Magnolia

Roy Bentley poems have appeared in several publications. His latest chapbook, The Idiot’s Guide to the Afterlife, is due out shortly. This year, he was awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship in poetry by the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. A recent book (The Trouble with a Short Horse in Montana) won the White Pine poetry prize and was published by White Pine Press in 2006.

Fredrick Zydek is the author of eight collections of poetry. Formerly a professor of creative writing and theology at the University of Nebraska and later at the College of Saint Mary, he is now a gentleman farmer when he isn’t writing. He is the editor for Lone Willow Press. He is the recipient of the Hart Crane Poetry Award, the Sarah Foley O'Loughlen Literary Award and others.

Lynn Strongin, born New York City, 1939, has lived in Canada the past thirty years but considers herself primarily an American poet. Her SPECTRAL FREEDOM: Selected Poetry, Prose & Criticism has just been recommended to the Pulitzer Prize Committee for nomination for the Pulitzer Prize in Letters. Her latest books are CAPE SEVENTY (Poems on turning 70) and STAR QUILT, a love-story. Forthcoming this autumn are COBALT HORSE and INDIGO: A Poet's Memoir.

Michael Hettich has published a number of books and chapbooks, most recently Many Loves, which won the 2007 Yellowjacket Press Chapbook prize. His most recent books are Swimmer Dreams and Flock and Shadow: New and Selected Poems, published in 2005. The poems featured in this issue of Magnolia are from a new book, Like Happiness, forthcoming in 2010 from Anhinga Press.

Chad Prevost is author of the collections A Walking Cliché Coins a Phrase: Prose Poems, Letters and Microfictions (Plain View 2008), and Snapshots of the Perishing World (Cherry Grove 2006), and the chapbook Chasing the Gods (Pudding House 2007). Chad’s work has been included in several recent anthologies, and has served in various editorial capacities. Chad has taught creative writing, composition and literature at Georgia State University, Georgia Perimeter College, Lee University and Dalton State College. He is Editor of C&R Press.

David Nixon started the creative writing program at Palm Beach Community College and has reviewed for several SF fan and trade magazines. He continues to conduct creative writing workshops on the Boca Raton campus and has shaped composition theory on panels touring cities from Boston to San Antonio. His most recent poem, “Corn,” appeared in the Spring 2009 issue of Cold Mountain Review.

Eric D. Lehman is a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut and has previously published reviews, essays, fiction, and poetry in journals such as Red River Review, ken*again, Entelechy, Switchback, and here at Magnolia. His first book, Bridgeport: Tales From the Park City, has been published by The History Press, and his second, Hamden: Tales From the Sleeping Giant will be available in Spring 2010.

Sandy Scott is the assistant editor of Magnolia, continuing her fine work after several years at Artistry of Life. A recent graduate of St. Leo University.Sandy is the Coordinator of the Office of Professional Development at Central Florida Community College. She serves as line editor for the magazine as well as the graphics arts/artwork editor.

Scott Brennan, a visual artist as well as a poet, lives in Miami, Florida. Recent work has appeared in The Gettysburg Review, Sewanee Review, The Literary Review, Notre Dame Review, Chicago Review, and The Carolina Quarterly

James Aubright lived the life of a military brat during his early years. Being something he was proud of, he chose to serve in the military himself. From the time he received his first camera as a gift from his mother at the age of ten, he has been aiming to capture the world in a way many fail to see or simply overlook. Furthermore, with his photographs he hopes to inspire others to seek, observe, and capture the naturally beautiful wonders in life that leave you in total awe and amazement; they’re all around you everyday.

Michele Wirt has been a part of the visual arts faculty at CFCC since 1990. She is a figure and portrait painter with influences from jazz, Asian art and American realists and is exploring the field of digital media. She has exhibited locally as well as in Harlem, N.Y., and Florence, Italy

Pat Allen, photographer, Though she currently works as a full-time costumer for a community theater, from early in life she loved literature, the idea of writing, and the attempt to catch something special in photographs. Some of her pictures and a poem or two appeared in the online magazine "Artistry of Life."

Christopher Woods: “I have published a prose collection, Under a Riverbed Sky, and a collection of stage monologues for actors, Heart Speak. Other photographs of mine can be seen in my online gallery, Moonbird Hill Arts, which I share with my wife, Linda. I live in Houston and in Chappell Hill, Texas.”

John Martino: “Believing that photography is a means to transform the world, not reproduce it, I aim to create images that function as works of fiction that suggest and entertain rather than document or confirm. My photos have appeared in Photographer's Forum, The Advocate, New Orleans Review, and can be found at www.johnmartinophoto.com.

Stephanie Colaianni is a graduate of Palm Beach Community College, where she contributed photography and prose for their newspaper, The Beachcomber She currently attends Florida Atlantic University and works as photo editor of the University Press.

Dan McGavin studied drawing, painting, and print-making at Oxbow Summer School for the Arts, part of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he has had works displayed and selected for auction. Dan studied photography with internationally noted photographer, Jack Wild, at the Boca Raton Art Museum School in Boca Raton, Florida, where he is currently enrolled in the Masters class. 

Michele Wirt has been a part of the visual arts faculty at CFCC since 1990. Her Master in Fine Arts is from the University of Florida with a dual emphasis in Studio and Art History. She is a figure and portrait painter with influences from jazz, Asian art and American realists and is exploring the field of digital media.

Eric D. Lehman is a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. His first book, Bridgeport: Tales From the Park City, has been published by The History Press, and his second, Hamden: Tales From the Sleeping Giant will be available in Spring 2010.

Ramona RW Kirsch is a first generation American who, as a Bohemian, has lived all over the United States, in Europe and now travels the world for both business and pleasure. She has published poetry, prose, and academic articles.