CONTRIBUTORS

Boatemaa Adoawaa Han Mee Agyeman-Mensah is a GhanaianKoreanAmerican poet from Ham Lake, Minnesota. Often, her poems center around themes of love, lust, race, religion, identity, and inheritance. In 2019, she was nominated for the Scholastic American Voices award. Currently she serves as co-director of CounterClock x PATCHWORK poetry-filmmaker collaborative fellowship. Boatemaa is studying English literature and philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alexandria Anderson is a studio art and computer science major at UNC-Chapel Hill originally from Tryon, NC. She is an aspiring illustrator and digital artist but found her start in colored pencil drawings and portraiture. She loves her three cats— Lilyrose, Moo, and Mindy—and playing video games in her free time. You can find more work on her website: aleand.myportfolio.com.

Kassidy Bradley is an artist based in eastern NC majoring in psychology. One of her paintings was published in last year’s edition of Cellar Door, and she recently had a piece featured in an exhibition at Peel in Carrboro. Her favorite things to do in her free time are going on nature walks, exploring abandoned buildings, and taking sunrise drives.

MB Connolley is a freshman majoring in art history and studio art. She enjoys participating in theatre and is an avid Fresca enjoyer.

Camilla Crane is an information science and studio art major graduating in May. She has developed her personal artistic practice at UNC primarily through printmaking, although she’s also explored other two-dimensional mediums such as photography, painting, and digital design. Throughout undergrad, she worked with both libraries and archives and hopes to begin her graduate studies in library science in the near future.

Alexis Dumain is from Hillsborough, NC, and is majoring in psychology and English & Comparative Literature. She considers herself a connoisseur of statement blazers and anything David Sedaris has written.

Brooke Elliott is a sophomore media and journalism major and data science minor who moved to Greensboro, NC from Arkansas. She enjoys classic literature, arthouse cinema, and cuddling with her cat, Nessie. Despite any rumors you may have heard, her reflection appears in most mirrors.

Sarah Frisbie is a senior from outside Winston-Salem, North Carolina studying art, art history, and global studies. Her passionate hope is to curate medieval art after pursuing a graduate degree in art history. She sees herself as a painter but has recently gotten into life drawing, and consequently likes to make big swirly lines with the charcoal wherever possible. In her free time, she climbs, plays water polo, and burns her dinner.

Emma Gerden is a senior studying English and sociology. She was born in Ontario, Canada, but has spent most of her life in North Carolina. She loves writing, iced coffee, and her cat, Luna.

Hannah Hankins is a second-year student from Charlotte, NC academically pursuing communications and entrepreneurship while enjoying the exploration of all facets of creative and artistic expression. Apart from writing, Hankins enjoys cooking, gardening, and the refined craft of building legos.

Molly Herring is a senior studying biology and global studies at UNC. She is originally from Virginia but has journaled from the kitchen tables and living room floors of host families all over the world. She hopes to finish her creative nonfiction honors thesis before she graduates.

Ruth Jeffers is a senior English major and environmental studies minor from Winston-Salem, NC. Her life goal is to tell the story of Penguini, a young Italian-Antarctic penguin on a journey from failed family restaurant employee to celebrated pasta innovator. She wrote the opening scene in tenth grade and has been stuck since.

Marcella Kingman is a third-year student from Cary, North Carolina. She is studying neuroscience, chemistry, and studio art. Her favorite creative outlets are painting and photography. This is her second time published in Cellar Door.

Beni (Phoebe) Kroll is a junior from Durham, NC, studying comparative literature with a minor in Chinese. They are quite confused about having a body and love to exploit this confusion for their art.

Sofia Lesnewski, a December 2022 graduate, majored in English, comparative, and hispanic literature. She has lived in Jersey City, NJ her entire life (with the understanding that living in a place doesn’t mean simply going to school there, thereby disqualifying Chapel Hill and Quito). Sofia enjoys “backpacking” in the loosest sense of the word, telling stories so long and convoluted that she can’t keep up, and writing poems that “feel like crying.”

Cecil May is a senior English and studio art double major with a minor in music. They enjoy telling stories, making comics, and playing drums. After realizing that having twelve dozen career aspirations in one lifetime was not feasible, they decided to write about other people doing those things instead.

Cora McAnulty is a junior from Kernersville, NC. She is majoring in studio art and statistics.

Naomi Ovrutsky is a junior astrophysics major and creative writing minor from Charlotte, NC. Aside from the cosmos, her passions include horror fiction, the garden section of Lowe’s, and buying a six dollar latte anytime there’s a minor inconvenience.

Gabbie Romano is a fourth-year student pursuing a major in biology with a minor in creative writing. She loves reading, hiking, playing with her dog, reading her friends’ tarots, and picking up hobbies that will only last three months (probably less).

Isabel Schomburger is a junior studio art major and previous Curator-in-Chief of SAMA. Currently studying interior design at the Glasgow School of Art, she intends to pursue a career in applied design. Outside of creative work, she studies coaching education, is a member of the UNC Club Volleyball team, and is a certified personal trainer.

Taika Sorjonen (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist and senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studying studio art and political science. Using print, fabric, photo, and video, Sorjonen pulls from experiences growing up internationally in Brazil, the United States, and Finland. Their work centers on the impact of queer art forms as a queer and disabled person themself and has been shown at galleries and journals across North Carolina.

Julia Steininger is a first-year pre-nursing student from Asheville, NC. She enjoys mixed-media collage and ceramics. She spends her free time working on art and lis- tening to and playing music.

Isabella Ukariwo is Nigerian, was raised in the Benin Republic, and is currently majoring in information and library science with a minor in creative writing at UNC. She is a passionate artist, graphic designer, writer, and music lover. When she’s not painting or reading fantasy fiction, you can find her practicing her award acceptance speeches in front of the mirror or long-boarding across campus even though she sadly cannot do any tricks.

Annie Vedder is a student who has grown up in the religious south and revels in both the hardcore and tenderness of the lesbian experience. Queer crushes, TV dinners, secretly trying on boxers, and navigating grrrlhood are the kinds of memories that their writing dwells in. They continue to make sense of these moments of dysphoric and euphoric intimacy in their poetry and zines. Constantly inspired by the work of queer friends and artists, Annie feels an immense amount of newfound safety and connection when creating in the Triangle community.

Katherine Verm is a sophomore studying biology, economics, and creative writing. Born and raised in Asheville, Katherine loves to hike and is an avid popcorn connoisseur.

Helena Walsh is a junior from the UK majoring in global studies and history with a minor in creative writing. In her work, she explores the wide, wide plains of belonging via pint-sized licks at childhood, homeland, nature’s whimsy, dysmorphia, ‘merica & lurve.