Angela Howe-Decker has lived in Ashland since 2004. Her poems have been published in the Comstock Review, Hip Mama, The Wisconsin Review, The Carquinez Review, Red Rock Review, and Blue Arc West: An Anthology of California poets. One of her poems is this person's 1076th favorite. She has been awarded prizes for her poems, such as a first-place award in the 2004 Ina Coolbrith Circle poetry contest, and recently had the pleasure of serving as a judge for the Oregon State Poetry Association Fall contest. When her her two energetic young boys are asleep, she writes for the Ashland Daily Tidings newspaper. [sample poem]

Robert Hoppensteadt's poems have appeared in several poetry journals, and his novel, Into Wild Places, an adventure set in post-apocalyptic San Francisco, is available from Amazon.com, Borders.com, BarnesandNoble.com, etc. [sample poem]

Amy MacLennan has been published in Cimarron Review, Folio, Rattle, South Dakota Review, Wisconsin Review, and Gingko Tree Review. One of her poems was included in So Luminous the Wildflowers, An Anthology of California Poets (Tebot Bach), and her flash fiction has appeared online in The Big Ugly Review. [sample poem]

Amy Miller has won the Kay Snow Writing Award, the Whiskey Island Poetry Prize, and the Grand Prize at the Poets' Dinner. Her poetry, essays, and fiction have appeared in Alehouse, Apalachee Review, Asimov's Science Fiction, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, ByLine, The Carquinez Review, Convergence, Crab Orchard Review, Cranky Literary Journal, Faultline, Fourteen Hills, Northwest Review, The Oregonian, Poetalk, Rattapallax, Rattle, Red Wheelbarrow, the Sand Hill Review, Spillway, Tattoo Highway, West Wind Review, Whiskey Island, and ZYZZYVA. Her latest chapbooks are The Stablehand's Report and The Mechanics of the Rescue. She lives in Ashland, Oregon, where she works as a trivia-book editor and lives with three large but inspirational cats. [sample poem]

Susan Aaronson has been writing poetry for several years, first as an outlet from her job as a producer at a San Francisco ad agency, and later just because she couldn’t stop. Her essays can be found in issues of the Ashland Daily Tidings. Susan lives in Ashland, OR, with her husband and two daughters.

Charlene Akers has had poems published in Thin Air, Poetry Motel, Baker Street Irregular #5 and Baker Street #6, Free Focus, and Plastic Tower. In addition to her poetry, Charlene writes non-fiction, and has published books such as Obesity, Open to the Public, First & Foremost, and Never Buy Anything New (Except This Book). She has also contributed to other non-fiction books, such as an introduction to 920 O'Farrell Street by Harriet Lane Levy. Charlene lives in San Francisco with her husband and two dogs.

Stacey Hamilton Klausner has had poetry and fiction published in The Santa Cruz Spectacle, Letters to Sven and Deviance (all of which are now defunct, though it is not entirely her fault.) She has also written numerous humorous essays and non-fiction articles for a variety of trade show industry publications. Stacey reads regularly, mainly to her son, Logan. [sample poem]

Lisa Ortiz has had poems appear in The Comstock Review, Sand Hill Review, Literary Mama and Zyzzyva. She has been a featured reader at Art 21 in Palo Alto and Writers with Drinks in San Francisco. She lives in La Honda.
horse. [sample poem]

Gene Paré has received the Marjorie M. Follendorf, Anne Lillis, and Phelan Awards for poetry and prose, and while earning his Masters in English at San Jose State University, he won the Mara Steffey Award for his play, Waiting for Godiva. Paré has been a featured reader in a number of coffee houses and clubs as far south as Leucadia and locally at the Ajax Lounge, the Phoenix, the Not-Yet Dead Poets' Society and Matisse, and on radio station KKUP. Gene has been published in Reed Magazine, Caveat Lector, The Montserrat Review, Amelia, 360 Degrees Art & Literary Review, and others. His book of poetry and prose, Falling Into Blue, is available at Kepler's and online booksellers such as Amazon.com. [sample poem]