a book for the desert
This book is our lovely desert babe, issue six. It features flash fiction and memoir, poetry, and art about the desert from over 40 creatives, more than half of whom are Arizona-based. In this way, our book is made by and for the desert. This issue was partially funded by a City of Tempe Community Arts Grant.
Click HERE to order your copy of issue six!
Our approach
We publish high-quality flash fiction, flash memoir, poetry, and art in handmade books made from upcycled materials. These books are made in community bookmaking workshops at the Tempe Public Library.
Contributors
DeVonna R. Allison has been a Marine Sgt, homeschooling mother of four, librarian’s assistant and motivational speaker. She’s retired now and writes of her adventures from her home in Florida.
Megan Atencia holds space in the commute between South Phoenix and Downtown Mesa, Arizona. She can be found practicing poetry in motion at a local jiu jitsu gym or on most social media platforms as @mayagain_
E.J. Bramble enjoys writing weird things. She lives in England and likes being by the sea.
Bethany F. Brengan currently writes and edits from the Pacific Northwest. Her work has appeared in Ninth Letter, Seaside Gothic, CV2, and Channel. She can be found at https://medium.com/@bethanybrengan.
In Mary Buchinger’s recent books, Navigating the Reach (Salmon Poetry, 2023) and The Book of Shores (Lily Poetry Review Books, 2024), bodies of water have desert traits. www.marybuchinger.com
Marcus Sterling Campbell is a poet and film enthusiast from Phoenix, Arizona. Graduating from Mesa Community College, he received a high distinction in Creative Writing, along with degrees in Journalism and General Studies.
Dale Champlin is a poet and artist who loves little somethings press. Her poetry collections are: The Barbie Diaries, Callie Comes of Age, Isadora, and Andromina: A Stranger in America.
Tinamarie Cox lives in Arizona where she writes and paints, as well as raise her family. Find more of her work at tinamariethinkstoomuch.weebly.com.
Ainsley Davis is an undergraduate English major at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The first story she ever wrote was written in crayon and titled “Do Guinea Pigs Dream?”
Robin Dellabough is a poet and writer with a journalism master’s degree. Double Helix (2022) is her debut collection and includes a Pushcart Prize-nominated poem. Recent poems in Rattle, Mom Egg Review, Blue Unicorn.
Kayla Durazo is a Mexican American writer who currently resides in Mesa, Arizona. She received her BA in creative writing from Arizona State University.
Julie Elefante is a bi Filipino American who fell in love with storytelling through her dad as a way of healing and unifying. Find her on Instagram at rockscissorspaperpress.
Christina Fiflis splits time between New Mexico and Colorado, where she works both at writing and advocating for social justice, inspired, awed and grounded by the enchantment of the southwest.
Leah Jo Figuoeroa-Carnine is a health care provider, artist and organizer who enjoys spending as much time as possible with her new baby, beloved family, and many tiny dogs.
Cynthia Gallaher, a Chicago-based poet, is author of four poetry collections, including Epicurean Ecstasy: More Poems About Food, Drink, Herbs and Spices, and three chapbooks, including Drenched.
Reece Rowan Gritzmacher lives in a mountain town surrounded by ponderosa pines. Their poetry and prose has appeared or is forthcoming on Barrelhouse, Chapter House Journal, Bending Genres, and elsewhere.
Ceridwen Hall is a poet and educator from Ohio. Her collection, Acoustic Shadows, is available from Broadstone Books. You can find her at www.ceridwenhall.com.
DeLano Hays is a writer and actor based out of Flagstaff. Their poetry focuses on many topics, including life growing up in the desert and their failed attempts to leave it.
KJ Nakazawa-Kern lives in Phoenix, AZ. He received his MFA in Fiction at the University of Montana. His work has appeared in The Cincinnati Review, The Southampton Review, and The Montana Quarterly.
Katie King is a second soprano who always wanted to be an alto. Wearing blue suede heels to breakfast, she finds herself allergic to the banana. The lady doth wish she had happy love stories to write. Still, only pain itself drifts to her hollowed doorstep.
Heather Knowles hails from the Midwest, but currently lives on Maui, where she’s busy hosting a local open mic and seeing things from a new perspective.
Mary Krakow is a retired educator in Central Oregon’s High Desert. She writes Flash, children’s fiction, and letters to her elected officials. Visit her blog for writers at www.findyourwritingnerd.com
Elyse Lani is a mixed-media artist from Denver. She collages found images from used magazines and books and adds painted elements. She gets inspiration from nature, feminism and storytelling.
maryhope|whitehead|lee is a collage artist and poet. A descendant of the ship, she resides in the weather of the wake.
Sherri Levine is a poet living in Portland, OR. She escaped the cold, harsh winters of upstate New York and is now swimming in the rain. Sherrilevine.com
Vali Hawkins Mitchell reflects on her former Arizona desert life from her new offices near the Honolulu Zoo. For more about her art, poetry, flash fiction, and books, visit www.valihawkinsmitchell.com
Leah Mueller lives in Bisbee, AZ. She writes about Bisbee people and arts events for the Herald Review newspaper and has been published extensively in print and across the web.
Zach Keali’i Murphy is a Hawaii-born writer with a background in cinema. He lives with his wonderful wife, Kelly, in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Cari Oleskewicz is a nomadic poet and writer who has been published in numerous online and print journals. She has recently completed a memoir and continues to write about landscapes.
Beto Olivas, from Sierra Vista, AZ, worries about democracy and works in civic education. He lives in Tempe with a Tarheels fanatic and three geriatric hell hounds.
Ryan Parra is an artist/educator based in Mesa, Arizona, researching medicinal flora throughout the Southwest as means for ethnobotanical documentation and artistic expression, critiquing our distant relationship to the natural world through scientific observation.
Tyler Peterson is an artist based out of Tucson, where he recently moved with his partner and their two cats. He finds inspiration in the region’s natural beauty.
Janet McMillan Rives lives near Tucson, Arizona. She has authored Into This Sea of Green: Poems from the Prairie, Washed by a Summer Rain: Poems from the Desert, and Thread: A Memoir in Woven Poems.
Isabella Rosales holds a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona and received the Hattie Lockett Poetry Award in 2018. Other than that, she’s still figuring things out.
Angela Soliz is an artist and educator. Through design and acrylic painting, she focuses on creating vibrant energetic work that celebrates life, nature and imagination.
Mary Specker Stone leads poetry and spirituality salons in the Phoenix area. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, and her new chapbook is forthcoming from FLP in June 2024.
Irina Tall was born in Minsk. In the summer of 2022, she took part in the “Way of the Dragon” festival. He writes poetry and non-parables, draws mythological creatures, like sirens and unicorns.
H. Tinsley is an international relations PhD student at the University of Arizona. His poetry has been published in Circle Show.
Bekah Unsworth is a watercolor artist based in Mesa, AZ. Her work has been exhibited at Tohono O’Chul in Tucson and at the Coconino Center for the Arts in Flagstaff.
Taté Walker is a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, an award-winning Two Spirit storyteller, and author of “The Trickster Riots” (Abalone Mountain Press 2022). Learn more at jtatewalker.com.
Rowan Wentworth is a Flagstaff writer and member of the NoAZ Youth Poetry Council, helping run events and readings in his town. His work has appeared in The Green Zine.
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