Deana Nantz
Deana Nantz is the author of Fits of Wrath and Irony, published by Finishing Line Press. She writes poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and literary reviews. Her work can be found in The Southern Women’s Review, Appalachian Voice, Fiddleblack, and Fried Chicken and Coffee. She holds an MFA from Eastern Kentucky University’s Bluegrass Writer’s Studio and an MA in English. She teaches Appalachian literature, modern drama, and composition for EKU and high school English in London, KY where she lives with her husband, David, and dog, Barney.
Brandyn Johnson
Brandyn Johnson started his MFA at EKU in the fall of 2012 and finished his program at the summer residency in 2014. He is currently an adjunct instructor at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota. He helped as a poetry editor for EKU’s Jelly Bucket in 2014.
He is working on both a chapbook and a full-length book of poetry. He lives in Rapid City, South Dakota with his wife, Anna. During the summer residency in Portugal, he learned that he will be a father in March of 2015, which only made the magical residency more special.
Bernie Deville
Bernie Deville was born in Baton Rouge, La. and raised in Danville, Ky. Following a long career as a bookseller, he currently works as a full time Montessori middle school educator. Bernie lives in Lexington in a blissfully rambunctious house with his wife Barbara, two beagles, two cats, two axolotls, and a Yorkie named Biscuit. Poetry naturally follows.
Whitnee Thorp
Whitnee Thorp was raised in Lexington, KY where she graduated the School for the Creative and Performing Arts for Creative Writing and attended the KY Governor’s School for the Arts, majoring in Creative Writing. Whitnee graduated Western Kentucky University with a BA in Communications and a double minor in English Writing and Women’s Studies. Upon graduation she lived in rural China and taught English before working as the 2012-2013 Graduate Assistant for the Bluegrass Writers Studio and worked as the editor-in-chief of Jelly Bucket, Eastern Kentucky University’s literary journal. She is currently finishing her MFA in Creative Writing and pursuing her MAT in Middle School Language Arts. Whitnee has been published in journals such as Inscape, Splinter Generation, Ninepatch, Emerge, Poemmemoirstory, and the text book, The Poetry Gymnasium by Tom Hunley. She is also forthcoming in the women’s anthology Veils, Halos, and Shackles on sexual abuse and discrimination among women worldwide. Whitnee lives in Box Elder, SD where she works as an English as a Second Language instructor, freelances, spends time with her boyfriend and dog, and volunteers her time in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.
Joseph Mau
Joseph Mau’s short fiction has appeared in Mount Hope, Firewords Quarterly, Subtopian, Ferocious Quarterly, HorrorSleazeTrash, and other places. His story “Best Launderette” was selected by guest editor Pam Houston for the Fall 2014 edition of Fifth Wednesday Journal. The flash fiction “Uncle Wally in the Omniverse” earned him a Pushcart nomination. He received his MFA from the Bluegrass Writers Studio in central Kentucky where he writes and teaches. He is currently searching for representation for his first novel.
Tom Miller
Tom Miller is retired from going to an office and lives with his wife of 46 years on the shoulder of a knob in rural Kentucky. He is a certified public accountant who devoted many years to social change work in Appalachia and Africa, working 14 years with the Ford Foundation and living ten years in East Africa. He received his Masters of Fine Arts degree from Bluegrass Writers Studio at Eastern Kentucky University and concentrates on writing personal essays and novels. He is seeking publication of his debut novel Nightrunner, a realistic literary novel set in East Africa.
Joseph Nichols
Joseph Allen Nichols composes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and essays. Until recently, he was the Graduate Assistant with the Bluegrass Writers Studio and Editor-in-Chief of Jelly Bucket Literary Journal, at Eastern Kentucky University, where, still, using a clandestine and alchemical process called “work” he is attempting to transform UK’s BA in English Literature into an MFA in Creative Writing. He was shortlisted for the Summer Literary Seminars 2014 Literary Prize and his publishing credits include a couple fantasy short stories with Aphelion Webzine and an eBook of poetry entitled “Once Upon the Loom”, available through AmunCine. In his free time (which doesn’t truly exist but, as a fantasy author, he’s become adept at make-believe), he enjoys interacting with his kiddos, Isaac and Jonathan.
Jen Parks
Ms. Parks is a student in her second year at the Bluegrass Writers Studio. She holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Nursing, and has worked as a nurse anesthetist for over nine years. She writes fiction primarily, and has begun writing a novel as part of a two semester novel course taught by professor Nancy Jensen. When she is not working, writing, or tripping over toys left behind from one of her three children, she enjoys running.
Cynthia Behunin
Cynthia A. Behunin completed her MFA at Eastern Kentucky University’s Bluegrass Writers Studio in 2014. Shortly thereafter, she was hired as a full-time English faculty member at Utah State University-Eastern: Blanding Campus where she teaches Developmental through Sophomore writing and composition. Her past publications include: “King Elizabeth I” (2006), “The Silent Oracle (2006), “Candidiasis: Symptoms and Treatment (2008), “Interview: Meadow Lisonbee” (2013), and “715” (2014). Currently, one of her short stories is under consideration for a horror/fantasy magazine and another short story, historical fiction, is set to be published through EKU in the near future. She lives in the Four Corners area with her family where she enjoys mountain drives, hikes through the red rock, and quiet evenings at home.
Russell Helms
Russell Helms designs and produces books, edits for Amazon.com, and is an adjunct professor of English at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. He is currently revising his first novel and working on a second. His short fiction has appeared in a variety of journals including Otis Nebula, Drunken Boat, Used Gravitrons, Litro, Versal, Bewildering Stories, Assembly Journal, The Moth, Soliloquies Anthology, antiTHESIS, Qarrtsiluni, a la carte from Main Street Rag, and others. He eats one meal per day and washes his hair with soap.
Bruce Lewis
Bruce Lewis is the author of the unpublished novel, Fragments of Joshua. His short stories have appeared in Pilvax Magazine and Border Crossing-Berlin. A guitarist and singer/songwriter, he has made numerous jazz recordings, many of which garnered critical acclaim. He grew up in Woodford Co., KY near Glenn’s Creek. In 1993 he moved to Budapest, Hungary where he worked as a freelance musician and writer for nineteen years. In 2012 he returned to Kentucky, graduating from the Bluegrass Writer’s Studio at Eastern Kentucky University in 2014, earning an MFA in creative writing.
He currently resides in Lexington, KY.
Heather Noland
Daytime accountant, nighttime scribe. A writer of quiet fiction with nontraditional feminine influence told through moody perspectives. Editor of Tinderbox Magazine that publishes experimental writing and art. Lover of character over plot, all aspects of the absurd, and earned twists.
Brian Tucker
Brian Tucker (B.L. Tucker) grew up in the Appalachian foothills and Lake Cumberland region of Monticello, KY.
He has recently published his first collection of short fiction (Baptisms & Dogs (June 2014)), which was previously selected and published in various print and electronic journals. For more information about this work, please see his new website here.
His stories have appeared, in addition to collaborative works with other – Trajectory Journal, Prick of the Spindle, Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Fried Chicken & Coffee, Fringe, Gloom Cupboard – Prose 124, Dew on the Kudzu, The Camel Saloon, Burnt Bridge Press.
He is currently hard-at-work on his first novel, a religious fiction tale (TBA, 2015).
He currently serves as an academic advisor for first-year, college students at the University of Tennessee–Chattanooga.