Author Bios: 2014 – Vol. 2

Martin BennettMartin Bennett lives in Rome where he teaches and proofreads at the University of Tor Vergata while contributing occasional articles to Wanted in Rome. Previously he taught in West Africa and the Middle East. He was 2013 winner of the John Clare poetry prize.

 

 

Anna CabeAnna Cabe came to Indonesia from her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, through the Fulbright Program in 2013 and has since stuck around to continue teaching English. She is a 2013 graduate of Agnes Scott College with a B.A. in English literature and creative writing, where she won the Robert Frost Prize in Creative Writing. A winner of the creative nonfiction category in the Agnes Scott Writers' Festival Contest, she has also been published in Mangrove. You can find her writing about Indonesia on indonesiaful.com and her personal blog, sojournerinsumatra.wordpress.com. 

Roger ElkinRoger Elkin's poetry has won over 200 Prizes and Awards internationally (45 Firsts), including the Sylvia Plath Award for Poems about Women. His 11 collections include Blood Brothers, (2006); No Laughing Matter (2007); Dog’s Eye View (2009); Fixing Things (2011); Marking Time (2013); and Chance Meetings (2014). Editor of Envoi (1991-2006), he was the first recipient of the Howard Sergeant Memorial Award for Services to Poetry. A published critic on Ted Hughes, Roger tutored at Wedgwood College, Barlaston, and was shortlisted for the Strokestown International Poetry Prize (2004).  He is available for readings, workshops and poetry competition adjudication.

Edward GoodellEd Goodell is a teacher of English and Journalism in Jakarta, Indonesia. Ed has worked as a page designer and editor at several daily newspapers, including The Missourian, The San Diego Union-Tribune and The Olympian. His short story "A New Appreciation for Mountain Climbers" comprises portions of the soon-to-be-finalized novel A Rainbow at Night. When not in Jakarta, Ed makes his home in Olympia, Washington, with his wife and son. 

Jessica GoodfellowJessica Goodfellow’s The Insomniac’s Weather Report, Three Candles Press First Book Prize winner, was reissued by Isobar Press (2014). Mayapple Press will publish Mendeleev’s Mandala (2015). She’s had work in Best New Poets, Verse Daily and The Writer’s Almanac. Recipient of the Chad Walsh Poetry Prize, she lives in Japan.

 

Marjorie HakalaMarjorie Hakala is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the MFA program at Hamline University and has worked as a bookseller, an assistant children's book editor, a wildlife educator, and an English language teacher, among other things. After spending time in New York, New England, old England, and China, she now lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Her criticism has been published by Rain Taxi Review of Books, The Review Review, and The Millions, and she is the author of a picture book, Mermaid Dance. Marjorie is currently at work revising her first nonfiction book, a study of the cultural work of zoos. She can be found online at velogiraffe.tumblr.com.

 

Leyton IsaacsLayton Isaacs began her career in education at the University of Houston where she taught Composition classes to foreign students.  She later taught French and English as a Second Language.  She has been a student twice in France – once at the Sorbonne in Paris and the second time at the Universite Catholique de l’Ouest in Angers. Her body of work includes poetry published by Poetry Now and Sugar Mule, travel memoirs, fiction, creative non-fiction and pedagogical articles written in both French and English. Layton’s current projects include a coffee table book of photography based on her travels to France, and a food memoir. She also writes an online column for Examiner.com, on the Tulsa Literary Scene.

 

Jim JensenJames C. Jensen is a long time resident of Osaka, Japan. He is a father, a teacher, the founder of Aka-Kara English, and recently published Travel Instincts: Around the World on a Dime and a Prayer. He is proud to say the proceeds from his book are going to Living Dreams, a charity that supports children who lost their families in the Tohoku tsunami.

 

Cesar KlauerCesar Klauer is a professor of ESL at Universidad de Piura Campus, Lima. He attended the Study of the United States Summer Institute at the University of Louisville, Kentucky in 2014 where he became interested in the work of the Language Poets and their techniques. His literary work has been mainly in Spanish. He has published one short story collection, three illustrated children’s books, and one flash fiction book. His stories have appeared in several magazines and journals in Peru, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Spain and the United States. He is now working on a three-part experimental book which includes short shorts, a micro-novel and a series of prose/ vignette texts/ poems, many of which are built on very short formats and use found language.

Krista LukasKrista Lukas is the author of a poetry collection, Fans of My Unconscious (Black Rock Press, 2013), which was a finalist for the May Swenson Award and the Pearl Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared in The Writer’s Almanac, The Best American Poetry 2006, Creative Writer’s Handbook, and many literary journals including Rattle and 5AM. A Gluck Fellow and a teaching assistant at the University of California, Riverside, Krista is currently pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing as a full-time student. Before this, she served for twelve years as a schoolteacher in Douglas County, Nevada. She has taught high school English, English as a Second Language, and Gifted and Talented. 

Heather MallettHeather Mallett was born and raised in Canada, educated in Scotland, and worked in Africa. She moved to Japan after marriage five years ago where she teaches English  at Kwansei Gakuin University and other universities in Kobe. Japan is full of surprises which she delights in exploring with her husband.

 

 

David McMurrayFAMILY lectures on international haiku and haibun at the International University of Kagoshima in Japan. Master level students in his graduate school seminar actively experiment and vibrantly discuss these forms of literature. David composes more traditional haiku and haibun, but feels in kindred spirit with his more creative colleagues ever since he was honoured with the 2013 Winner R.H. Blyth Book Award from the World Haiku Club, and received the 2008 Winning Prize in the Kyoto International Cultural Association Essay Contest from the Japan Foundation and Kyoto University International Center.

Bruce McRaePushcart-nominee Bruce McRae is a Canadian musician with over 900 publications, including Poetry.com and The North American Review. His first book, ‘The So-Called Sonnets’ is available from the Silenced Press website or via Amazon books. To hear his music and view more poems visit ‘TheBruceMcRaeChannel’ on Youtube.

 

Michael J Salovaara was born in Sudbury, Northern Ontario. He came to Osaka in 1993 to teach English. A few years later started an open mic monthly gathering of writers, musicians, and artists called Writers Anonymous (WA) along with like-minded expats. Also published four issues of f-mag to explore what could be done creatively with a sheet of A4 paper and black ink. Currently he teaches at a Japanese university. 

Kelly QuinnKelly Quinn was born in Agana, Guam and went to high school and university in Michigan, in the United States. He teaches English at Nagoya Institute of Technology. He is the author, most recently, of Japanese History You Should Know, published by IBC Publishing. He has worked as a screenplay developer for Nameless Films Productions and has written several mediocre academic articles. In his free time, he writes humorous fiction.

 

Korea 2Lindsay Nash is the author of Teaching English in Korea. She is also the owner of Say Kimchi Recruiting
http://www.saykimchirecruiting.com/