About Us

Joshua McKinney is the author of three collections of poetry:  Saunter, co-winner of the University of Georgia Press Poetry Series Open Competition in 2001, and The Novice Mourner, winner of the Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize in 2005, and Mad Cursive (Wordcraft of Oregon 2012).  He is also the author of two poetry chapbooks:  Saunter (Primitive Publications, 1998) and Permutations of the Gallery (Pavement Saw Press, 1996), winner of the Pavement Saw Chapbook Contest.  Other awards include The Dickinson Poetry Prize and a Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative American Poetry.  His work has appeared widely in such journals as American Letters and Commentary Boulevard, Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, Kenyon Review, New American Writing, and many others.  He serves as co-editor of Clade Song, an online ecopoetics journal.  He teaches poetry writing and literature at California State University, Sacramento.

Christine Kitano is the author of the poetry collections Sky Country and Birds of Paradise, and co-author of the oral history collection Who You: The Issei. She is an assistant professor at Ithaca College where she teaches courses in creative writing, poetry, and Asian American literature.

Alycia Pirmohamed is a Canadian-born poet living in Scotland, where she is studying figurations of homeland in poetry written by second-generation immigrants. Her own writing is an exploration of what it means to be the daughter of immigrants; it grapples with language loss, cultural identity, and negotiations of displacement and belonging. Alycia has attended residencies and workshops with the VONA/Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundations and the Folk Research Centre in St. Lucia. She is the Creative Writing and Reviews editor at HARTS & Minds, a peer-reviewer for FORUM Postgraduate Journal of Culture & the Arts, and a co-editor the multilingual publication, The Polyglot. Alycia received an M.F.A. from the University of Oregon.

Michaela Erwin is a student, poet, and all-around writer. She received her B.A. in English at California State University, Sacramento and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Creative Writing. Some on campus may recognize her as an Assistant Coordinator and Tutor for the University Writing Center. She has received a Bazzanella Literary Award in Poetry and her work has been featured in the university’s student literary journal Calaveras Station.

Quynh Tran currently works at the Office of Legislative Counsel while completing her B.A. in English with a minor in Human Resources Management at California State University, Sacramento. Outside of the classroom, she tutors at the University Writing Center, composing critical analysis reports, and designing and conducting research projects. Currently, she is working with different genres and styles on the concepts of cultural identity and family. In 2018, Quynh was published in magazine Calaveras Station Journal and received the Bazzanella Literary Award in Poetry for her poem “Possession.”

Maxima Kahn is a writer, teacher and creativity coach, who has helped hundreds of artists of all kinds free themselves from creative blocks and start living their heart’s dreams. Her writing has appeared in numerous literary journals. As a graphic designer, she has specialized in print design for artists and arts organizations, creating book covers, CD covers, brochures, posters and postcards, and more. A sample of her design portfolio can be found at guru.com/freelancers/museworks. To learn more about her creativity teaching and read her blog, visit BrilliantPlayground.com.

Carmela Yeseta is currently a student at San Jose State University. Her art and writing have been published in the Sierra Journal, and her illustrations have been featured at the Ridley Gallery Juried Student Exhibition and the Sierra College Feminist Art Show.