Contributors

Beth Alvarado’s new essay, her third in The Sun, is part of a collection-in-progress. She lives in Oregon, where she loves to take long walks.

Matt Cashion’s short-story collection, Last Words of the Holy Ghost, won the Katherine Anne Porter Prize. Born in the North Carolina mountains and raised in coastal Georgia, he teaches creative writing at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse.

Angela Janda collects coffee-table books and charismatic sweaters. Originally from the rural Midwest, she now lives and writes in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Stephen J. Lyons has written six books while somehow avoiding fame and fortune. He recently returned from a trip to the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, where he swam with abandon in the Amazon River.

Nick Martin is a Sappony writer and editor. His roots are in North Carolina, his body is in Washington, DC, and his heart is in Brooklyn. This is his first publication in The Sun. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review and Deadspin.

Bruce McKay lives in a little house full of books in California. He likes to experience the world on his bicycle, stopping to hear the life stories of strangers. His fiction has appeared in The Southern Review and ZYZZYVA.

Reese Menefee lives in Kentucky, where she teaches high school English. Her writing has appeared in The Threepenny Review and Glassworks.

Rob Amberg’s photographs from the rural South have been exhibited internationally. His latest book is Little Worlds. Amberg lives on a small farm in Madison County, North Carolina, with his wife and daughter.

Susie Forrester cherishes quiet moments, gardening, running, and music. She enjoys playing harmless practical jokes on her family, and she can use a pogo stick with no hands.

Gary Harwood is coauthor of Growing Season: The Life of a Migrant Community (The Kent State University Press). He lives in Kent, Ohio.

Mark Holt-Shannon dropped a college photography class after an epic darkroom failure. He has been taking pictures ever since. Follow him on Instagram: @holtshannon.

Jon Kral spent over forty years covering hurricanes as a photojournalist. Now he and his neighbors in the mountains of North Carolina are coping with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Susan Lirakis has been taking photographs for over sixty-five years. She enjoys gardening, kayaking, and watching the sky in northern New Hampshire.

Melina Meza has spent three decades teaching yoga, but her true meditation happens behind the camera. She leads retreats blending movement, mindfulness, and creative exploration around the world.

Dan Pearlman is a street photographer and jazz musician who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His photographs of New Orleans festivals will one day become a book.

Joel Rhymer works at an organic vegetable farm near Troy, New York. When he isn’t making photos, he can be found picking carrots and green beans.

Bill Scott, a Salt Lake City photog­rapher, documents the lives of people around the world. He spent eight memorable days on Myanmar’s Irrawaddy River, capturing the stories of pirate life along the riverbank.

Wesley Verhoeve is an Amsterdam-based photographer whose work has appeared in The New York Times and National Geographic Traveler. He writes Process, a weekly newsletter on photography and storytelling.

Clare Welsh is a photographer and multimedia artist in Pennsylvania. She enjoys writing poetry and getting lost in nature.

Gabriel Wisniewski lives in the south of Brazil. He will soon release a book about his pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago.

Teronica Yvette took this month’s cover photo at Dearborn Park in Atlanta, Georgia. She has pursued photography ever since her aunt, the head cheer coach, bought her a disposable camera after a failed sixth-grade tryout to be the school mascot.