Author Biographies
David Biespiel is a contributing writer at The New Republic, The New Yorker, Poetry, Politico, and Slate. He is the author of six collections of poetry, three books of nonfiction, and is the editor of two anthologies. His most recent books include: Republic Café and The Education of a Young Poet. He is Poet-in-Residence at Oregon State University, a core faculty member in the Rainier Writers Workshop MFA Program, and founder of the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters.
Sara J. Call was born and raised in the dry, crooked smile of the Snake River Valley in southeastern Idaho. She holds a BS in Natural Resources from Oregon State University, and earned her MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana in 2012. Sara was once a member of Oregon’s Black Poets society, has had poetery published in Prism: OSU’s Literary + Art Magazine, and had photos and essays appear in IDAHO Magazine and Camas: The Nature of the West. (2012).
Jennifer Li-Yen Douglass grew up in Western Massachusetts, received a BS in geology in New Orleans, and now calls Missoula, Montana home. In Missoula, she has spent time working in a preschool and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Environmental Writing at the Universith of Montana. (2012).
Jill Elliott has been published in The Sun, The Ink-Filled Page, Where the Roses Smell the Best, and on-line in the Literary Kitchen. Her essay “Robins” was included in the ten-year anthology of VoiceCatcher. She has recently completed her first novel, Never Turn Your Back on the Ocean.
Jody Gelb is an actor and author best known for her roles on Broadway in the Tony Award–winning plays Titanic, The Who’s Tommy, and Wicked, in which she also toured nationally, as well as television appearances on Law & Order and Dr. Death. This is her debut book.
Kimberly Kralowec is the author of a chapbook of love poems, We retreat into the stillness of our own bones (Tolsun Books, 2022). Her poetry appears in Parentheses, wildness, Twyckenham Notes, The Inflectionist Review, and elsewhere. A California native, she holds an English degree from Pomona College and lives in San Francisco, where she is a practicing lawyer. Find her at anapoetics.com.
Alison Towle Moore grew up in an Army family. Books and animals were her constant companions. For over twenty years she worked in nonprofits, local government and philanthropy. She holds a Master’s degree in Planning from Cornell University and an MFA in Writing from Pacific University.
Arlene Naganawa’s work appears in The Inflectionist Review, La Piccioletta Barca, Whale Road Review, Fatal Flaw, Thimble, Barnstorm, Belletrist, Crab Creek Review, Crab Orchard Review, Waxwing, Calyx, New Delta Review, Poetry on Buses, and in other publications.
Her chapbooks include Private Graveyard (Gribble Press),The Scarecrow Bride (Red Bird Chapbooks), The Ark and the Bear (Floating Bridge Press), and We Were Talking About When We Had Bodies (Ravenna Press).
Arlene has been the recipient of grants from the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture and Artist Trust and was awarded a creative residency at Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, WA, and served as a juror for the 2024 poetry residency.
Arlene has been a Writer in the Schools for Seattle Arts and lectures, instructor at Hugo House, poetry mentor and site lead for the Pongo Poetry Project at Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center, and poetry teacher at Echo Glen Children’s Center in Snoqualmie, Washington.
David Oates is general editor and founder of Kelson Books. He writes about the creative arts, nature, and urban life from Portland, Oregon.
He is author of six books of nonfiction, including The Mountains of Paris: How Awe and Wonder Rewrote My Life and Paradise Wild: Reimagining American Nature. His essays have appeared in Georgia Review, Orion, and Creative Nonfiction and won nonfiction awards and Pushcart Prize nominations. The Heron Place won the 2015 Poetry Award and publication from Swan Scythe Press (San Francisco). He teaches the Wild Writers Seminars and was Kittredge Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Montana.
Scott F. Parker is the author of A Way Home: Oregon Essays (Kelson Books, 2018) and Being on the Oregon Coast (Homebound Publications, forthcoming 2020). He is the editor of several books, including Conversations with Joan Didion and Conversations with Ken Kesey. He teaches writing at Montana State University. Find him online at scottfparker.com.
Andrew Robin is the author of Something has to happen next, which was awarded the Iowa Poetry Prize, and Good Beast, a finalist for the Oregon Book Award in poetry, both published under his former name, Andrew Michael Roberts. He is the recipient of a Poetry Society of America National Chapbook Fellowship and a distinguished teaching award from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Andrew lives with his wife Sarah on Lopez Island in Washington State.
Tina Tau is the author of four books of poetry, including The Golden Tree. She is a bookbinder, teacher, dreamworker, mother and artist, and has had more than her share of adventures. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Stephen J. West is a writer, teacher, and parent who previously lived in West Virginia.