The Avalon Literary Review
Contributors Summer 2024
Rick Adang was born in Buffalo, New York and graduated from Indiana University with a BA in Psychology and English and a Creative Writing Honors thesis. He taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently living in Estonia. He has had poems published in Paris Review, Chicago Review, Seattle Review and many other literary magazines, the latest being Willawaw Journa

Syd Bartman spent thirty-eight rewarding years teaching English, literature, and creative writing at a community college in Southern California. Now retired, she enjoys having the time to focus on her writing. Her work has appeared in Persimmon Tree.

Gary Duehr has taught creative writing for institutions including Boston University, Lesley University, and Tufts University. His MFA is from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop. Journals in which his writing has appeared include Agni, American Literary Review, Chiron Review, Cottonwood, Hawaii Review, Hotel Amerika, Iowa Review, North American Review, and Southern Poetry Review. His books include Point Blank (In Case of Emergency Press), Winter Light (Four Way Books) and Where Everyone Is Going To (St. Andrews College Press).

Robert Duffy is currently capping off a 20-year career as a technical writer and software engineering process improvement specialist at NASA Ames Research Center. His work has appeared in Black Wire Literary Magazine, Jotters United and Everyday Fiction. He currently lives with his wife in San Mateo, CA. 

Amanda Ellard is a PhD in Creative Writing candidate and writing teacher at Ohio University, as well as an editor with three literary journals. Her writing (anellard.wordpress.com) has appeared or is forthcoming across five literary journals, ebook platforms, and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage's Folklife Magazine. A multimedia artist with a background in Japanese language and culture studies, she also achieved an MA in Folklore Studies and an MFA in Creative Writing. 

Olivier Faivre is a French expatriate living in the Netherlands. A physicist by training, he is currently pursuing an MA in Creative Writing at the Open University. 

Robert Harlow resides in upstate NY. He is the author of Places Near and Far (Louisiana Literature, 2018). His poems appear in Poetry Northwest, RHINO Poetry, Tar River, Slipstream, and elsewhere - or so he has been led to believe.

Monique Harris has been a healer, a teacher, a traveler, a dancer, and a graduate MFA student of Indiana University. As a current community college teacher, she enjoys helping folks from all walks of life find their path.  Her work explores black womanhood, spirituality, and family and can be found at monique-harris.com

Toby Tucker Hecht is a writer and scientist who lives and works in Bethesda, Maryland. A native New Yorker with a rather traditional life, she writes fiction to explore more exciting lives than her own. She is now working on a collection of short stories, and a series of linked short stories. To read more of her fiction for free, go to https://tobythecht.substack.com

James Croal Jackson is a Filipino-American poet who works in film production. His latest chapbooks are A God You Believed In (Pinhole Poetry, 2023) and Count Seeds With Me (Ethel Zine & Micro-Press, 2022). Recent poems are in Ghost City Review, Little Patuxent Review, and Pirene’s Fountain. He edits The Mantle Poetry from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (jamescroaljackson.com)

Hannah Katerina is a writer based between Palermo and Istanbul. 

John Kucera is a poet based in Arizona. His previous work has appeared in New Reader Magazine, Friends Journal, Connections Magazine and Rattle.

Ryan S. Leavitt is an author, writing fiction with philosophical undertones. His latest book, Semantic Hygiene: Songs of Mirth & Menace is a multimedia collection of music from his bands. He lives in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Juan Pablo Mobili was born in Argentina and adopted by New York. His poems appeared in Tupelo Quarterly and Hanging Loose Magazine, among others within United States, as well as many international journals. He received several nominations for the Pushcart Prize, and his chapbook, Contraband, was published in 2022. He’s also a Guest Editor for The Banyan Review.

Greg Moglia’s poems have been published in over 380 journals in 10 countries. He is an eleven time winner of an Allan Ginsberg Poetry Award. His third book of poems is from Cherry Grove Collections - The Love from Nowhere.

Until recently, Meg D. Newman, MD’s published writing was all medical. She spent decades caring for people living with HIV/AIDS in SF until serious illness interrupted her. Now, she’s writing a collection of essays and short stories. Her essay, Excerpt from a Memoir was published in The Healing Art of Writing: V1 (Baranow). She now lives in NH with her wife and cats Mango and Moonlight.

Sam Rafferty is a Georgia native whose writing often explores the experiences of women, particularly women in the South. Her stories are published or forthcoming in Motherscope, The Sunlight Press, and The Whisky Blot.

David Sapp, writer, artist, and professor, is a Pushcart nominee. His work appears widely in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. His publications include chapbooks Close to Home and Two Buddha, a novel Flying Over Erie, and a book of poems and drawings titled Drawing Nirvana.

Kayla Simon is a poet and photographer currently based in Boston. She graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2023, where she majored in English with a concentration in creative writing and double minored in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Communication. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in New Square, Grub Street, Long River Review, Red Cedar Review, and Apricity Press. When she isn’t writing (www.kaylasimon.com) or reading, you can find her taking photos for her photography business (www.kaylasimonphotos.com) or looking at the stars.

Matthew J. Spireng’s 2019 Sinclair Poetry Prize-winning book Good Work was published by Evening Street Press. A 12-time Pushcart Prize nominee, he is the author of two other full-length books, What Focus Is and Out of Body, winner of the 2004 Bluestem Poetry Award, and five chapbooks. Website: matthewjspireng.com.

Albin Tarry lives and works in Asheville, NC.  His work has previously appeared in the literary magazine Oasis.
Frederick Wilbur lives with his family in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. His poetry collections are As Pus Floats the Splinter Out and Conjugation of Perhaps. His writing appears in numerous literary reviews and four nonfiction books. He was awarded the Midwest Quarterly’s Stephen Meats Poetry Prize (2018.) He is poetry co-editor and blogger for Streetlight Magazine.

W. Roger Carlisle is a 78-year-old, semi-retired physician. He currently volunteers and works in a free medical clinic for patients living in poverty. He is on a journey of returning home to better understand himself through poetry. He hopes he is becoming more humble in the process.