​STAFF BIOS
Allison Joseph (Editor) lives in Carbondale, Illinois, where she directs the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Southern Illinois University. Born in London, England, to parents of Caribbean heritage, Allison Joseph grew up in Toronto, Canada, and the Bronx, New York. A graduate of Kenyon College and Indiana University, she serves as editor of Crab Orchard Review, the publisher of No Chair Press, and the director of Writers In Common, a writing conference for writers of all ages and experience levels. In 2014, she was awarded a Doctor of Letters honorary degree from her undergraduate alma mater, Kenyon College.
Her books and chapbooks include What Keeps Us Here (Ampersand Press), Soul Train (Carnegie Mellon University Press), In Every Seam (University of Pittsburgh Press), Worldly Pleasures (Word Tech Communications), Imitation of Life (Carnegie Mellon UP), Voice: Poems (Mayapple Press), My Father’s Kites (Steel Toe Books), Trace Particles (Backbone Press), Little Epiphanies (NightBallet Press), Mercurial (Mayapple Press), Mortal Rewards (White Violet Press), Multitudes (Word Poetry), The Purpose of Hands (Glass Lyre Press), Double Identity (Singing Bone Press), Corporal Muse (Sibling Rivalry Press), and What Once You Loved (Barefoot Muse Press). She has also published fiction and nonfiction, and travels frequently to read from her work at various festivals, conferences, and universities.
Her latest full-length book of poetry, Confessions of a Barefaced Woman, was published by Red Hen Press in 2018. It was chosen as the Gold/First Place Winner in the poetry category of the 2019 Feathered Quill Book Awards and a 2019 nominee in the poetry category of the NAACP Image Awards. It was also a 2019 finalist for both the Montaigne Medal and the Da Vinci Eye Book Award, sponsored by the Eric Hoffer Book Awards.
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Keith Hoerner, Managing Editor
A SIU-C PhD student in literature, Keith Hoerner (he/him) is founding editor of The Dribble Drabble Review, a Webby-Award recognized e-zine/print anthology series of all things "little-ature" and winner of Best Microfiction for three of its four years in publication. He is the author of two books: The Day the Sky Broke Open – A Memoir (Impact Award Winner) and Balancing on the Sharp Edges of Crescent Moons – A Collection (Adelaide Books, New York/Lisbon). His prose/poetry has been featured in 160+ lit mags and anthologies across five continents (including Cafe Irreal, decomP, and Litro – to name just a few).
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Sarah Nivala, Fiction Editor
Sarah Nivala is a non-binary writer and editor from Pennsylvania currently pursuing their MFA in Fiction at SIUC. After Sarah received their BA from Sarah Lawrence College, they spent several years hosting poetry readings, selling books, and editing manuscripts in Los Angeles. Prior to that, they worked as a janitor, a dog walker, and a cheesemonger.
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Claire Hutchinson, Poetry Editor
Claire is a third-year candidate of the MFA Poetry program from Kansas City, where she grew up participating in competitive slam poetry competitions. She received her bachelors in both creative writing and classical studies from the University of Arkansas. Her work frequently addresses themes of longing, the unknown, and mythologies, and her favorite medium for creating poetry is through zine-making. Some day she wants to disappear into the desert and communicate exclusively through snail mail.
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Lyra Thomas, Associate Poetry Editor
Lyra Thomas is a proud St. Louisian and recent graduate of the SIU-C MFA in Poetry program. They have three book reviews published with The Poetry Question, are an Editorial Intern with RHINO Poetry, the Submissions List Editor for Tell Tell Poetry, and are Crab Orchard’s remote Associate Poetry Editor. When Lyra isn’t juggling their many gigs, they travel, crochet, play ukulele, and paint.
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