Author Archives: Content Editor

‍Poet, performance artist, and photographer Jennifer Hasegawa grew up in Hilo, Hawai’i and lives in San Francisco, California. The manuscript for her debut poetry collection La Chica’s Field Guide to Banzai Living (2020) received the San Francisco Foundation’s Joseph Henry Jackson Literary Award and the collection itself was longlisted for The Believer Book Award in Poetry. In aContinue reading “Jennifer Hasegawa”

‍Jenny Qi is the author of Focal Point, winner of the 2020 Steel Toe Books Poetry Award. Her essays and poems have been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and elsewhere, and she has received fellowships and support from Tin House, Omnidawn, Kearny Street Workshop, and the San Francisco Writers Grotto. Born in Pennsylvania to Chinese immigrants, sheContinue reading “Jenny Qi”

‍Jason Bayani is the author of Locus (Omnidawn Publishing 2019) and Amulet (Write Bloody Publishing 2013). He’s an MFA graduate from Saint Mary’s College, a Kundiman fellow, and works as the artistic director for Kearny Street Workshop, the oldest multi-disciplinary Asian Pacific American arts organization in the country. His publishing credits include World Literature Today, BOAAT Journal,Continue reading “Jason Bayani”

‍Josiah Luis Alderete is a full blooded Pocho, Spanglish speaking poeta who has been an active part of la Area Bahia’s spoken word scene for over twenty years. He was a founding member of outspoken word group “The Molotov Mouths” and is the curator and host of the long running monthly Chicano/Latinx reading series Speaking Axolotl which happensContinue reading “Josiah Luis Alderete”

Venus Jones is a message mentor and helps emerging sheroes find their signature stories through the power of poetry and the healing arts. She felt abandoned by her own birth mother at the age of two, before a woman named Rose helped her rise. Thanks to the kindness of a stranger, faith in a higherContinue reading “Venus Jones”

Tureeda Mikell a.k.a. Toreadah—Story Medicine Woman, Poet Instructor, Chi Gong Energy Therapist, award-winning poet, educator—is director of Tree of Life Health Literacy Project, published nationally and internationally, published over 60 at risk student anthologies throughout 4 counties in the San Francisco bay area, was Eth-Noh-Tec NU Wa International Storytelling Delegate in Beijing, China, October 2018,Continue reading “Tureeda Mikell”

Dr. Melinda Luisa de Jesús is Chair and Associate Professor of Diversity Studies at California College of the Arts. She writes and teaches about Asian American cultural production, girl culture, monsters, and race/ethnicity in the United States. She will be on sabbatical in 2018-2019. She was recently awarded the 2018-2019 Muriel Gold Senior Visiting Professorship at theContinue reading “Melinda Luisa de Jesús”

MK Chavez is the award-winning author of Mothermorphosis, Dear Animal, Virgin Eyes, and a Brief History Of The Selfie. Chavez has received fellowships from Hedgebrook, CantoMundo, Squaw Valley Writers Workshop, Caldera. VONA, North Street Collective Residence Program, Real Time & Space Elevate Residency, and Napa Valley Writers Workshop. She is co-founder/curator of the reading seriesContinue reading “MK Chavez”

Natasha Dennerstein was born in Melbourne, Australia, to a family originating in Belarus. She worked as a psychiatric nurse for many years, which gave her an interesting perspective on the human condition. Natasha studied creative writing at Whitireia polytechnic in New Zealand and went on to take her Masters in creative writing from the InternationalContinue reading “Natasha Dennerstein”