Staff
Publishing Editor
Angie Ledbetter holds a B.A. in Journalism from Louisiana State University and has published both online and in print, as well as co-authored several inspirational books. Ledbtetter is a regional representative for the National Association of Women Writers and a Board Member of LSU's Readers & Writers. She is currently revising her first women's fiction manuscript and dabbles in poetry as time permits. Ledbetter loves visiting others in the blogosphere or in Twitterville.
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Publishing Editor
Kathryn Magendie is a novelist/editor living in the Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina. Her short stories, essays, poems, and nature-inspired photographs have been published in online and print publications. Magendie's novels (BelleBooks/Bell-Bridge Books) include, "The Graces Trilogy:" Tender Graces, Secret Graces, Family Graces; Sweetie, and her novella, Petey, in the anthology The Firefly Dance; she's now at work on her sixth novel. Magendie collects wild critter skulls she finds on her walks in her mountain cove at Killian Knob, interestingly-shaped bark, many many rocks and stones, birds' nests swept from trees by wild mountain winds, bone emptied of marrow and bone filled with marrow, and magic buckeye seeds. Visit her website and blog and follow her on Twitter or Facebook.
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Managing Editor, Senior Poetry Editor
Cynthia L. Toups is a graduate of Loyola University-New Orleans and holds a B.A. in History with a minor in English. Her love of music, art, and history influences her poetic themes.
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Art Director
Alaine DiBenedetto Benard studied fine art at LSU. She owns Canvas on the Rocks, offering in-home paint parties. Her publishing credits include Louisiana Literature, Tattoo Highway, The New York Quarterly, and more. Benard, known as the "silent poet," writes and paints from a dimly lit cave in Baton Rouge, LA, while she agent shops her second novel.
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Poetry Editor
Yu-Han (Eugenia) Chao was born and grew up in Taipei, Taiwan. Her poetry book, We Grow Old, was published by Backwaters Press in 2008, and her short story collection, Passport Baby, is forthcoming. She received her MFA in fiction from Penn State and currently teaches at Merced College. Feel free to visit her writing and artwork.
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Social Media Coordinator, Prose Editor, Issue Editor
Cesar Garza was Senior Poetry Editor of Rose & Thorn from 2000 to 2009. He's happy to have returned, though to the other side (prose). He holds a B.A. in English from Yale University, a certificate from the Columbia Publishing Course at Columbia University's School of Journalism, and a M.S. in Library and Information Science from the Pratt Institute in New York City. That last Degree alludes to his present employment as a Reference Librarian at the McAllen (TX) Public Library. He writes, edits, designs, acquires, guides, tweets, consumes energy drinks--and that's just at his day job.
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Prose Editor
Patresa Hartman lives in Des Moines, IA, with one dog, two cats, immeasurable clutter, and one husband. She works in public health and HIV Prevention and writes fiction and personal essays. She is an avid reader and likes characters--in both life and fiction--who are as layered and imperfect as she feels as well as stories that offer original insight into the ordinary.
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Poetry Editor, Graphics Editor
Wil Hough, one of the founding editors at Rose & Thorn, first spent a decade as NOVLPapa in the old AOL Amazing Instant Writers Group. While earning his living as a faux finishing artist specializing in Impressionist and Post Expressionists wall art, he best expresses his contrarian outlook through poetry, essays, and short stories.
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Newsletter ProducerSusan Girolami Kramer wears many hats at her job as a Communications Specialist and at home on her off-hours. She's a photographer, fiction and poetry writer, editor, and publication designer. She has won several awards during the last two decades for her photography and recently held a display at a local gallery. By day, she writes articles for an Association's newsletter; by night, she taps into her more creative writing skills. Susan lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with her husband, son, and pug, Truman.
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Interviews/Literary ReviewsAdnan Mahmutovic is a Bosnian Swede, a homely exile who teaches English literature at Stockholm University. He is the author of prize-winning Thinner than a Hair, Illegitimate, [Refuge]e, and a short film, Washing. Visit him at adnanmahmutovic.
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Poetry EditorRobin McAndrew spent her formative years on the west bank of New Orleans. She moved to Baton Rouge the summer prior to high school. Even today she swears you can take the girl out of the city but you can’t take the “yat” out of the girl! Through her work as program director at the YMCA and now as the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge’s Director for the Community School for the Arts, she has dedicated her life to making a positive difference in the lives of children.
She and her husband Bryan have an 8-year-old, four legged daughter named Maisy who is a bit spoiled and a tad too pudgy. In her spare time she enjoys reading, travel and creating memories with her lifelong friends.
Her love of writing began in the fifth grade when she won her school’s poetry contest. She says, “My writing is my voice. It speaks to others when I cannot.”
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Art AssistantStephen Craig Rowe, a lifelong fine arts painter and poet, has endeavored to create new works that honor the tradition of his chosen discipline in a responsible manner that causes some who experience the works to become inspired and thus go on and create new works that inspire others. That which he cannot express in paint or oil on canvas, he expresses in words and sometimes gets it right.
In his youth, Stephen spent much time at the Art Institute of Chicago honing his skills. Through many years of extreme painting, he was able to develop his own style and signature. Today his works are held in private and corporate collections internationally.
Stephen has worked for the finest advertising art studio in Chicago and attended the Fort Wayne Art Institute School of Fain Arts and Humanities in order to fill his "toolbox" with techniques and tricks, but formal educations was not for him. Creativity is a solitary act and cannot be taught.
He can be contacted by email and found on the web at paintingstudio and stephenspaintingstudio.
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Poetry EditorMarilyn Shapley holds a BA in English and classical studies. She is an avid and life-long lover of poetry. Her work has been published in LA Literature, Rambler, and Comstock Review. While not an officially recognized definition of poetics, she styles herself as a 'Clearist', meaning she likes her poetry clear in meaning and if one can do that without being obvious, so much the better!
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Prose Editor, Graphics Editor, Issue EditorDeb Shucka writes and works with writers and their words from her Pacific Northwest home in the country. She shares life with her teacher husband, Walt; their precocious Golden Retriever, Toby; and three geriatric cats. Currently at work on her second memoir, she holds fond memories of the first one, which sits unpublished on a shelf in a place of honor, having served its teaching and healing purpose. Come visit her at Catbird Scout or Writing the Breathings of Your Heart.
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Prose EditorJanna Qualman is one who finds inspiration in the layers of everyday life. She loves words, fiction (and the truth found within), her family, and the three C's: chocolate, coffee, and chai. You can visit and learn more at Something She Wrote.
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FounderBarbara Quinn has written four novels, including 36C, Slings and Arrows, Hardhead, and The Speed of Dark. Her short story Crab Lines was nominated for a Pushcart prize and was selected for the 2006 Best of the Net Anthology. A number of her stories are available at Sniplits.com in audio version. Writer's Digest, The Melic Review, Storyteller, and The Ledge are a few of the publications that have honored or published her short fiction. Currently, she is a freelancer doing SEO work for websites and blogs and is working on a new novel. When she is not writing, you can find her at the shore at Bradley Beach or in Montebello, NY