Kristin Abraham, Morgantown, WV, is an MFA candidate at West Virginia University. Her poem, “Little Red Riding Hood Missed the Bus” was selected for The Best New Poets 2005 and her poetry, lyrical essays, and critical essays have been published in such places as Delmar, Elixir, Harpur Palate, ReviewRevue, Spout, and Phoebe. She also has work forthcoming in Chance of a Ghost, a poetry anthology through Helicon Nine Editions.
Demrie Margo Alonzo, Hayward, CA, has lived in Northern California, Oregon, Alaska, and Wisconsin. Her short stories have appeared in Sapphic Ink, Prairie Dyke, Bellowing Ark: A Literary Tabloid, Amelia, Happy, Iconoclast, and in issues 3 & 6 of Gertrude.

Adam K. Boehmer, Ferndale, MI, grew up in the south, studying Creative Writing and Studio Art at the University of Central Florida. His work is forthcoming in the anthology, Full Spectrum, which will be released in Spring 2006 by Knopf Press. He also teaches Traditional Jazz Dance in Cleveland.

Terri Brown-Davidson, Lincoln, NE, has published fiction and poetry in hundreds of journals.  She is the author of the novel Marie, Marie: Hold on Tight (Lit Pot Press), The Doll Artist's Daughter (White Eagle Coffee Store Press), The Carrington Monologues (Lit Pot Press), and the chapbook Rag Men, which won The Ledge Competition. She has taught at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the College of Saint Mary, and a variety of colleges in California.  Terri holds a B.A. and M.A. in English from San Jose State University, an M.F.A. in Poetry from Vermont College, and a PhD in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

David Christensen, San Francisco, CA, is a writer and pianist. His work appears in I Do/I Don’t: Queers on Marriage and the forthcoming Sodom & Me: Queers on Fundamentalism, both published by Suspect Thoughts.

Edward M. Cohen, West Park, NY, has had stories published by a number of journals including Harrington Gay Men’s Fiction Quarterly, James White Review, Evergreen Chronicles, Amethyst, Stories, Christopher Street, A.U. Review, Urban Graffiti, Thought, Prima Materia, Confrontation, and Art Times. His work is anthologized in FOUND TRIBE: Jewish Coming Out Stories, published by Sherman Asher, and MENTSH, recently released by Alyson.

Andrea Cumbo Dowdy, San Francisco, CA, earned her MFA in Creative Writing (Creative Non Fiction) at Antioch University Los Angeles. She teaches college writing. She is currently working on a book that parallels her family history with the history of slaves who lived on the Virginia plantation where she was raised.

Catherine Daly, Los Angeles, CA, has had poetry and chapbooks published by various literary magazines and online journals. DaDaDa, a trilogy of her poetry, was published by SALT Publishing in 2003. Tupelo Press also published a book of her love poems, Locket, in April of this year.

Laura Puryear Finnell, Shelton, WA, received her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles in December 2004. She teaches writing at South Puget Sound Community College and online poetry workshops through Inberry.org. Her work has appeared in several print and online journals and she is the recipient of the 2005 Banyan Review Poetry Competition First Prize as well as the 2004 Cambium Arts Award in Poetry.

Lucia Galloway, Claremont, CA, earned her M.A. in English from U.C. Berkeley and her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch Los Angeles.  Her poems have appeared in Columbia Poetry Review, Cumberland Poetry Review, Flyway, The Crimson Crane, Full Circle, The Lyric, Poetry Midwest, and Spillway, among others.  A chapbook of her poems, Playing Outside, is forthcoming in October 2005 (Finishing Lines Press).  Lucia teaches for the Center for Talented Youth Distance Writing Program of Johns Hopkins.

Gertrude Halstead, Worcester, MA, was born in Germany in 1916. She lived in France during the Occupation and escaped an interment camp with the help of the Resistance by forging her own papers. She currently resides in Worcester, MA where she is a member of John Hodgen’s writing workshop. Her work has appeared in Sahara and Diner in which she was a featured poet and VOX.

Kenney Mencher, (1, 2) Fremont, CA, is originally from New York, NY. He earned a BA and MA in Art History from City University in New York and University of California, Davis, following which he obtained an MFA in painting from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. He has taught at a number of institutions including the University of Chicago and Texas A&M University, and now teaches at Ohlone College in Fremont, California. He is the author of a text book, Liaisons: Reading in Art, Literature and Philosophy. His exposure via solo and group exhibitions is nationwide. More of his work can be found on his website: www.kenney-mencher.com.

Michael Montlack, New York, NY, has had work appear in The New York Quarterly, Christopher Street, New York Native, Skidrow Penthouse, Lodestar Quarterly, Mudfish, In the Family, and Bay Windows. This spring he was awarded a University of Connecticut Soul Mountain Retreat Fellowship to complete his book: Liz Taylor in Levittown. He was a semi-finalist for the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center’s Winter 2005 Fellowship. He received his MFA this year at New School in New York City, where he teaches full time at Berkeley College.

B.Z. Niditch, Brookline, MA, is a poet, playwright, and fiction writer, as well as the Artistic Director of “The Original Theatre” in Boston. His work has appeared in Columbia: A Magazine of Poetry and Art, The Literary Review, Denver Quarterly, Hawaii Review, Le Guepard (France), Kadmos (France), Prism International, Jejune (Czech Republic), Leopold Bloom (Budapest), Antioch Review, Prairie Schooner, and issue 7 of Gertrude.

William Reichard, Saint Paul, MN, is the author of three collections of poetry: An Alchemy in the Bones (1999); How To (2004); and This Brightness (forthcoming). He is the editor of The Evening Crowd at Kirmser’s: A Gay Life in the 1940’s (2001).

Elizabeth Simson, Ventura, CA, is a displaced Portlander. Her poetry has appeared in a number of journals including BorderSenses, The Curbside Review, Common Ground Review and issue 7 of Gertrude. Poetry is forthcoming in Nomad’s Choir and Hard Row to Hoe.

Scott Wiggerman, Austin, TX, has published one full-length poetry book, Vegetables and Other Relationships (Plain View Press, 2000). His work has been published in dozens of journals including the Peterson Literary Review, Illya’s Honey, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Midwest Poetry Review, Spillway, New Texas, and issue 4 of Gertrude. In addition, he is one of the founding editors of Dos Gatos Press, which will take over publication of the Texas Poetry Calendar.

D’Anne Witkowski, Ferndale, MI, has been writing poetry since the eighth grade, though she would like to think both her poetry and her hair have improved significantly since then. She is a graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy and lives in Ferndale Michigan with one woman and one cat.