Masthead
Editor-in-Chief
Ziyi Yan (she/her)
Ziyi Yan (闫梓祎) is a young Chinese writer living in Connecticut. She is an alumna of the Iowa Young Writers' Studio and the Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship. Her writing has been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards on a national level. She is published or forthcoming in Poetry Northwest, Kissing Dynamite, Peach Mag, and others. She is the winner of the Piedmont Institution Communications Contest, the Marymount Manhattan Poetry Prize, and the Lillian Butler Davies Communications Contest for poetry. She has also been recognized by the Young Poets' Network, the Poetry Society of Virginia, Rider University, Frontier Poetry, and BreakBread Literacy Project. You can find her on Instagram @Ziyiyan___ or visit her Carrd at ziyiyan.carrd.co
Editors
Evan Wang (he/him)
Executive Poetry Editor
王潇/Evan Wang is the first Youth Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Rust + Moth, COUNTERCLOCK Journal, Violet Indigo Blue, Etc., and elsewhere. He is an alumnus of the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio and an Anaphora Fellow. His work has been featured at and recognized by Button Poetry, the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, the Poetry Society of Virginia, Philadelphia Contemporary, and Wawa Welcome America.
Grace Marie Liu (she/her)
Executive Prose Editor
Grace Marie Liu is a high school sophomore from Michigan. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Kissing Dynamite, Vagabond City Lit, and minnesota review, among others. She is an alumna of The Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship Program. When not writing/editing, she can be found participating in competitive public speaking, listening to Studio Ghibli soundtracks, or eating her weight in almond butter.
Heidi Pan (she/ her)
Art Director
Heidi Pan is a student at Harrisburg High School. Her work has received recognition at the national level from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Heidi has attended both the Iowa Young Writers' Studio and the Kenyon Summer Writing Group. She is the head of the art and illustration club at her school.
Maabena Nti (she/her)
Poetry Editor
Maabena Nti is a fifteen-year-old poet/writer based in Accra, Ghana. Her work appears inCeltic Literary Review and Ice Lolly Review. She is a 2022 Adroit Summer mentee. She enjoys daydreaming, obsessing over K-Ming Chang, listening to afro-pop, and binge-reading romance novels.
Paridhi Poddar (she/her)
Poetry Editor
Paridhi Poddar is an aspiring poet and student based out of Kolkata, India. Her work is published or forthcoming in Ayaskala, Mixed Mag, Chasing Shadows Magazine, orangepeel, Pop the Culture Pill, streetcake magazine, celestite poetry, Tabula Rasa Review, and elsewhere.
Althea Downing-Sherer (she/her)
Poetry Editor
Althea Downing-Sherer is a high school junior from Iowa. She is an alumna of the Iowa Young Writer’s Studio, an editor at Polyphony Lit, and an international finalist in Coexist Literary Magazine’s Metamorphosis writing contest. When she’s not writing, she can be found creating elaborate Pinterest boards, listening to Taylor Swift, and preparing for Mock Trial competitions.
Ava Ye (she/her)
Poetry Editor
Ava Ye/叶曳 is a Chinese writer attending high school in Los Angeles. She has been recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and is an alumna of the Iowa Young Writers' Studio. Her poetry is forthcoming in Kissing Dynamite, where she is January's featured poet. Aside from writing, Ava is often enjoying iced coffee and waiting for the next rainstorm. You can find her on Instagram @avayeye.
Mark Bias (he/him)
Poetry Editor
Mark Kyungsoo Bias is a 2021 Tin House Scholar and a recipient of the 2022 Joseph Langland Poetry Prize. His work appears or is forthcoming in Academy of American Poets, The Adroit Journal, The Common, Best New Poets, Los Angeles Review, The Offing, New England Review, Washington Square Review, and has been featured in Literary Hub and Poetry Daily. He received his MFA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he was a REAL Fellow. He currently lives in Korea. Find him on Instagram @markkbias
R-Yu Wang (they/them)
Poetry Editor
R-Yu Wang (王丽扬) is a writer from Washington state. Their poetry appears in The Shore and you can find them curating Spotify playlists, losing at 8 Ball, or @wangwrites_ on Twitter.
Joanna Liu (she/her)
Poetry Editor
Anna Liu (or Joanna) is a writer from Massachusetts. Her work has been recognized by the New York Times, the Alliance for Young Writers, Bennington Young Writers Awards, and Polyphony Lit, among others. In her free time, she likes to take care of chickens and watch video essays on Youtube. You can find her doing nothing on Twitter @cyoxyx.
Hilary Tam (she/her)
Poetry Editor
Hilary Tam is a high school student from Hong Kong. Her work appears in Where Else: An International Hong Kong Poetry Anthology, Kissing Dynamite, White Wall Review, The Lumiere Review, and more. She enjoys writing, taking long walks, trying different sandwiches, and listening to Christmas music all year round.
Sandra Lin (she/her)
Prose Editor
Sandra Lin (林诺晨) is a Chinese American from New York who currently attends Bell High School in Florida. She is a Scholastic Awards National Gold Medalist, national winner of JUST POETRY!!!, the first-place winner for the 2021 Polyphony Lit Fall Contest and the 2022 Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest, as well as a finalist for Lumiere Review’s 2022 Prose Contest. Her works are published or forthcoming in Kissing Dynamite, Eunoia Review, The Lumiere Review, and elsewhere. Sandra is working on a platform that aims to empower marginalized voices in literature. Find her on Instagram and Wattpad @sandranuochen or her website https://sandranuochen.carrd.co
Terra Ungson (she/her)
Prose Editor
Terra Ungson is a Filipina scribbler of poems and small stories. She is currently studying Comparative Literature at the University of the Philippines Diliman, and is known for her warm hugs and crocheting during meetings. Her work is published or forthcoming in Ampersand, Girl Up Philippines, Southchild Lit, Northern Otter Press, Outlander Magazine, and Spellbinder Magazine. You can find her rambles on her twitter @_antukingpato.
Heather Qin (she/her)
Prose Editor
Heather Qin is a high school junior from New Jersey. She is an alumna of the Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference and the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio. Her work has been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, the New York Times, Breakbread Literary Magazine, Columbia College Chicago, and more. Besides writing, Heather loves classical music, watching anime, and playing gacha games.
Vicki Lin (she/her)
Prose Editor
Vicki Lin (林诺曦) is an aspiring Chinese American poet and writer from Florida. A senior at Bell High School, she has participated in Kenyon Review’s writing workshops, Ellipses Writing's Magic School workshop, and has been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Her works are published or forthcoming in Kissing Dynamite and Eunoia Review. She can often be found drinking tea or staring at the sky.
Lucas Rucchin (he/him)
Prose Editor
Lucas Rucchin is an aspiring prose writer from Vancouver, British Columbia. His creative work has been recognized in Surging Tide Magazine, The Aurora Journal, The New Absurdist, and others. He’s looking forward to reviewing your submissions!
Sabine Wilson-Patrick (she/they)
Prose Editor
Sabine Wilson-Patrick is an undergraduate writer at Cardiff University in Wales; she is originally from Barbados. Her work can be found in Mixed Magazine, Mulberry Literary, Quench Magazine and the Interlochen Review as well as forthcoming in Prosperity Magazine. She is also the managing editor for Rover Magazine.
Cathleen Balid (she/her)
Prose Editor
Cathleen Balid is a high school junior from Queens, New York. Her writing has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, New York Times, Columbia College Chicago, and Roanoke Review, among others. When she is not writing, she likes hiking, listening to K-pop, and buying copious amounts of cheesecake flavored candles. You can find her at cathleenbalid.carrd.co
Editors Emeritus
Loisa Fenichell (she/her)
Poetry Editor
Loisa Fenichell is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. She is forthcoming in Guernica Magazine, Narrative Magazine, Poetry Northwest, Washington Square Review, and others. Her chapbook, “all these urban fields,” has been published by nothing to say press and her collection, “Wandering in all directions of this earth,” is the winner of the Ghost Peach Press Prize, selected by Eduardo C. Corral and forthcoming from Ghost Peach Press. She is currently an MFA candidate at Columbia University, where she holds the Writers’ Scholarship.
Kaydance Rice (she/they)
Poetry Editor
Kaydance Rice is a writer from Grand Rapids, Michigan and currently attending Interlochen Arts Academy. Kaydance is the recipient of several regional and national awards from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and was an honorable mention in the 2023 YoungArts awards. Kaydance works on various online literary magazines and is the editor in chief of the 2023 Interlochen Review. In her free time, Kaydance enjoys playing the viola, rambling about existentialism, and spending time with her plants.
Jacqueline Parker (she/her)
Prose Editor
Jacqueline Parker studied words at Queens University in Charlotte, NC where she currently resides with her boyfriend, dog, and lots of plants. Her work is published or forthcoming in Prime Number Magazine, Flash Fiction Online, MacQueen's Quinterly, After Dinner Conversation, Minerva Rising, and elsewhere. She is Prime Number’s 2021 Short Fiction Award winner.
Mackenzie Duan (she/they)
General Editor
Mackenzie is a junior from the Bay Area. Her writing has been recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and she serves as an editor for Polyphony Lit. She likes philosophy, music, and hot pockets.
Believe Chakenya (she/her)
Design Manager
Believe Chakenya is a senior in high school. She has been writing for 6 years– specializing in poetry and dabbling in personal essays. She enjoys Disney, coffee, and gummies. Believe has experience with self-publishing and compiling poetry collections.
Ciara Whimbush (she/her)
Staff Writer
Ciara Whimbush is a high school student from Georgia. Writing has always been a passion of hers, and something she can find comfort in at any given time. Her hobbies include baking, dancing, and pun-filled jokes. Her all-time favorite show is Degrassi (the one with Drake).