ELLERY AKERS is a writer, artist, and teacher who lives in Point Reyes Station, California. She is the author of Knocking on Earth (Wesleyan University Press) and winner of five national poetry awards.

CALEE ALLEN is a photographer who lives in South Lake Tahoe, California. She works part of the year as the maintenance coordinator at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, where she can see the circle of flags marking the geographic pole from her window.

STEVE ALMOND’s most recent essay collection is titled Not that You Asked: Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions (Random House). He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts, with his wife and their daughter, Josephine, who recently started walking and shows no signs of ever stopping. 

ERIC ANDERSON recently graduated from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and must now, alas, look for a job. His novella Isn’t That Just like You? is available as part of the Duo: Novellas series from Cleveland State University’s Poetry Center. He lives in Elyria, Ohio.

TOM BECKER’s latest photography project centers on the county fairs of northwest Iowa. He lives in Orange City, Iowa.

MAUREEN BEITLER is a photographer and nurse living in New York City. She received a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship for her photographs of Harlem.

RITA BERNSTEIN is a photographer and former civil-rights attorney who fantasizes about being a neuroscientist or a veterinarian. She lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

MICHELLE CACHO-NEGRETE lives in a small house in Wells, Maine, that in winter is surrounded on all sides by far too much snow. Her work has appeared in Psychotherapy Networker, Sierra, and Persimmon Tree. She tutors writing students both in person and online.

LARRY CHAIT is a former research scientist who retired early to become a jazz drummer. Upon learning he had no talent as a drummer, he took up photography and has been devoted to it ever since. He lives in Chicago.

ALAN CRAIG is the pseudonym of a writer who lives in Massachusetts. He writes: “On my last birthday, I decided to work my way up to fifty-six push-ups, one for every year I’ve been alive. After a few weeks I got up to thirty; then my shoulder gave out. I couldn’t lift my arm over my head for months. Next time I get the urge to do push-ups, I’m going to watch television until it safely passes.”

ROBERTO GUERRA is a photographer who lives in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.

ERIK HOFFNER is a renewable-energy activist who works for Orion magazine. He lives in Ashfield, Massachusetts.

GINA KELLY is a photographer living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

GARY MATSON’s photographs have appeared in American Photo, Rolling Stone, and Wildlife Conservation. He lives in New York City.

R.A. McBRIDE is working on a book of photographs and essays about San Francisco movie theaters. She divides her time between San Francisco and New York.

BARBARA PLATEK is a Jungian psychotherapist and author who lives with her family on the outskirts of Ithaca, New York. 

HAL S. POPE is a photographer and videographer who lives in Columbus, Georgia. He’s currently working on a short documentary about the endangered Mississippi sandhill crane.

MARK SMITH-SOTO was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in Costa Rica, and now lives in Greensboro, North Carolina. He writes poems in English but adds and multiplies in Spanish. He is editor of International Poetry Review and director of the Center for Creative Writing in the Arts at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

LINDA SOLE had a winning photograph in the MILK (Moments of Intimacy, Laughter, and Kinship) competition, sponsored by New Zealand publisher PQ Blackwell. She lives in Bellac, France.

JOHN TAIT is an assistant professor of fiction writing at the University of North Texas and editor of American Literary Review. A Canadian transplant living in Denton, Texas, he has come to enjoy barbecue and Shiner Bock beer as much as he does back bacon and Molson.

DAVE WESTOVER is a photographer who works at Royle Printing, the company that prints The Sun. He lives in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

ANGELA WINTER resists carrying a cellphone, doesn’t own a tv, and still writes letters on real paper. She works as The Sun’s associate publisher in charge of digital media and operations and lives in Carrboro, North Carolina, where she maintains a polarity-therapy practice and sings every chance she gets.