The Avalon Literary Review
Contributors Fall 2020
John A. Andelfinger grew up in Oakford, Pennsylvania. He studies in the English Composition and Applied Linguistics PhD program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Arcadia University, and works as the Director of Institutional Assessment & Accreditation at Holy Family University. He has taught writing at Camden County College, Drexel University, Holy Family University, and Widener University.

Ryan Collins has been a radio host, folk musician, anthropologist, film theorist, French instructor, and the butt of many jokes. Ryan received his BA in Creative Writing and his MA in French and English Literature from Miami University of Ohio. His work can also be found in The Monarch Review and soon in Evening Street Press. He lives happily with his wife and two daughters in Canal Winchester, Ohio.

Barbara Daniels’sTalk to the Lioness was published by Casa de Cinco Hermanas Press in 2020. Her poetry has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Mid-American Review, and elsewhere. She received a 2020 fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Elaine Dillof is the author of a children's book Anna and Solomon published in 2014 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux about how her grandparents came to America. She is now writing poetry and living in Mystic CT.

A native of Ireland, Ivo Drury lives along the California Coast. In 2020 his poetry has been featured in Red Eft Review, Rockvale Review and Pomona Valley Review among others.

Barb D'Souza has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Michigan and a master's degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh.  Her novel If We Were Snowflakes was published by Pearlsong Press in 2018. She has had short stories published in Children, Churches, and Daddies and The Circle. She won an award for the Pennwriters' annual short story contest and lives with her husband, daughter, and four cats near Pittsburgh, PA.

Joe Ducato is retired and lives in his hometown of Utica, New York with his wife, Cathy.   He has been writing since age 10.  He has had work published in, North Dakota Review, Lost Lake Folk Opera, and Floyd County Moonshine among others.  

Alan Feldman has been publishing poems for more than fifty years.  His most recent collection is The Golden Coin (University of Wisconsin Press, 2018).  He is married to the painter Nan Hass Feldman, who has studios in Boston and Wellfleet, MA.

J.A. Goss is from Missouri.

Rob Granader’s essays and short stories focus on the reassessments of middle age.  His work has appeared in more than 60 publications including The Washington Post, Washingtonian magazine and The New York Times.  As a journalist he covered Capitol Hill for regional papers around the country.  His stories and blogs about moving his family to London can be found at www.robgranader.com.

Carol Hamilton has recent publications in Louisiana Literature, Hawaii Pacific Review, Southwest American Literature, Birmingham Literary Journal, San Pedro River Review, Ceseara, Poetry Superhighway, Shot Glass Journal, Gyroscope, Burningwood Literary Review and has published 17 books - children's novels, legends and poetry. She is a former Poet Laureate of Oklahoma.

Marilyn Horn-Fahey is from California.

When not reading or writing poetry, Mark Katrinak enjoys fine wine and often works in his modest wood shop making small jewelry cabinets, tables, and other treasures. You can view his work here: www.poeticboxer.com
Matthew J. Kaufhold is a writer, screenwriter, and producer living outside Philadelphia, where he runs the Screenwriting & Playwriting Program at Drexel University. His most recent short film, The Sound of Waves, will be playing the festival circuit in 2021.

Ted Larsen is an author, actor, director, playwright, composer, and avid bicyclist living in Northeast Ohio. His story Only the Stones placed third in the international Aeon Award contest, and his other stories and essays have been accepted for publication by numerous other venues. He is currently working on his second novel and can be reached at TedRLarsen.com.

Jody Mason earned her B.A. in Literature-Creative Writing from UC Santa Cruz. Her essay, Crumble to the Sea won the nonfiction contest in The Climax Issue (2020) of From Whispers to Roars. She was the first prize winner of the 2019 Winning Writers Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest for her poem, Failure to Triangulate. She lives in Colorado.

Gerald A. McBreen has the unique distinction of having held three Poet Laureate positions simultaneously. City of Pacific, WA. (2009 - 2020) Auburn Morning Toastmasters. (2010 - 2014) He won the "Angels Without Wings Contest" and was awarded the title of "Senior Poet Laureate of Washington State." (2012)

For as long as he has been working, Don McMann has made his living by writing. He has written speeches, magazine articles, technical manuals. He spent time in public relations which is possibly where he developed his interest in fiction. McMann has an MFA from Bennington and a PhD in creative writing from the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David. He’s currently an assistant professor of English at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Canada.

Professor Greg Moglia holds a doctorate from NYU in Philosophy of Science Education. He is now a full-time poet writing about the foibles of mid-life dating, the challenge of aging parents, the sweetness of lovers both old and new.
Seven-time Pushcart Prize nominee Russell Rowland writes from New Hampshire’s Lakes Region, where he has judged high-school Poetry Out Loud competitions. His latest poetry book, Wooden Nutmegs, is available from Encircle Publications.

Errol Rubenstein grew up in Chicago, Illinois and spent some time on the East coast before returning to the Midwest.  He has been writing poems for many years and his work has appeared in 34th Parallel Magazine, Red River Review, Sincerely Magazine and Common Ground Review.  He currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife and two sons.

David Sapp, writer, artist and professor, lives along the southern shore of Lake Erie in North America. A Pushcart nominee, his poems appear widely in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. His publications also include chapbooks Close to Home and Two Buddha and a novel, Flying Over Erie.

Brad Shurmantine (bradshurmantine.com) lives in Napa, California, where he writes, reads, tends three gardens (sand, water, vegetable), takes care of chickens, cats, and bees, and works on that husband thing. He backpacks in the Sierras and travels when he can, and has a serious passion for George Eliot.

David Spicer has published poems in The American Poetry Review, CircleStreet, Gargoyle, Moria, Oyster River Pages, Ploughshares, Hamilton Stone Review, Santa Clara Review, The Sheepshead Review, Steam Ticket, Synaeresis, Third Wednesday, and elsewhere. He has been nominated for a Best of the Net three times and a Pushcart twice. He is author of six chapbooks and four full-length collections, the latest two being American Maniac (Hekate Publishing) and Confessional (Cyberwit.net). His fifth, Mad Sestina King, is forthcoming from FutureCycle Press. His website is www.davidspicer76.com.

Matthew J. Spireng’s 2019 Sinclair Prize-winning book Good Work was published by Evening Street Press. A 10-time Pushcart Prize nominee, he is the author of two other full-length poetry books, What Focus Is and Out of Body, winner of the 2004 Bluestem Poetry Award, and five chapbooks. His website is matthewjspireng.com.

Peter W. Yaremko is author of three non-fiction books: A Light from Within; Fat Guy in a Fat Boat; and Saints and Poets, Maybe. His novel, Billy of the Tulips, was released in 2018 by TouchPoint Press. His poetry appears in, among others, Allegro Poetry Magazine, Ariel Chart International Literary Journal, Dual Coast Magazine, Loch Raven Review, Poetry Quarterly, Scarlet Leaf Review, and Third Wednesday Literary and Arts Journal. He blogs at www.pametriverbooks.com.