Meet the Editors Coming to Push to Publish
Whether you are an established writer or just getting started, this one-day workshop will provide valuable resources you can use to get your work in print and online.
Meet the editors joining us for the 2015 Push to Publish conference on October 10, 2015!
COURTNEY K. BAMBRICK is Philadelphia Stories’ poetry editor. Her poetry has appeared at The Fanzine, Apiary, Certain Circuits, Dirty Napkin, Philadelphia Poets, Mad Poets Review, and Schuylkill Valley Journal. She judged the 2015 poetry contest for the Philadelphia Writers’ Conference. Courtney teaches composition, creative writing, and literature at Holy Family, Delaware County Community College, Widener, Rosemont, and others. Courtney will be reading poetry.
Janet Benton is a writer, editor, and teacher of writing with three decades of experience. She has written and/or edited works for many audiences, from mass to scholarly, including books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, journal articles, documentaries, web sites, speeches, novels, short stories, and dissertations. For two years she served as a script consultant and a co-writer for a documentary series on Philadelphia history, The Great Experiment. Her editing has brought many works from rough to exceptional to even prize-winning; her mission is to craft powerful communications and to give others the tools, awareness, and support they need to do the same. With a B.A. in religious studies from Oberlin College and an M.F.A. in English from U. Mass. Amherst, Benton has an avid interest in women’s history and is working on a historical novel. Janet will be reading fiction or nonfiction.
Jon Busch lives in Philadelphia where he works in editing and writes during the evenings. He is the Assistant Fiction editor at Cleaver magazine and Production Assistant at Philadelphia Stories Magazine.
Rosemary Cappello’s poetry has appeared in Voices in Italian Americana, Poet Lore, Iconoclast, Avanti Popolo, Sweet Lemons 2, Schuylkill Valley Journal, Poetry Ink, Autumn Sky, and many other publications from 1971 to the present. Rosemary’s most time-consuming work is that of editing and publishing the annual literary journal, Philadelphia Poets, which she founded in 1980, and planning and presiding over readings in connection with that publication. Rosemary’s most recent chapbook is San Paride, named for the patron saint of Teano, Italy. She is currently working on a collection of love poems. Rosemary will be reading poetry.
Julia MacDonnell Chang has been teaching writing at Rowan University for the past 23 years. Her second novel, Mimi Malloy At Last, was published by Picador in April 2014 to rave reviews in the national press, including three out of four stars in People Magazine. Her short story, Dancing with NED, was published in the spring/summer issue of Alaska Quarterly Review. She is also the nonfiction editor of Philadelphia Stories, a quarterly magazine of literature and art in both print and online formats. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in American Literary Review, Happy, Mangrove, Briar Cliff Review, Paper Street, North Dakota Quarterly, The Larcom Review, Heart Quarterly, and Many Mountains Moving. Her first novel, A Year of Favor was published by William Morrow & Co. and is available through the Authors Guild Back in Print program and iUniverse. MacDonnell earned a master’s in journalism from Columbia University and one in English Literature and Creative Writing from Temple University. Julia will be reading nonfiction.
Anna M. Evans’ is the founder of Barefoot Muse Press. Her poems have appeared in the Harvard Review, Atlanta Review, Rattle, American Arts Quarterly, and 32 Poems. She gained her MFA from Bennington College, and is the Editor of the Raintown Review. Recipient of Fellowships from the MacDowell Artists’ Colony and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and winner of the 2012 Rattle Poetry Prize Readers’ Choice Award, she currently teaches at West Windsor Art Center and Stockton University. Her sonnet collection, Sisters & Courtesans, is available from White Violet Press. She blogs at annamevans.com/wordpress. Anna will be reading nonfiction or poetry.
Alison Hicks is founder of Greater Philadelphia Wordshop Studio, which offers community-based writing workshops. She has also been a writing coach for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She is the author of a full-length collection of poems, Kiss (PS Books, 2011), a chapbook, Falling Dreams (Finishing Line Press, 2006), and a novella, Love: A Story of Images (AWA Press, 2004), and an anthology, Prompted (PS Books, 2010). Her work has appeared in Broad River Review, Crack the Spine, Eclipse, Fifth Wednesday, Gargoyle, Licking River Review, The Ledge, Louisville Review, Permafrost, Sanskrit, Whiskey Island, and other journals. Awards include the 2011 Philadelphia City Paper Poetry Prize and two Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowships. Allison will be reading fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.
Stephen Kolter is a founding editor for the micro-press, Creeping Lotus. Creeping Lotus specializes in redemptive literary and musical undertakings. They promote various types of art that deal with themes of transcendence from darkness into light. Whether the artist’s ascension is implied from their biography or dealt with directly within the work, the creations we seek to promote will inspire the audience and support them in their own battle with the ills of life.
Peter Krok is the editor of the Schuylkill Valley Journal and serves as the humanities/poetry director of the Manayunk Roxborough Art Center where he has coordinated a literary series since 1990. He also is the editor of svjlit.com. Because of his connection to Philadelphia, he is known as “the red brick poet.” His book Looking For An Eye was published by the Foothills Press. One of his special responsibilities is particularly to choose all the nonfiction articles in the SVJ. Peter will be reading nonfiction.
Bernadette McBride serves on the poetry board of Schuylkill Valley Journal. Her full-length collection of poems is entitled Waiting for the Light to Change (WordTech Editions, 2013). A former Poet Laureate of Bucks County, PA, she has taught Creative Writing at Temple University, and conducts poetry and fiction writing workshops in the Bucks County region, often on the intersection of art and writing. Her poem “Flying Lessons” was read by Garrison Keillor for NPR’s “The Writer’s Almanac,” (October, 2013). Visit her blog at bernadettemcbrideblog.wordpress.com. Bernadette will be reading poetry.
Prize-winning author Fran Metzman is the fiction editor for Schuylkill Valley Journal. She writes articles about opening greater vistas for the elderly and women’s issues (as well as those for men) for various journals. They include all aspects of society influences on relationships. Her short story collection, THE HUNGRY HEART STORIES, Wilderness House Press, was published in 2012 and was nominated for a Dzanc Books award, “Best of the Web” in 2009. In addition to publishing twenty-six short stories in various hard copy literary journals (as well as a novel she co-authored, UGLY COOKIES), she has most recently published two short stories in Wilderness House Literary Review online, editions 5/3 and 6/2. For the last six years she has taught creative writing/memoir workshops at Temple University/OLLI’s adult school. At Rosemont College, she taught publishing skills to grad students. She is a graduate of the Moore College of Art and received her graduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Fran will be reading fiction or nonfiction.
Diane O’Connell is the author of The Novel-Maker’s Handbook: the no-nonsense guide to crafting a marketable story, winner of the Independent Publisher’s Award for best writing/publishing book of 2015. A former editor at Random House, she is currently editorial director of Write To Sell Your Book (www.writetosellyourbook.com), a full-service author resource located in New York City. While her author-clients have achieved international publishing success, she continues to speak and conduct highly praised workshops around the United States. She makes her home in New York. Diane will be reading fiction or nonfiction.
Marlo Scrimizzi is Assistant Editor at Running Press Kids.
Mitchell Sommers is the Fiction Editor and a member of the Board of Directors of Philadelphia Stories. He has been published, in addition to Philadelphia Stories, in PHASE, The Big Toe Review, iPinion, The Philadelphia Inquirer, APIARY, Burlesque Press, and the F&M Alumni Arts Review. He is an attorney in Lancaster and Ephrata, PA, concentrating in the field of bankruptcy and debtor/creditor law, and has been a panelist at bankruptcy law seminars. He is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College, received his law degree from Penn State Dickinson School of Law, and his MFA from the University of New Orleans. Mitch will be reading fiction.
Tiffany Sumner is a writer and the managing editor of Rathalla Review. She is enrolled in Rosemont College’s MFA in Creative Writing program, where she is writing her first novel. She holds a MS in Publishing from NYU and a BA in English from VCU.
Carla Spataro is the editorial director and co-founder of Philadelphia Stories magazine and PS Books. She is a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship recipient for fiction. Her work can be read in Painted Bride Quarterly, Wild River Review, XConnect, Mason’s Road, The Baltimore Review, and others. She is the program director of Rosemont College’s MFA in Creative Writing and has taught English and creative writing courses at a number of Philadelphia area colleges. Carla will be reading fiction.
Joe Samuel Starnes’s newest novel, Red Dirt: A Tennis Novel, was published earlier this year by Breakaway Books. He has published two previous novels, Calling (Jefferson Press, 2005), which was re-issued last year as an ebook by MysteriousPress.com/Open Road, and Fall Line (NewSouth Books, 2011), selected to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Best of the South” list. He has had work appear in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and various magazines, as well as essays, short stories, and poems in literary journals. He works in the administration and teaches at Widener University. A native of Georgia, he lives in Haddon Township, New Jersey. For more, visit www.joesamuelstarnes.com. Sam will be reading fiction and nonfiction.
Donna Talarico is an independent creative professional and the founder/publisher of Hippocampus Magazine. She earned an MFA in creative writing from Wilkes University and an MBA from Elizabethtown College. From 2010 to 2015 was the director of integrated communications at Elizabethtown College. She still speaks regularly at industry higher education web/marketing conferences, and she authored a chapter in mStoner’s Social Works: How #HigherEd Uses #Social Media to Raise Money, Build Awareness, Recruit Students, and Get Results. Prior to working in higher education, Donna had careers in eCommerce and radio. Also, for 11 years, until she relocated, she was a correspondent for a daily paper and alternative weekly in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pa. area. She loves tasting microbrews, eating cheese, enjoying local arts and culture, traveling to national parks, and playing Scrabble. Donna will be reading nonfiction.
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