Amy Haddad is a poet, nurse and educator who taught in the health sciences at Creighton University where she is now a Professor Emerita.

     Her poetry and short stories have been published in numerous journals including Janus Head, Journal of Medical Humanities, Touch, Bellevue Literary Review, Pulse, Persimmon Tree, Annals of Internal Medicine, Aji Magazine, DASH, Oberon Poetry Magazine, and Rogue Agent.

     Her first chapbook, “The Geography of Kitchens” was published by Finishing Line Press in August, 2021. Her first poetry collection, “An Otherwise Healthy Woman,” was published by Backwaters Press, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press in March,  2022. The collection won first place in the Creative Works category of the American Journal of Nursing 2022 Books of the Year Awards.

Erica Reid is a Colorado poet, editor, educator, and critic. Her debut poetry collection "Ghost Man on Second" won the 2023 Donald Justice Poetry Prize and will be published by Autumn House Press in spring of 2024.

     Erica has taught writing workshops through Hudson Valley Writers Center, Western Colorado University, Twenty Bellows Lit, The Movement Apothecary, the Founded in FoCo conference, and more.

     Erica’s poems appear or are forthcoming in Rattle, Birmingham Poetry Review, The Inflectionist Review, The MacGuffin, Santa Fe Literary Review, Broadsided Press, and more. ericareidpoet.com

Lin Marshall Brummels earned a BS in Psychology from the University of Nebraska and a MS in Rehabilitation Counseling from Syracuse University. She’s a licensed Nebraska counselor in private practice after retiring from nearly forty years as director of counseling at Wayne State College. 

     Brummels has published poems in Poet Lore, San Pedro River Review, Concho River Review, Oakwood, Plainsong, Nebraska Life, and others. Her chapbooks published by Finishing Line Press are “Cottonwood Strong” and “Hard Times,” a 2016 Nebraska Book Award winner. Her book of poetry, “A Quilted Landscape,” was published by Scurfpea Publishing.

Barbara Schmitz taught writing and literature at Northeast College for thirty years and initiated and ran the Visiting Writer Series there as well as edited the student magazine Voices From Out of Nowhere.

     Two of her books have won the Poetry Award from Nebraska Center for the book and she is a recipient of an Individual Artist Award from the Nebraska Arts Council. She had two poems selected for American Life in Poetry, newspaper column initiated by Ted Kooser, and one, “Uniforms” was also performed in the nude (by an acting troupe) during the Omaha Writing Festival.

     She studied with John Neihardt, William Stafford and was an apprentice to Allen Ginsberg, helping him assemble his notebooks. She is the Poet of Highway 81 where she lives with husband Bob (What Bob Says—Some More) writing to the sighing and whizzing of the traffic for over half her life. Latest Book: "Sundown at Faith Regional" Pinyon Publishing.

Rita Paskowitz writes, tells and coaches stories that sometimes even surprise her. They may come out as poetry or prose--it's always a crapshoot. She just loves words. Putting them together. Saying them out loud. And helping others do the same.

     From TEDx Omaha presenters to the staff and Board Members at No More Empty Pots, Rita continues to live her dream of bringing people's stories to life.

Stephanie A. Marcellus is a professor of English at Wayne State College and chair of the Department of Language and Literature. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Colorado State University and a PhD in Nineteenth-Century British Literature from The University of South Dakota.

     A Nebraska native, she enjoys writing about rural landscapes, the family homeplace, and the rich stories of the past. She lives in Wayne, Nebraska with her husband, Shawn.

  Her work has appeared in Plainsongs, Nebraska Life, Three Drops from a Cauldron, Alligator Juniper as well as in other journals and anthologies. Her chapbook, "What Is Left Behind: Garden Elegies," was published by Finishing Line Press.  

Charlene Pierce founded the Nebraska Poetry Society, a non-profit organization, to make poetry accessible to all. It is an essential mission to her as one with a disability who overcame poverty.

     Her poetry has appeared in Page and Spine, BlazeVOX, Literary Yard, and the Nebraska anthologies "How it Looks from Here," "Voices of the Plains," and "Misbehaving Nebraskans." She wrote and published "The Poet’s Journal: A Beginner’s Workbook for Writing Poetry."

     By day, she is a freelance writer appearing on websites and blogs across the country and Women’s Edition Magazine.

Brandy Prettyman is the author of "Forbidden Fruit: Poems of Love, Loss, Hope, and Regret".

A professional jack-of-all-trades, she earned a Bachelor in Business Administration and has spent the last decade (maybe it’s longer, but let’s not make this awkward) writing poetry that explores the dark emotions we face when confronted by our own morality and mortality.

     Brandy lives in Papillion, Nebraska, and like to spend her spare time traveling the world with her trusty four-legged sidekick Mary Puppins. Most days she can be found drinking a large latte at her desk, frantically writing her thoughts down in verse before they disappear.

Julie Haase is a freelance editor and writer, the Business and Publishing Manager for The Writer’s Ally, an editing and publishing services company.      Julie has published in various Nebraska anthologies and The First Line as well as self-published a guide for narrative writers called "Tips & Tricks for Great (Narrative) Writing." Julie lives in Omaha and is a proud cat mama.

Shyla Shehan (she/her) is an analytical Virgo from the US Midwest. She received an MFA from the University of Nebraska where she was awarded an Academy of American Poets Prize.

     Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Naugatuck River Review, Midwest Quarterly, Drunk Monkeys, The Decadent Review, and elsewhere, and she was nominated for a Pushcart in 2022. Her debut poetry collection, "Unsuspecting Cinderella," was released by Finishing Line Press in 2022.

     Shyla is an editor for The Good Life Review and lives in Omaha with her partner, children, and three cats. Her full bio and an account of her published work are available at shylashehan.com.

Chad M. Christensen is the managing editor of the WSC Press, director of the Plains Writers Series, and an associate professor at Wayne State College, where he teaches publishing and creative writing.

     His books of lo-fi poetry are "Ground Bound" and "Shoot from the Hip" (Pseudo Poseur Productions), and his latest poems have appeared in Sugar House Review and Plainsong. He also writes a column for The Big Smoke called “Boy with Shovel.”

Michael Catherwood's awards include a Nebraska Arts Council Grant, Pushcart Nomination, The Holt Prize for Poetry, and Finalist for the Ruth Lily Prize.

     His newest book is, "Near Misses," from WSC Press. His previous books are "Dare," "If You Turned Around Quickly," and "Projector" from Stephen F. Austin Press. He is former editor at The Backwaters Press and has been Associate Editor at Plainsongs since 1995.

     Recent poems have appeared in The Common, Pennsylvania English, I-70 Review, and Common Ground Review.  He’s a cancer survivor is recently retired and lives in Omaha with his wife Cindy.

J. V. Brummels is a poet, novelist, short-story writer, editor and rancher.  His collection, "Book of Grass" was awarded the 2008 Nebraska Book Award for Poetry and his collection "Cheyenne Line and Other Poems" was selected as one of 150 significant books by Nebraskans.

     His other collections include "City at War" and most recently "All the Live-Long Day." His work has been recognized with a Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Elkhorn Prize and the Mildred Bennett Award for contributions to the state’s literature from the Nebraska Center for the Book.  
     J.V. recently retired after a long tenure at Wayne State College, he was also the publisher of Logan House and the founding editor of the WSC Press.

Angela Sievers is a farmwife, mom, and owns a house painting business. A lifetime ago, she received a bachelor’s degree in English Writing from Wayne State College. 

     Born and raised in the farmland of northeast Nebraska, she also spent years living in the suburbs of Chicago and St. Louis. Angela enjoys baking, woodworking, gardening, creating, and finding just the right word. She started writing poetry in 2017, using it to heal from several years of domestic violence.

     Her poetry has been published in Nebraska Life magazine and most recently in her very own chapbook, "Fencelines," by The Poetry Box, Portland, OR.

Bonnie Johnson-Bartee is the author of two chapbooks of poetry, "Bildungsroman 38" (2004) and "Named, but Unknown" (2006), and is the editor of Teachers College: Essays on the Art of Education (WSC Press, 2007), and her latest book, "Cord Blood" (Sandhills Press 2022) won a 2023 Nebraska Book Award. Her work can be found in Nebraska Life, Words Like Rain (WSC Press, 2005) and editions of Voices Out of Nowhere and Judas Goat. 

     She teaches creative writing and literature courses at Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska, and at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Nebraska, where she also serves as the coordinator of the Visiting Writers Series and is the faculty editor of Northeast Community College’s annual Voices Out of Nowhere.

Neil Harrison’s poetry collections include "In a River of Wind," "Into the River Canyon at Dusk," "Back in the Animal Kingdom," and "Where the Waters Take You."

     His new and selected poems, "For the Love of God" (Stephen F. Austin State University Press, 2023), concerns life with the canine companions he shared over forty years of adventures with, from the Sandhills and the Pine Ridge, to the Platte, Loup, Niobrara, and Elkhorn River courses.

Becky Zavada has a PhD in Philosophy from The University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her philosophical research interests include philosophy of science/social science, metaphysics, political philosophy, ethics, and feminism.

     She has completed graduate work in English. Her research interests in English include literary criticism, creative writing, and the Romantic period. She currently teaches philosophy and English at Wayne State College.