A native of the Eastern Shore, Jenny O’Grady writes and makes book sculptures in Baltimore. She is the editor of UMBC Magazine. She taught book arts and electronic publishing as an adjunct professor in the University of Baltimore’s Creative Writing and Publishing Arts MFA program (2008-2012), where she earned her MFA in 2006. Previously, she worked as a community newspaper reporter, following in the footsteps of her mother, and also at a culinary school.
Personally, Alyscia Cunningham is a granddaughter, daughter, wife, mother of 3, sister, aunty, friend, artist, advocate, writer, Pisces, dreamer, truth seeker, positive thinker, adventurer, traveler, hiker, teacher, student...and her journey continues.
Professionally, Alyscia is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, filmmaker, and photographer who has contributed to National Geographic, Discovery Channel, America Online and the Smithsonian Institution. Alyscia is also the Founder of Her House Media and the CEO of a Maryland Home Improvement company, Uprising Builders, LLC.
I am a Baltimorian with mid-western roots. Brought up by a social worker and landscape photographer moonlighting as a trucker driver. I was raised in a house with art, deep thinking, community, strong work ethic, thoughtful inclusivity, and a WHOLE lot of neurodivergent folks.
Performance Poet, Writer, Percussionist, Storyteller, Picture Maker, Workshop Facilitator Linda Joy Burke is a 2002 Distinguished Black Marylander Award recipient for Art from Towson University’s Office of Diversity, a 2004 Poetry for the People Baltimore Legacy Award recipient, a 2013 Howard County Women’s Hall of Fame inductee and a 2018 Women’s Giving Circle Young Women Journey Camp Leadership program, “Stand Up” award recipient and a 2021 Howard County Women’s Giving Circle (S)hero nominee.
Sue Ellen Thompson’s sixth book of poetry, SEA NETTLES, was published in 2022. Her work has been included in the Best American Poetry series, read on National Public Radio many times by Garrison Keillor, and recently won a Pushcart Prize. She taught at Wesleyan University, Middlebury College, Binghamton University, and Central Connecticut State University before moving to the Eastern Shore of Maryland in 2006. She now mentors adult poets and teaches workshops at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda. She was awarded the 2010 Maryland Author Prize from the Maryland Library Association.
I have two books of poetry--Island and Living Room (prose poems)--a lyric essay memoir, My CIA; a poetry chapbook, Muse Annie; and a literary memoir, Run Scream Unbury Save. My CIA was named a top ten book of 2012 by the Review of Art, Literature, Philosophy and Humanities and added to their ongoing list of Great Nonfiction reads. It won a Baker Artist Award; was showcased on Maryland Public Television’s program, An Artworks Special; and was featured through an art installation co-produced by Maryland Institute College of Art’s MFA in Curatorial Practice in early December 2013 in Baltimore.
Benjamin Jancewicz is a Baltimore, Maryland based visual artist whose work is shown in galleries, cafes and homes around the United States and Canada. He joins a cadre of creatives pioneering the vector technique. Trained in several traditional art forms, including photography, screenprinting, sculpture and painting, Benjamin has found vector art to be a fulfilling and exciting new manifestation of his creative vision. As a vector artist, he uses the emerging form to create compelling pieces that share stories and inspire action.
Pat Valdata is fiction writer and poet. Her new novel, Eve’s Daughters, by Moonshine Cove in November 2020, won first prize in the Novel category from the Delaware Press Association. Her other novels are Crosswind and The Other Sister, which won a gold medal from the Árpád Academy of the Hungarian Association. Her poetry book about women aviation pioneers, Where No Man Can Touch, won the 2015 Donald Justice Poetry Prize. Her other poetry titles are Inherent Vice and Looking for Bivalve.
Mary Amato is the author of over 25 books for children and young adults. Her work for adults also includes poems, plays, essays, and short fiction. Amato's fiction has been translated into foreign languages, optioned for television, and produced onstage. She teaches workshops in creative writing, songwriting, and the creative process around the country and is a frequent presenter in Maryland schools. She is a former classroom teacher and also teaches a weekly online class for adults and teens who are serious about writing.
Andrea Dulanto is a Latinx queer writer. Degrees include an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Florida International University, and a B.A. in Literature and Women’s Studies from Antioch College in Ohio. They have worked as a writing instructor, freelance writer, and editor. In 2022, they were awarded a Create and Activate Now (C.A.N.) Recover Stipend from the Frederick Arts Council. Publications include Bending Genres, Entropy, FreezeRay Poetry, peculiar, SWWIM Every Day, Berkeley Poetry Review, Court Green, Sinister Wisdom and others.