Contributors
Michael Bell is an MFA Candidate at Eastern Washington University where he studies fiction and teaches Creative Writing to high school students. He is the Fiction Editor of Willow Springs.
Åsa Maria Bradley grew up in Sweden before landing in Texas where she discovered ranch dressing and Law & Order, still two favorite indulgences a couple of decades later. She now lives in east WA. You can find her work in Wire Harp, eWag, Auntie’s Notes, Inland NW Homes & Living, the Bylines Writers’ Calendar and the upcoming collection Female Nomad and Friends. Find out more at www.asamariabradley.com.
Marcus Corder grew up not far from where he is now. There have been stops on both coasts in between, as well as a wedding, a fish that traveled through twenty-seven states, and some fantastic Michigan doughnuts. You can find his writing on paper, in digital files, and scribbled on the 3×4-foot whiteboard sticky notes on the walls of his apartment. He is the former web editor for Willow Springs. Currently he is Senior Editor at Gray Dog Press, and also editor of SpokeWrite.
Sam Edmonds earned his MFA from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers. If you ever confuse the principle parts of lay and lie around Sam Edmonds, he will probably strike you, unless you are a Navy Seal, or something. Sam lives and writes and works and plays disc golf in Browne’s Addition, Washington.
Laura Ender has an MFA in creative writing from Eastern Washington University, where she worked as an assistant managing editor for Willow Springs. She currently lives with her husband, cat, and a sourdough starter named Steve. Her fiction has appeared in Monkeybicycle, Iconoclast, and elsewhere.
Scott Eubanks grew up in a foster home for children with developmental disabilities in Simi Valley, California, the home of the Ronald Reagan Public Library, the destination of every school field trip for a decade. He’s published short stories in the Whitefish Review, and the Yellow Medicine Review, and an essay in Memoir(and). He lives in Spokane, Washington, with his girlfriend, 200 lbs of harmless dogs, and a tank of tropical fish that just refuse to die.
Tyler Evans lives and writes in Spokane where he serves as an assistant managing editor for Willow Springs. He’s a notorious insomniac, and spends many sleepless nights watching infomercials for Rosacea treatments and miracle cleaning solvents. His work has appeared in the Rio Grande Review and is forthcoming in the Berkeley Fiction Review.
Jonathan Frey teaches writing at North Idaho College. He lives in Spokane, Washington, with his wife and daughter.
TJ Fuller writes and works in Portland, Oregon.
Carly Greenfield was born in Colorado Springs, CO. She is a recent transplant to the Spokane area she has enjoyed working as a fiction editor for Willow Springs and pursuing literary things. Carly enjoys the outdoors, books, happy music and dogs. Carly is working on overcoming fears of spiders and submitting biographical information.
Tim Greenup grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, but currently lives in Washington state, where he does many things. His poems have appeared in Redivider, Strange Machine and Interrupture.
Rachel Hartley-Smith was born and raised in deep southern Indiana, although eventually she migrated (slightly) north. Recently, she migrated far, far, far west until she found mountains and a pleasant valley. She has an MA in Creative Writing and also Digital Storytelling from Ball State University. She is the web editor for Willow Springs as she seeks an MFA in Creative Writing focused in creative nonfiction. She has a teaching assistantship and an ugly min-van for her large, good-looking family.
Sarah Hauge graduated from Eastern Washington University with an MFA in nonfiction. She lives in Spokane, Washington, where she’s worked as everything from a technical writer to a cross country coach to a call center appointment scheduler. She writes for a handful of publications.
Summer Hess is a bi-coastal writer who also works as a part-time dog-walker, barista, swim instructor, ESL teacher and writing tutor in Spokane and Philadelphia. She will spend most of 2011 working on a series of essays about the Atacama desert in northern Chile.
Kathryn Houghton is a former assistant managing editor for Willow Springs and a current reader for Hayden’s Ferry Review. Her work has been published in The Collagist. She teaches writing at Michigan State University. Find out more at kathrynhoughton.com.
Melissa Huggins earned her MFA in Fiction from Eastern Washington University and serves as the program coordinator for Get Lit!, an annual literary festival in Spokane, WA. She is obsessed, to varying degrees, with all of the following: hockey, Alice Munro, clean countertops, solo camping trips, baked goods, Bob Dylan, and tequila. She is at work on a novel, which some would kindly call “in progress.”
Cathie Johnson grew up in Northern California near vineyards. She uses this as justification for the amount of wine she drinks. The majority of her time is spent thinking about boys, drinking tea, composing poetry, and teaching composition poetically. She loves cheese, the Apollo program (especially 8 & 12) and being an INFJ.
Geneva Kaiser is a former managing editor of Willow Springs. She is currently working as a writer and graphic designer in Spokane, Washington.
Amaris Ketcham is an honorary Kentucky Colonel and the former Managing Editor of Willow Springs. She contributes to many collaborative blog projects; a full listing may be found at her website.
Scott Kinder-Pyle is a 1985 graduate of Penn State University, where he received a B.A. in English. He then matriculated to and from Princeton Theological Seminary, where met his wife, Sheryl, and studied under Diogenes Allen. After receiving a Masters in Divinity, Scott entered the ordained ministry of the Presbyterian Church (USA). He has served churches in Spokane, Wa; Ada, Ohio; Limerick, Pa… In 2006, Scott moved back to Spokane with his family (including two boys, Ian & Philip) to start a new congregation. After pursuing his Doctor of Ministry and writing his dissertation, “Pastor As Struggling Poet,” he opted for the “poet” part of the equation and entered the M.F.A. program at Eastern Washington University.
Steve Knezovich can be found on the back porch of the East Coast (Pittsburgh, PA), where he serves as both the associate editor and director of mentoring at CREATIVE NONFICTION; he is the only fiction writer in the office. In his spare time, god willing, he freelances (book reviews, mostly, for Pittsburgh Magazine, mostly). He was a twelve pound baby.
Leyna Krow likes riding bicycles, eating donuts, and popping bubble wrap. She is a fiction student at Eastern Washington University’s MFA program as well as an instructor of English composition and an editorial assistant for Willow Springs. Originally from southern California, Leyna has mixed feelings about her current home of Spokane, Wash. for obvious reasons.
Greg Leunig has lived in every continental US timezone. He has also done other, less interesting things. He likes science, fiction, and science fiction. You can probably find him in Spokane, at coffee shops or bars, staring at blank Word Documents or drinking.
Samuel Ligon is the author of DRIFT AND SWERVE, a collection of stories (2009), and SAFE IN HEAVEN DEAD, a novel (2003). His stories have appeared in The Quarterly, Alaska Quarterly Review, New England Review, Noise: Fiction Inspired by Sonic Youth, Post Road, Keyhole, Sleepingfish, Gulf Coast, and elsewhere. He teaches at Eastern Washington University in Spokane, Washington, and is the editor of WILLOW SPRINGS. Learn more at www.samuelligon.net.
Brendan Lynaugh grew up in New Jersey where he now lives after sojourns to Spokane, New York City, and Prague. An avid skier, rock-climber, reader, and pescetarian, he works professionally as a tennis instructor while working on short stories and a novel. He is a former fiction editor of Willow Springs.
Seth Marlin is the current Assistant Web Editor for Willow Springs magazine, and is pursuing his MFA in Fiction at Eastern Washington University. His short stories and poems have appeared in M-Brane, Wit’s End, Short Story America, and Greatest Lakes Review, and he has also blogged for Iraq Veterans Against the War. He lives in Spokane, Washington with his wife of six years.
Amanda Maule left the northwoods of Wisconsin to study poetry at EWU’s MFA program. She is a former Assistant Managing Editor for Willow Springs and the outside center for the Spokane women’s rugby team. She has written reviews for DIAGRAM.
Kristina McDonald is not your mother, although she’ll hold you while you cry. She was born and raised in Texas, and she misses cheap Mexican food, armadillos, and Chuck Norris. A current student of the poetry at Eastern, she also serves as the Get Lit! Programs Assistant Coordinator and Poetry Editor for Willow Springs.
Adam O’Connor Rodriguez is a writer and editor based in Portland, Oregon. A graduate of Eastern Washington University’s MFA in Creative Writing program, he now works as Senior Editor of Hawthorne Books (www.hawthornebooks.com).
Brian O’Grady lives in Chicago, where he is an optimization and campaign-planning specialist for a search engine marketing company, which is actually not a joke. He is a former managing editor for Willow Springs and writes fiction and nonfiction.
Brett Ortler graduated in 2007 with an M.F.A. from Eastern Washington University, where he edited Willow Springs and taught. He is co-founder and co-editor of Knockout Literary Magazine (www.knockoutlit.org). His own work appears in Rattle, The South Dakota Review, Ascent, Nimrod and online at McSweeney’s, among other places. He recently embarked on a new series, “Letters to the President” in which he writes President Obama a zany, apolitical letter every few days. You can see them at www.brettsletters.com. He lives a tad north of the Twin Cities and lives vicariously through Nick Punto and the Minnesota Twins.
Shira Richman currently lives in Denver where she is a student of the snow rodeo. She has been published in Third Coast, Spoon River Poetry Review, PopMatters, and Knockout, among other places and was recently nominated for a Pushcart. She teaches writing at the Colorado School of Mines and Front Range Community College.
Adrian Rogers is a journalist by trade, and a 2007 graduate of Eastern Washington University’s MFA program in creative nonfiction. She grew up in Michigan and lives in Spokane.
Melina C. Rutter could do pretty much anything right now and so she’s going further and further places.
Jason Sommer feels very strongly about the following things: ketchup has no place on a hot dog, zombies are the only thing that could possibly make jane austen tolerable, and life is too short for sh*t fiction or crappy beer. he’s currently in a trial separation with his beloved chicago, studying in the ewu mfa program and working for the superlative “willow springs” lit mag.
Katrina Stubson is coping with the recent discovery that she’s a “cat person.” The Upper Midwest is her homeland, but she’s migrated west to pursue an MFA from Eastern Washington University, specializing in creative nonfiction. She is a production assistant for RockSaw Press. She also makes offbeat greeting cards and sells them on Etsy for a reasonable price.
As a third-grader, Ericka Taylor thought she was the spawn of Satan because her first, middle, and last names each have six letters. She is still waiting to be disabused of that notion. A native Nashvillian who spent most of the last 15 years in DC, she now resides in much colder Spokane, Washington where she’s pursuing her MFA at the Inland Northwest Center for Writers. She is an Assistant Managing Editor for Willow Springs and believes that playing Wii Tennis with a beer in one hand still counts as exercise.
Monet P. Thomas is a southerner in a strange land. She misses deep fried foods and old men who call her ma’am. Escaping the business world to get an MFA in poetry at EWU, her eventual goal is to marry rich and have lots of children.
Shawn Vestal is a longtime journalist and writer who lives in Spokane, Wash., with his wife and son. He graduated from Eastern Washington University’s MFA program in fiction, has published some short stories, and would love to clean up the mess that is currently his “novel.” His blogging legs are new and unsteady.
Dan J. Vice grew up in Indianapolis, and now lives in the English Department at Gonzaga University, where he teaches college kids to read and write and is also Associate Director of the Summer Writing Institute. He is extremely fond of moving pictures, has no idea who won the game last night, and usually carries around the unshakeable feeling that he has forgotten to worry about something.
Tanya DeBuff Wallette‘s favorite meal is a BLT with super crispy bacon. Her celebrity lookalike is Rachel Dratch. Her weird thing is that she rinses her ice cubes. She dreams of living in a German village. Her poetry has appeared online at The Smoking Poet and Literary Mama. Her nonfiction work has not made an appearance outside of her master’s thesis. A recurring motif in her work is, apparently, socks. She blogs as Bess at alalamamas.com.
Jaime R. Wood is the author of Living Voices: Multicultural Poetry in the Middle School Classroom (NCTE 2006). Her poems have appeared in Dislocate, Matter, Weird Sisters, Rivets, and Juked and are forthcoming in Four Branches Press, DIAGRAM, and ZYZZYVA. When she’s not teaching in Eastern Washington University’s English department, Jaime is writing for Willow Springs’ new blog Bark, editing for Willow Springs Books, or lying comatose on her couch surrounded by five cats and her fiction-writer boyfriend.
