Past Forward

Robin Rivers , an international award-winning former journalist, now helps young writers learn the craft as the CEO of Quill Academy of Creative Writing. Combining her quick and direct journalistic writing with a thriller tone and pace, Rivers crafts a story celebrating the romance and beauty of the historical feminine. Woman On The Wall The Sibylline Chronicles, 2022 A World Without Books was cre...

Jeffrey Marshall is a writer and former journalist and the author of five books, including three novels, of which Squeeze Plays is the latest. He spent most of his career as a business and financial writer and editor, much of that in New York, and was editor-in-chief of two national business magazines. As a freelance writer, his work has appeared in publications as varied as The New York Times, Hi...

Howchi Kilburn is a long-term practitioner of meditation, Tai-Chi, yoga, psychotherapy, immersion in nature, and playing with his grandkids. A Northern California denizen, inspired by the non-fiction writings of Marija Gimbutas, The Living Goddess, and Riane Eisler, Sacred Pleasure, he has been writing stories based on their descriptions of human life in ancient times. He is the author of Monking...

Lesley Wheeler , Poetry Editor of Shenandoah, is the author of five poetry collections, including The State She's In; The Receptionist and Other Tales, finalist for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award; and Heterotopia, winner of the Barrow Street Press Poetry Prize. Unbecoming, her first novel, appeared in 2020, and her most recent scholarly book is Voicing American Poetry: Sound and Performance from the...

A student of ancient Hebrew language and culture, Siegfried Johnson in 1990 earned a graduate degree in biblical Hebrew from the University of Michigan, after which he left Ann Arbor to enter ministry in the United Methodist Church, currently serving as Senior Pastor at Christ of the Hills in beautiful Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. He has continued to nurture his love for Hebrew studies by leadin...

Estela González , author of Arribada (2022), holds an MFA in creative writing and a PhD in Latin American literature. As a binational and bilingual writer, she tells stories in English and Spanish about race, class, gender, and environmental justice. Growing up in Mexico, Estela regularly visited her family in Mazatlán, where decades-long intensive development has led to the demise of beaches and...

Richard Paik lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts. A Thing or Two About the Game is his debut novel. Five seasons coaching girls’ softball served as inspiration, while providing insight into the tribulations and rewards of this benign activity. He is currently at work on his next book, a collection of linked stories, none of which are about softball. A Thing or Two About the Game Atmosphere Press, 2...

Iwanna Twainbee attended St. Petersburg Missouri Community College where she mainly smoked cigars and got drunk with her friends. Mark Twain appeared during her seances, and, fortunately, he became her guru. She is a heavy reader of literature and usually buys her books from brick and mortar independent bookstores. To sort the good from the bad she sticks to authors whose names provoke a tickle of...

Natasha Nelson is a single mother of two beloved children, living in the desert wilds of the Southwest. She grew up on Whidbey Island in Washington, a small Island in the Puget Sound most people have never even heard of. The ocean has always been a treasured part of her life, every adventure on its shores scattered throughout her memory like bits of sea glass winking from the beach. It is the one...

Growing up in Minnesota, Steve A. Erickson enjoyed playing baseball and drawing. When I realized that not being able to hit a curveball would probably keep me out of the major leagues, I followed my creative inclination and enrolled at Drake University. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, I worked more than forty years in the advertising industry, first as an art director and the...

Leah Thomas is an eco-communicator, aka an environmentalist with a love for writing + creativity, based in Ventura, CA. She’s passionate about advocating for and exploring the relationship between social justice and environmentalism. You could say she’s tryna make the world a little more equal for everyone and a little nicer to our home planet. She is the founder of eco-lifestyle blog @greengirlle...

Jackson (Kanahashi) Bliss is the winner of the 2020 Noemi Book Prize in Prose and the mixed-race/hapa author of COUNTERFACTUAL LOVE STORIES & OTHER EXPERIMENTS (Noemi Press, 2021), AMNESIA OF JUNE BUGS (7.13 Books, 2022), DREAM POP ORIGAMI (Unsolicited Press, 2022), the digital novella, DUKKHA, MY LOVE , & the newsletter, MIXTAPE . Born & raised in Traverse City, Michigan until the age of fourteen...

Kathy Weyer is an author, artist, and animal lover. She was awarded first prize by the Palm Springs Writers Guild for both the fiction and memoir contests, and she has been published in several magazines. Kathy is on the board of directors for the Friends of the Palm Springs Library and the Palm Springs Writers Guild. Kathy lives in Palm Springs with her husband of 40 years and their rescued pets....

Born and raised in Minnesota, Warren W. Van Overbeke attended Cardinal Stritch University, the American Military University, and Michigan State University, attaining degrees in Business, International Relations, and Equine Management. He is a United States Air Force Veteran, and wounded warrior from the war in Afghanistan. Warren lives in Benona Township, Michigan. Tholocco’s Wake Atmosphere Press...

At age 9, Rick Rosenberg moved from the big city to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, aka the "Secret City." It was around then he had his first experience with the literary world, publishing a short story in Grit Magazine. He attended the University of Tennessee/Knoxville where he earned a Bachelors in Communications. Since then, he's lived in multiple cities and has won accolades for both copywriting and sc...

Lance Hillsinger was a child protective services (cps) social worker for thirty-four years. The first five years were with Los Angeles County; the rest were with San Luis Obispo County. Hillsinger had held various assignments in cps. His longest and the most enjoyable assignment was that of a "court worker." As a court worker, Hillsinger personally filed over 600 petitions with the juvenile court,...

Dustin Grinnell is a writer based in Boston. His creative nonfiction and fiction combine medicine and the humanities and have appeared in many popular and literary publications, including  Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine ,  New Scientist ,  Tendon Magazine ,  VICE , and  Salon . He’s the author of  The Genius Dilemma ,  Without Limits , and  The Empathy Academy . He’s written about the the...

Brett Shapiro is an American writer and the best-selling author of L’Intruso – a memoir published in Italy (Feltrinelli) that was later produced into an award-winning film and theatrical production. He is also the author of two children’s books, one of which was the recipient of Austria’s prestigious National Book Award. Several of his short stories have been performed in theatres throughout Italy...

Angie Sage is an English author of children's literature, including the best selling Septimus Heap series, the TodHunter Moon trilogy, and the Araminta Spookie series. She attended the Art School in Leicester, studying Illustration and Graphic Design. After college she developed her passion and began writing and illustrating toddler books. Her debut novel was the first book in the Septimus Heap se...

Born in Athens, Greece as an Air Force brat, Teri M. Brown now calls the North Carolina coast home. In 2020, she and her husband, Bruce, rode a tandem bicycle across the United States from Astoria, Oregon to Washington DC, successfully raising money for Toys for Tots. Sunflowers Beneath the Snow Atmosphere Press, 2022 A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during th...

Amy Kim Kibuishi has been drawing and writing in earnest since she was ten years old. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts with a degree in Cartooning and is the creator of Sorcerers & Secretaries , a graphic novel duology. The first volume was a YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens selection. She was also a contributor to the acclaimed Flight anthology series edited by Kazu Kibuishi, and...

Barbara Reyelts worked as the News Director for both the NBC and CBS affiliate stations, and for the International Center for Journalists, under the auspices of the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan. Her awards include several Emmys, the Mitchell Charnley Award from the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association, The Silver Circle honor from the National Academy of Television, and induction into the Minne...

Author and Illustrator Nina Mata is the  #1 New York Times Bestselling Illustrator of  "I Promise" by LeBron James  ( nominated for the 52nd NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature ). She is also a 2021 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honoree  for her work in  "T y's Travels, Zip Zoom by Kelly Starling Lyons" .  Nina grew up a typical latchkey kid in Queens, New York. Her family emigrated from the Phili...

Dan Jason began writing professionally as a middle school English teacher in Albany, NY. Having taught in the inner city for nearly a decade, he desired to use literature as a platform to inspire and encourage others.  Through Jason's nonfiction works of faith and spirituality, finance, and children’s books, Dan has utilized words to impact the lives of countless people.  As a lifelong learner and...

Daryl Glinn-Tanner grew up in the hills above Los Angeles in a hippie household, parenting stoned adults. Now she lives life young at heart. Tanner didn’t know at a young age she suffered from dyslexia, never thought she’d author books. Always creative, she finds serenity in painting, spiritual poetry, and writing picture books to novels. She created DivineResponse and ran the successful FreshHair...