Masthead

Matthew Graham is the author of three books of poetry, World Without End, New World Architecture, and 1946, and is the recipient of a number of awards and fellowships from The Academy of American Poets, the Indiana Arts Commission, and the Vermont Studio Center. He teaches creative writing at the University of Southern Indiana.

Tom Wilhelmus is professor emeritus of English at the University of Southern Indiana. His reviews of contemporary fiction appear frequently in The Hudson Review.

Greg Blair is an artist, writer, and educator who resides in Evansville, Indiana, with his wife, two children, and their energetic firecracker of a dog, Luna. Currently Blair is an assistant professor of art and design at the University of Southern Indiana where he teaches digital design, art history, and gender studies courses. Blair’s research incorporates multidisciplinary art practices, cultural geography, environmental aesthetics, and philosophies of place. Blair has exhibited his artwork and presented his research both nationally and internationally. Blair’s latest book project, The Politics of Spatial Transgressions in the Arts, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2021.

Formerly muscle for the IRS, Ron Mitchell is the co-founder and former editor of RopeWalk Press. He teaches composition, creative writing, and literary editing & publishing at the University of Southern Indiana.

Marcus Wicker is the recipient of a Ruth Lilly Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, a Pushcart Prize, The Missouri Review's Miller Audio Prize, as well as fellowships from Cave Canem and the Fine Arts Work Center. His first collection Maybe the Saddest Thing, a National Poetry Series winner, was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. Wicker's poems have appeared in The Nation, Poetry, American Poetry Review, Oxford American, and Boston Review. His second book, Silencer, is just out from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Wicker teaches in the MFA program at the University of Memphis.

Casey Pycior's debut short story collection, The Spoils, was published by Switchgrass Books in 2017. He was awarded the 2015 Charles Johnson Fiction Prize at Crab Orchard Review, and his work has appeared in Beloit Fiction Journal, Midwestern Gothic, Harpur Palate, BULL, Wigleaf, and Yalobusha Review, among many other places. He holds an MFA in fiction writing from Wichita State University and a PhD in creative writing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Rosalie Moffett is the author of the poetry collections Making a Living (Milkweed, 2025), Nervous System (Ecco), which was chosen by Monica Youn for the 2018 National Poetry Series Prize and listed by the New York Times as a New and Notable book, and June in Eden (OSU Press). She has been awarded a Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University, and her work has appeared in magazines like The American Poetry Review, New England Review, Narrative, Kenyon Review, and Ploughshares, among others.

El Williams III’s work has been anthologized in the Best American Poetry and is published or forthcoming in Alaska Quarterly Review, Orion Magazine, New England Review, Ploughshares, River Styx, Shenandoah, and elsewhere. A Cave Canem and Watering Hole fellow, he earned his dual MA/MFA from Indiana University and is currently a doctoral student studying literature & creative writing at the University of Houston. 

Tryphena Yeboah is a Ghanaian writer and the author of the poetry chapbook, A Mouthful of Home (Akashic Books, 2020). Her fiction and essays have appeared in Narrative Magazine, Commonwealth Writers, and Lit Hub, among others. She is a PhD student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Anthony Rintala trained as a poet at the University of Southern Mississippi and Louisiana State University. He has edited for Callaloo, New Delta Review, New Tex[t], and Blinn Literary Journal. His own poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and he is the faculty advisor for the University of Southern Indiana's student literary journal, FishHook.

Brittney Scott’s first poetry collection, The Derelict Daughter, won the 2015 New American Poetry Prize. She is also a recipient of the Joy Harjo Prize for Poetry, as well as the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared in Best New Poets 2014, Prairie Schooner, The New Republic, Narrative Magazine, Cincinnati Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Linebreak, Indiana Review and elsewhere. She homesteads on seven acres in rural Virginia. 

Ruth Awad is a Lebanese-American poet, a 2021 NEA Poetry fellow, and the author of Outside the Joy (Third Man Books, 2024) and Set to Music a Wildfire, winner of the 2016 Michael Waters Poetry Prize and the 2018 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. Alongside Rachel Mennies, she is the co-editor of The Familiar Wild: On Dogs and Poetry. She is the recipient of a 2020 and 2016 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, and she won the 2013 and 2012 Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize and the 2011 Copper Nickel Poetry Contest. Her work appears in The Atlantic, AGNI, Poetry, Poem-a-Day, The Believer, The New Republic, Pleiades, The Missouri Review, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She has an MFA in poetry from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and she lives and writes in Columbus, Ohio.

Matthew Guenette is the author of American Busboy (Akron Series in Poetry) and Sudden Anthem, winner of the 2007 American Poetry Journal Book Prize from Dream Horse Press. His poems have appeared in Another Chicago Magazine, DIAGRAM, The Greensboro Review, Indiana Review, The Spoon River Poetry Review, The National Poetry Review, and other publications.

Mihaela Moscaliuc's first poetry collection, Father Dirt, was published by Alice James Books in 2010. Her poems, translations, reviews, and articles have appeared in The Georgia Review, New Letters, Prairie Schooner, Poetry International, Pleiades, Arts & Letters, Connecticut Review, Mississippi Review, and elsewhere. Moscaliuc teaches at Monmouth University and in the MFA Program in Poetry and Poetry in Translation at Drew University.

Jacob Sunderlin is a writer and musician. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Beloit Poetry Journal, Gulf Coast, Narrative, Ninth Letter, Ploughshares, Third Coast, and elsewhere. He’s received residencies from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. His records Death Ranch (Castle Bravo, 2016) and Hymnal (NULLZØNE, 2017) are available on cassette and for download.

Preston Erickson is a senior at the University of Southern Indiana. As an English major with a creative writing emphasis, he aspires to have a fulfilling career as either a full-time author or voice actor. His favorite kinds of literature are science fiction and action. This could be credited to the fact that he grew up with sci-fi films, such as Star Wars and Back to The Future, as well as video games of the same genre, like Halo and Fallout. He enjoys writing because of the limitless potential in which worlds and characters can be created.

Emalee Jones is a second-semester junior English major with a concentration of professional writing and rhetoric at USI. She is pursuing two minors: journalism and literary editing & publishing. Jones works for USI Photography & Media as a student photographer, 14 News as a news intern, Aviator Esports as marketing director, FishHook as poetry editor, and Student Writer’s Union as social media manager. She has also worked for The Shield, the independent student publication at USI, as managing editor and other leadersip roles from 2021-23. Jones helped create the 56-page magazine published by The Shield titled Unmasked: Unmasking the Story of How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected the University of Southern Indiana as part of the publication committee and editing director in the 2022-23 academic year. In her free time, she enjoys  playing video games with her friends, photographing sports, and reading.

Gage Lynn is a senior at USI where he is pursuing his BS in Communication Studies with a literary editing & publishing minor. He has self-published in the past and is currently seeking representation for his middle-grade fantasy novel. While he’s not writing or in school, you can find him working his full-time recruitment specialist position or relaxing with his pets.

Denise McKenzie is a junior at USI pursuing a BS in English with a creative writing emphasis and a minor in literary editing & publishing. She’s also a member of Sigma Tau Delta’s Mu Phi chapter, president of the Student Writers Union, and editor-in-chief of the USI student literary magazine, FishHook. After graduation, she plans to pursue an MFA in creative writing and enter the publishing industry. When she’s not scribbling in a notebook or studying, she can be found either playing Stardew Valley or cross-stitching. Originally from the frigid north of Wisconsin, she now lives in the Evansville area with her fiancé and two black cats.

J. F. McQuay is a published author and aspiring filmmaker. His writing style is science fiction, but he has also experimented in the realms of comedy, romance, and mystery. He is pursuing a BS with an emphasis on professional writing and rhetoric along with minors in literary editing & publishing and creative writing at USI. The first book under his belt is The Reaper, available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Other work includes interning on the fall 2023 issue of SIR. His next book, Obsidian, will be making its debut soon.

MonteLee Norton is a sophomore at USI. She is pursuring a BS in English with an emphasis in creative writing while also double minoring in professional writing and literary editing & publishing. While on campus, she serves as vice president and treasurer of the Student Writers Union, treasurer of Sigma Tau Delta's Mu Phi chapter, and works as a peer mentor through Student Support Services. After graduation, she plans to enter the writing/publishing scene with the goal of becoming a full-time fiction author. When she isn't working, studying, or daydreaming about her next story, MonteLee enjoys reading fantasy books, gardening, embroidering, and spending time with friends and family.

Peyton Peters is a junior English major with an emphasis in literature at USI. She is also pursuing a minor in literary editing & publishing. Peyton is the chief copy editor for the independent student publication at USI, The Shield. Apart from copy editing published stories, she has written articles and published photo galleries for The Shield's website. In addition, she is a member of the Sigma Tau Delta's Mu Phi chapter. After graduation, she plans on working for a publishing house in the editorial department. Outside school, she enjoys reading fantasy and romance books, writing, and watching horror movies.

Valentine Pokorney is an English major with a concentration in professional writing and rhetoric at USI, hoping to take what they’ve learned and work in community outreach and grant writing for schools. Coming from a military family, they have lived all over the world with particular standouts being Iceland, Japan, and New Mexico. Valentine has a love for literature of all forms and is always looking to find works to fall in love with. The top of their current list of favorites includes Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So, White Noise by Don DeLillo, and The Candy House by Jennifer Egan.

Pandora Wells is a senior at USI. She is majoring in English with a creative writing emphasis and a literary editing & publishing minor. She enjoys writing short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, and aspires to publish collections of each. Her poems “Finding Companionship in a Multitude of Abandoned Shoes” and “Grapefruit. Connection. Consequence.” were featured in the 2023 edition of FishHook. Outside of school, she enjoys playing Dungeons & Dragons, cuddling with her four cats, and playing video games.