Issue Nine Contributors

  • C. M. Andrews (Tide Pool poem) is a writer and teacher who lives on a small farm at the top of a tall hill in rural New Hampshire. In the summer, she enjoys exploring tide pools and mountaintops with her husband and son.
  • Joseph Brackett (Simple Gifts song) (1797–1838) was a Shaker songwriter, author, and elder.
  • Jennifer Davis (back cover) is a painter from Minnesota, the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” Her paintings are inspired by furry critters, scary movies, and vintage toys.
  • Marjo van Dijck (Mud Heart Elephant photographs) is a teacher and lover of mud. She lives in Virginia.
  • Susan Eaddy (Tide Pool art) writes picture books and plays with clay. Her clay critters inhabit pizza boxes in her attic studio, and she’s pretty sure they play while the humans sleep. Her books include, My Love for You Is the Sun, Papa Fish’s Lullaby, Poppy’s Best Paper, and Poppy’s Best Babies.
  • David Gregal Jr. (Ask Arden art) lives in Washington, DC. At the end of the day, he loves reading books with his wife and two kids before bedtime. 
  • Erika Hess (Hello/Goodbye) is an artist, plant lover, and mama of one adventurous little girl! She lives near the sea in Boston. She enjoys spending her time painting flowers and other interesting objects she finds while exploring with her daughter and partner.
  • Abbigail Knowlton Israelsen (cover, Look & See, and Move) is an artist who lives in the forest of Indiana. Abbi likes to look for fossils, mushrooms, and geodes with her three children.
  • Jonathan James (Brain in Your Thumb art, Stars art): interdimensional space squirrel; illustrator.
  • Diane Komater (wire art) is a wireist! She has exhibited her work all over the country.
  • Lida Larina (Root & Star comic) lives in Russia. Every day, Lida walks her best friend—her black dog named Babai. After their walk, Lida draws the sleeping Babai.
  • Courtney Mandryk is one of the makers of this magazine. Once, she hurt her hand and could not use it for over a year, and now it has magic powers (though it looks like a normal hand). She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
  • Derek Mong (Alice the Eucalyptus) Derek Mong is a professor at Wabash College, where he keeps a healthy supply of Legos and Starbursts in his office. His second collection of poems, The Identity Thief (2018), is dedicated to his son, Whitman.
  • Melissa Mytty (Visual Encyclopedia) was born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. She has exhibited nationally and is currently working out of her studio in Collegeville, Pennsylvania.
  • Mary O’Neill (My Fingers poem) was a poet, advertising copywriter, and freelance writer before she joined the Peace Corps and taught in Ghana and Costa Rica.
  • Heather Franzen Rutten (Simple Gifts art) is an artist and illustrator living in Philadelphia. In her free time, she likes playing video games and attending orchestra concerts.
  • Atabey Sanchez-Haiman (Aesop quote graphic) is a Puerto Rican artist and scientist who lives in Providence, Rhode Island with her son. They spend their days drawing, reading, laughing, and going for walks.
  • Beth Winn (Dorodango) is a teacher and naturalist who loves the interaction of art and nature. She lives in Virginia.
  • Christine Hartzler Woodruff is one of the makers of this magazine. She is a mother, writer, and editor who is moving from Seattle to Santa Fe this year.