/artist Lewis Warsh, was published by Spuyten Duvil. Forthcoming, also from Spuyten Duvil, is a memoirish thing, DUST: My Southern Jewish Family.

Matt Cervenka (issue 10) studied at the School of Visual Arts and S.U.N.Y. at Farmingdale. Extensive travels in the Southwest, Mexico and Europe have provided inspiration, and Matt has incorporated their cultures in his work. Presently, Matt enjoys working with gouache, pen and ink, acrylic, and mixed media. Austrian Television’s Tema recently aired an interview with Matt, featuring his animal portraits. See his New York Cityscapes at Portable Muse.

Franci Claudon (issue 18) is a glass artist who lives in San Carlos, CA. View her work at Wavecrest Designs.

Mickey Laurence Cohen (issue 21, Jan. 2014) is an American writer living in France, where he works as a journalist. His stories have also appeared in Prime Number Magazine, Atticus Review, and Smokelong Quarterly, and he has just completed work on a French novel, La Fin du Temps. A native of New Jersey, his last known address in the United States was in Chicago, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in English/Creative Writing at the University of Chicago. He also performs as a musician and spoken-word video artist under the name Mickey Zero.

Lou Conover has no formal training as a writer besides failing a creative writing course in high school. With degrees in music, mathematics, cognitive science, and teaching, Lou is a practicing musician, an engineer, a mathematics teacher, and, by accident, for the last eighteen years, an artist. Lou has a gender neutral name, no pronouns, and two children.

Kayla Czaga (The New Kick, 2022) is a writing mentor, restaurant manager, and the author of two books of poetry: Dunk Tank and For Your Safety Please Hold On. Her writing has appeared in The New Quarterly, Room Magazine, and Queer Little Nightmares: An Anthology of Monstrous Fiction and Poetry.

Vince Donovan (issue 17) divides his time between San Francisco, and whatever country has the cheapest airfares. His fiction has appeared in the literary journal Ink Pot and in San Luis Obispo magazine. His travel writing has been featured in The Singapore Project, a travel e-zine, and Rip It Up!, Australasia’s largest music magazine. His novel, Garage Love, a coming of age story set in the world of Los Angeles underground rock bands, is represented by Scott Miller at Trident Media Group. He is at work on a new novel about adulterous birdwatchers.

Stephen Elliott (issue 11) grew up in Chicago, where in his teens he was made a ward of the court and placed in various State run homes. He attended the University of Illinois and received his Masters from Northwestern University. He has been the Marsh McCall lecturer in Creative Writing at Stanford University. His books include The Adderall Diaries, Happy Baby, What It Means To Love You, A Life Without Consequences, and Jones Inn. He also edited the fiction anthology, Politically Inspired. His web site is www.stephenelliott.com.

Elle Enderlin lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest.

Stephanie Goldman is an artist and writer. Her website is www.snowflakesanddust.com. Previous publications include The Bluebird Word, Boats Against the Current, Literary Mama, and the WOW-Women on Writing Flash Fiction Contest. Her story The Truth Is previously appeared in Fiction Attic. She writes fiction, poetry, and picture books. She lives with her family in Jupiter, Florida.

Karen Guzman (Fiction Attic Press Debut Novel Prize) is the author the novels Homing Instincts, winner of the Fiction Attic Press Debut Novel Prize, and Arborview. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous literary magazines, and she is a contributor to the Collegeville Institute’s Bearings Online magazine.

Gloria Frym (issue 2 and others) lives in Berkeley, California.  Her most recent book is How Proust Ruined My Life & Other Essays (BlazeVOX, 2020). The True Patriot, a collection of proses, came out from Spuyten Duyvil. She is the author of the short story collections Distance No Object(City Lights Books) and How I Learned (Coffee House Press), as well as many volumes of poetry.  Her book Homeless at Home received an American Book Award. She is professor in the MFA Writing Program and the Writing & Literature Program at California College of the Arts. Frym’s books are available at Bookshop.org.

Jason Fuges (issue 12) lives in San Francisco and works as the art director at Berkeley Rep.

Vanessa Hua (issue 5) grew up in the Bay Area and studied creative writing and journalism at Stanford University. She is the author of A River of Stars, Forbidden City, and Deceit and Other Possibilities.

Ira Joel Haber (featured artist, issue 20) was born and lives in Brooklyn, New York. He is a sculptor, painter, book dealer and teacher. His work has been featured in numerous group shows both in USA and Europe and he has had 9 one man shows including several retrospectives of his sculpture. His work is in the collections of New York University, The Guggenheim Museum, The Hirshhorn Museum & The Albright-Knox Art Gallery. His paintings, drawings and collages have been published in many on line and print magazines. He has received three National Endowments For The Arts Fellowships, two Pollock-Krasner grants, and The Adolph Gottlieb Foundation Grant in 2004. He teaches art at the United Federation of Teachers Retiree Program in Brooklyn.

Elizabeth Harris (issues 14 & 18) grew up in Arizona and Kentucky and taught creative writing for many years at the University of North Dakota. For her translations, she has won several awards, including the Dudley Fitts Award and the Gary Wilson Award. Her stories and translations of Italian prose and poetry have been accepted in Other Voices, Denver Quarterly, Florida Review, Northwest Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and other magazines. She has had fiction-residency fellowships at the Blue Mountain Center and the Ragdale Foundation.

Noelle Q. de Jesus is Filipino American and has published two short fiction collections overseas, Blood: Collected Stories (Ethos Books Singapore 2015), which won the 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Award and which has a French edition, and Cursed and Other Stories (Penguin Random House Southeast Asia 2019). She has an MFA in Fiction, is working on a novel, but keeps getting distracted by flash.

Brent Foster Jones (issue 12) was born in Texas and raised in Louisiana. He completed his M.F.A. in writing at California College of the Arts. Brent is the recipient of a California College of the Arts All College Honors Honorable Mention for his fiction writing. He is currently at work on a collection of
stories and a play. He edits the literary journal 1111.

Stephen Graham Jones (“Abducted,” issue 18, 2005) is the author of many novels, including My Heart is a Chainsaw, Don’t Fear the Reaper, The Only Good Indians, The Fast Red Road-A Plainsong, All the Beautiful Sinners, and The Bird is Gone: A Manifesto. His first book of stories, Bleed into Me, was recently published by University of Nebraska Press. At the time of his publication in Fiction Attic, his fourth book, Demon Song, was forthcoming from MacAdam/Cage.

Jiri Kajane (issue 1) was raised in Kruje, Albania. His satirical drama, Neser Perdite (Tomorrow, Every Day), received great acclaim in a singular 1981 performance before being banned by the Albanian Ministry of Culture. Due to Kajane’s precarious standing before the revolution, his work has never been published in his home country. However, his stories have appeared in translation in a number of American literary journals, including The Chicago Review, Glimmer Train, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Alaska Quarterly Review, among others. Kajane’s collected stories, translated by Bill U’Ren and Kevin Phelan, were published by Fiction Attic in a two-volume collection, Winter in Tirana and Some Pleasant Daydream.

Chet Kozlowski (issue 7) lives in New York City, where he is pursuing a Masters in Writing at City College of New York. He has been the recipient of a residency grant at the David and Julia White Artists Colony in Costa Rica, and is currently at work on a novel.

Bernard Kyle (issue 12) is a photographer and independent curator and works for Other Minds, a non-profit. He is a graduate student in the art history and museum studies programs at San Francisco State University.

Aimee LaBrie’s (After, 2022) short stories have appeared in the Minnesota Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, StoryQuarterly, Cimarron Review, Pleiades, Beloit Fiction Journal, Permafrost Magazine, and others. Her short story “Rage” won first place in Solstice Literary Magazine’s Annual Literary Contest and her novel in progress won the Key West Literary Seminar Emerging Writer Award. In 2007, her short story collection, Wonderful Girl, was awarded the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction and published in a small print run (University of North Texas Press 2007). Her short fiction has been nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize. In 2012 she won first place in the Zoetrope: All-Story’s Short Fiction Competition.

Deena Lilygren lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where she is an Associate Professor of English. You can find her work in LEO Weekly, Queer Kentucky, Huffington Post, 94 Creations, and Okay, Donkey.

Kelly Lundgren (issue 18) holds a Masters in Fiction from Temple University, where she now teaches creative writing and literature. She also teach at Rutgers University and Camden County College in New Jersey. Her fiction has appeared in Pindeldyboz.

Claire R Lynch (Spine Sketchbook, 2022) is an artist and teacher based out of the Washington DC area. At the age of 31, Claire underwent two unexpected and rapid spinal surgeries for a recurring herniated disk within the span of 3 days. This series was inspired by the spontaneously ridiculous, traumatizing, and heartwarming moments of her surgical recovery.

Robert McCann (issue 9) teaches photography & graphic design at Lyndon State College in Vermont. He is represented by Debra Heimerdinger Fine Art Photographs San Francisco and Yossi Milo Gallery NY.

Debbie McCann (issue 9) is a writer, performer, and social worker who lives, works, and writes in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of the short story collection A House in Order (Blinking Yellow Books, 1994).

Erin McCluskey (issue 3) holds an MFA in Writing from the California College of Arts and Crafts, and a BA in fine art and art history from Beloit College. Her work has been published in Five Fingers Review and Puerto del Sol. She is currently working on a collection of interrelated short stories.

Sarah Nourie is a writer, visual artist, Middle School English teacher, and student at Harvard Extension School, working towards an ALM degree in Creative Writing and Literature. She lives in Somerville, MA with her husband. This is her first published short story.

Testimony Odey, also known as Temidayo Testimony Omali Odey, is a Nigerian writer, poet, artist, and gender equality advocate. Her first novel, Uloma, was awarded 1st Runner-up of the Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors (Prose Category, 2021) and her second novel, Feathered, won 1st place for the Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors (2022) and is currently under publication. She is the winner of the African Teen Writers Prize 2022 for her short story “My Juicy Life.”

Jenny Pritchett (issue 15) lives and works in San Francisco with her boyfriend, Sean, and their 140-pound English mastiff. Her fiction has appeared in Boulevard, and she is working on a collection of short stories, most of which reference her home state of Illinois.

Kenneth Rodgers (issue 17) writes ficiton and poetry in Sebastopol, CA. He earned an MFA from the University of San Francisco and has been a PushCart Prize nominee. His book of poems, Trench Dining, was published by Running Wolf Press in 2003.

Kimberly Sailor, from Mount Horeb, WI, is a 2020 poetry fellowship recipient from the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. Her poetry has appeared in the Peninsula Pulse, Sixfold, Silver Birch Press, and the Eunoia Review. Her fiction has appeared in Sixfold and The Bookends Review. She is the author of the novel The Clarinet Whale and editor-in-chief of the Recorded A Cappella Review Board.

Sara Seinberg (issue 16) is a writer and visual artist on her way to Brooklyn by way of Boston and before that Providence and before that San Francisco. but she is very excited to finally be living by her favorite bridge in the world. She has a dog called gus and a fear of dentists.

Nadim Silverman (Night Walks) is a Bangladeshi Jewish writer and illustrator based in NYC. He is currently studying creative writing at SUNY Stony Brook's MFA program. His work has appeared in Quibble Lit and The After Happy Hour Review.

Ilana Stanger-Ross (issue 6) earned a Masters in Fiction from Temple University. She is the recipient of a Leeway Foundation grant for emerging artists, as well as a residency grant from the Ragdale Foundation. Her stories have appeared in Lilith Magazine, Red Rock Review, killingthebuddha.com, and The Bellevue Review. She lives in Toronto. She is the author of the novel Sima’s Undergarments for Women.

Mario Rigoni Stern (issues 14 & 18) is from Asiago, Italy, in the Veneto. He has published fifteen works of prose with Giulio Einaudi Editore and Il Melngolo. His Il sergente nella neve (1953), The Sergeant in the Snow, is considered one of the great novels about the Italians at the Russian front during World War II. His works have been translated into twelve languages, and he has won numerous awards, including the 1978 Campiello Prize and the 1999 Pen Club Prize. Le stagioni di Giacomo (Giacomo’s Seasons) won the 1996 Grinzane Cavour Prize and has been translated into French; it was also adapted as a play in Italy.

Michelle Tea (issue 16) is the author of ten books of fiction and nonfiction, including Valencia, The Chelsea Whistle, and Rent Girl. She is the founder of the literary nonprofit RADAR, co-creator of the notorious all-girl poetry roadshow Sister Split, and continues to drag herself and other brave performers across the US on grueling performance-art boot camps. Born and raised in Chelsea, Massachusetts, she presently lives in San Francisco with her transboyfriend and their weird cat.

Bill U’Ren’s (issue 1) stories have appeared in Glimmer Train, The Alaska Quarterly Review, Chicago Review, CutBank, Michigan Quarterly Review, and many other literary journals. He lives in Alexandria, VA, and teaches creative writing at Goucher College.

Magdalena Waz (Fiction Attic Press Debut Novel Prize) is a Polish-American writer from Krakow. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Miami University in Ohio. Her first novel, Return on Investment, won Fiction Attic Press’ Debut Novel Prize in 2016, and her prose has appeared in New South, The Collagist, Necessary Fiction, and Threadcount. Her writing focuses on themes of place and memory, especially as they relate to the immigrant experience. She is the producer of several short films as well as a co-creator of the web series My Astronaut. She is the former managing editor at Bushwick Daily and the current fiction and non-fiction editor at Construction Magazine.

Martin Weissgerber (Saldana Roca’s Magic Mushrooms, 2022) resides in Athens, Greece, where he teaches 5th Grade at an international school. He studied history at Boston University and supplemented his studies with forays into Russian literature. At the moment, Martin is working on a novel as well as a collection of ten short stories.

Chris Wiewiora (author of the serial novella-in-flash CENTER OF CENTER), earned his MFA in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University, where he taught public speaking, he worked a variety of odd jobs including driving a bus. His writing has recently been anthologized in Back to the Lake, Two Countries: U.S. Daughters and Sons of Immigrant Parents, and What Doesn’t Kill You. His travelogue memoir, The Distance Is More Than an Ocean, about growing up and going back to Warsaw, Poland was published by Finishing Line Press. Read more at www.chriswiewiora.com

Wade Williams is an attorney in Houston.

Anne-E. Wood (issue 4) grew up in New Jersey and studied theater and writing at Macallister College in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is the author of Two If By Sea, winner of the Michael Rubin Chapbook Award. She holds an MFA from San Francisco State University. Her stories have appeared in or are forthcoming from Beloit Fiction Journal, Cream City Review, and Other Voices.

Jane Wong (issue 18) is a young writer from central New Jersey whose work has appeared in journals such as Chronogram, Bard Papers, and the Asians in America Project. She is also the poetry editor of Verse Noire, a literary magazine based in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

Michele Wong (The Electric Is-ness of Life, 2022) was a winner in CityTV’s Vancouver’s Story Initiatives. She’s had honorable mentions in the Lorian Hemmingway & Writer’s Digest Short Story Contests, was a Tobias Wolff Award finalist, was long-listed in the Bath Flash Fiction & Fish Short Story & Fish Flash Contests. Her writing has been or will be published in the Bath Flash-fiction anthology, ScribbleLit, 101.Org & Blue Mountain Review.