Contributors

Steve Almond lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, and is the author of My Life in Heavy Metal (Grove Press). His next book, due out in the spring from Algonquin, is a nonfiction diatribe tentatively titled Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America. “It’s about candy bars,” he says. “For real.”

Bruce Bond’s most recent collections of poetry include Cinder (Etruscan Press) and The Throats of Narcissus (University of Arkansas Press). He lives in Denton, Texas, and is a professor of English at the University of North Texas and poetry editor for American Literary Review.

Chris Bursk is a poet and decision-making counselor for inmates and parolees. He lives in Langhorne Manor, Pennsylvania, and teaches at Bucks Community College.

Arnie Cooper is a freelance writer based in Santa Barbara, California. He spent his childhood in Queens, New York, where he worked in his family’s laundry business. When he wasn’t counting money or washing clothes, he busied himself creating a mini “farm” in his apartment. His writing has appeared in Santa Barbara Magazine, New Renaissance, Orion, and Mother Jones.

Stephen Elliott’s fourth novel, Happy Baby, is being co-published this month by MacAdam/Cage and McSweeney’s. He lives in San Francisco but is currently on the road following the Democratic primaries and working on a book about the 2004 election.

Jake Gaskins teaches English and directs the writing center at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau.

Gillian Kendall writes around, on top of, and in between the piles of paperwork on her desk. She is still shipping books from California, where she used to live, to her new home in Melbourne, Australia. Her memoir, Mr. Ding’s Chicken Feet, is forthcoming from the University of Wisconsin Press, and she is co-author, with Mark O’Brien, of How I Became a Human Being: A Disabled Man’s Quest for Independence (University of Wisconsin Press).

Laura A. Munson is a wife, mother, novelist, essayist, horse trainer, and nature lover who lives in Whitefish, Montana. She is currently at work on a book about finding home in the rural West.

Sy Safransky is editor of The Sun.

Sybil Smith lives in Vermont and works as a nurse in a VA hospital. She’s currently in search of a publisher for her novel manuscript My Mother’s Early Lovers, which was made into a movie that won a first at the Yale Film Festival and the Maine International Film Festival.

Roy Arenella’s photographs have appeared in Modern Photography, the Village Voice, and Newsday. He lives in New York City.

Sarah Blodgett lives in upstate New York, where she specializes in nature and landscape photography.

Amy R. Boles lives in Arlington, Virginia. Her photographs stem from childhood memories of growing up on a farm in Kansas, where four generations of her family have lived and worked the land.

T. Paige Dalporto is a photographer, poet, and songwriter living in Charlton Heights, West Virginia.

Bill Emory is a photographer who lives and works in the Rappahannock and James River watersheds. He writes, “Redemption is uncertain; time, light, and loss are not.”

Noëlle Gaberman lives in San Francisco with her husband and newborn son. She takes photos in between diaper changes and plans to return to college to finish her degree, but for now, her major is drool management.

Clemens Kalischer is a photographer and active member of One by One, an organization that promotes dialogue between victims and perpetrators of the Holocaust. He lives in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Matt Kollasch is a freelance photographer based in Cedar Falls, Iowa. His work reflects his passion for music and travel, and his many years of experience working in schools and libraries.

Jason Langer’s photographs have appeared in Time, Life, Spin, and Vanity Fair. He lives in San Francisco.

Matt Robinson manages Internationalist Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and writes about local history.

Kerry St. Ours has been a photographer for eight years. She lives in Huntington, New York, with her husband and daughter.

Chip Thomas is a physician and photographer who works at Inscription House Health Center on a Navajo reservation in Shonto, Arizona.

Mark Townsend is a photographer living in Brooklyn, New York.