Larry O. Dean
Larry O. Dean was born and raised in Flint, Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan, during which time he won three Hopwood Awards in Creative Writing, an honor shared with fellow poets Robert Hayden, Jane Kenyon, Frank O'Hara, and Marge Piercy, among others. He is author of numerous chapbooks, including I Am Spam (2004), a series of poems “inspired” by junk email; his poetry has also been internationally anthologized. In addition to writing, he is a singer-songwriter, performing solo as well as with several pop bands, currently, The Injured Parties; he has released several critically-acclaimed CD’s, including Fables in Slang (2001) with Post Office, and Gentrification is Theft (2002) with The Me Decade. Dean was a 2004 recipient of the Hands on Stanzas Gwendolyn Brooks Award, presented by the Poetry Center of Chicago. Contact him at larryodean.com.

Rachel Javellana
Rachel Javellana is a poet and teaching artist in the city of Chicago. A Michigan native, she attended Kalamazoo College where she received her degree in English and Creative Writing, and also studied Theater. Rachel facilitates workshops in poetry and performance through such organizations as The Poetry Center of Chicago, Words@Play, Urban Gateways, and Gallery 37 Center for the Arts. Rachel is the 2008 recipient of the Hands on Stanzas Gwendolyn Brooks Award for excellence in teaching. She has been a featured performer in many events around Chicago; co-authored The City, a chapbook of braided poetry; and her poems are forthcoming in The Circus Book.

Angela Kim

Ceclia Pinto
Cecilia Pinto received her Masters degree in writing from the School of the Art Institute. Her fiction and poetry have been published in a number of journals and magazines including Rhino, Fence, and Quarter After Eight. Her short story ‘Monster’ won Esquire Magazine’s 2000 short fiction contest and her haiku took first place in Permafrost’s annual contest in 2002. Her work is anthologized in, The City Visible: Chicago Poetry for the New Century. Her collaborative work with Alice George is appears in the anthology, Saints of Hysteria: A Half Century of Collaborative American Poetry.

Marissa Spalding
Marissa was part of the first class to graduate from the Columbia Chicago MFA Poetry program. Her first chapbook was published by local imprint dancinggirlpress. Spending most of her time between her various jobs as an assistant to the grantwriter of a local nonprofit for women and children , StoryStudio Chicago where she assists the director and the Words@Play program, she enjoys foreign film, indie rock and writing letters. She has work forthcoming in the spring of 2009.

Cassie Sparkman
Cassie Sparkman received her MFA in poetry from the University of Washington.  Her poetry can be seen most recently in Cimarron Review, 32 Poems, American Poetry Journal, The Laurel Review, Story South, and Pebble Lake Review.  Her poems have also appeared on the Verse Daily web site.  Her work has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes. Cassie has also been a featured reader at poetry readings in Seattle, Athens, OH, and in Chicago, and is a trained performance artist.  Cassie also teaches with the Evanston Arts Camps and After School Matters.  Cassie currently lives in Lincoln Square with her husband, playwright Aaron Carter, and two old cats.

Cate Whetzel
Cate Whetzel just arrived in Chicago after receiving her M.F.A. in poetry from Indiana University, Bloomington, where she taught creative writing and composition to undergrads, won a few prizes, and worked as a poetry editor for Indiana Review. Her book reviews can be seen in past issues of IR, and she has another forthcoming. Prior to this, Cate studied at Kenyon College and Oxford University, and has interned at Yale University Press and at Sarabande Books, in her hometown of Louisville, KY. Cate composes all of her poems on the computer but is otherwise a luddite. She enjoys Indian food, novels, Christmas, and spending time with her fiancé.