Contributors

Robert P. Cooke used to be a safety trainer at a refinery that became the subject of many of his poems. He lives in Highland, Indiana.

Robert Cording wavers between wanting to be a Florida panther and wanting to be the carver who sculpted the Key Marco Cat. He lives in Connecticut.

Wiam El-Tamami is an Egyptian writer, translator, vegetarian chef, and long-term nomad. She is currently based in Berlin, Germany.

Jared Harél’s newest book of poetry is Let Our Bodies Change the Subject. When not writing, parenting, or teaching, he plays drums for the New York City rock band Flyin’ J & the Ghostrobber.

Lauren Hohle proudly served as the managing editor for The Gettysburg Review from 2019 to 2023. She wrote “Basements,” her short story in this issue, because every time she told someone who wasn’t raised religious about being sent to abstinence retreats, they invariably asked, “Were people just hooking up the whole time?”

Mark Leviton lives in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California. Lately he has been gaining weight and losing hair, but maintaining a positive attitude nonetheless.

Nicole Graev Lipson’s essay in this issue is part of her memoir-in-essays Mothers and Other Fictional Characters, forthcoming in 2025 from Chronicle Books. She lives near Boston, Massachusetts. You can follow her on Instagram: @nglipson.

Dave Zoby became the head dishwasher at the Bamboo Gardens in Newport News, Virginia, in 1984, and it’s all been downhill from there. He lives in Wyoming with his dog, Henderson the Rain King. You can follow him on Instagram: @davidzoby.

Neenad Joseph Arul is a self-taught street photographer, videographer, and digital-collage artist who was born in Mumbai, India.

Hank Baker was born in Mexico to American parents and grew up in New Jersey. He’s currently based in Odesa, Ukraine. You can see more of his work on Instagram: @hankbakerphoto.

Summer Dorr is an assistant professor at Alfred State College of Technology in New York. She has a knack for picking the slowest lines and has broken both of her feet at once because she gives everything she does her all.

Gina Easley recently joined a Sun magazine readers group, and she wishes she’d found this lively gathering of women years ago.

Candice Estep lives in rural Texas and enjoys capturing the beauty and grit of farms and ranches.

Nicole Frederick is a photographer who lives in Alexandria, Minnesota.

Jon Kral retired from photojournalism and moved to North Carolina twenty years ago. His two young grandchildren keep him from becoming the old mountain hermit he sometimes yearns to be.

Larena Nellies-Ortiz is an arts educator, refugee advocate, and world traveler with a penchant for visiting markets and cemeteries.

Rachelle Steele was in the U.S. Navy for nine years and feels as alive behind the camera as she did on a warship. She lives in California.

Joseph Tysl once attended a university photo class, but it didn’t work out. Nonetheless he’s had his images shown by the Sierra Club, the National Press Club, a bank, and various coffeehouses. He lives in Port Townsend, Washington.

Lisa Whiteman is happiest when taking photos of people, whether they’re senior citizens on roller skates, young boys in a boxing gym, or her heavily photographed children. She lives in New Jersey.

Rex Wilder’s first job in photography was for Playboy magazine. Over the years he’s moved on to more species-diverse projects. His latest book, A Quiet Place to Land, features photos from the natural world, mostly birds near his home in Venice Beach, California.

Gina Williams lives in the Pacific Northwest. She is a photographer, poet, and professional gardener. Her writing and art have appeared in FRAMES, LensCulture, and Carve.

Kathryn Almand lives in the Pacific Northwest and enjoys nature and landscape photography. She took the image on this month’s cover in Medford, Oregon. It was the first time she’d seen a coyote in the wild.