NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Jane Beal, Ph.D. <janebeal@gmail.com> is full professor and chair of English at the University of La Verne in Southern California. She has written the academic monograph, John Trevisa and the English Polychronicon (ACMRS/Brepols, 2012), and co-edited the festschrift, Translating the Past: Essays on Medieval Literature in Honor of Marijane Osborn (ACMRS, 2012). She also has written The Signifying Power of Pearl: Medieval Literary and Cultural Contexts for the Transformation of Genre (Routledge, 2017), co-authored and co-edited Approaches to Teaching the Middle English Pearl (MLA, 2018), edited and translated Pearl: A Middle English Edition and Modern English Translation (Broadview, 2020). She is the editor of two volumes of academic essays on the reception of major religious figures in the Middle Ages: Illuminating Moses: A History of Reception from Exodus to the Renaissance (Brill, 2014) and Illuminating Jesus in the Middle Ages (Brill, 2019). She writes poetry, magical realist fiction, and creative non-fiction as well; her poetry collections include Sanctuary (Finishing Line Press, 2008), Rising (Wipf and Stock, 2014), and Song ofthe Selkie (Aubade, 2020). To learn more about her and her work, please visit https://janebeal.wordpress.com.

Kathy Brashears <kbrashears@tntech.edu>, a former principal and classroom teacher, currently serves as a professor at Tennessee Technological University and has served in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction since 2004. Dr. Brashears teaches literacy courses and an English-as-a-Second-Language class for undergraduate students in an elementary teaching program and graduate students in a reading specialist program. Her research interests include cultural influences on teaching and learning, particularly in the Appalachian region, as well as reading and writing practices in the elementary school. She has contributed manuscripts to edited books and peer-reviewed journals, as well as presented at the local, state, national and international levels. Dr. Brashears has also served as president of the TN Reading Association and the International Reading Association Storytelling Special Interest Group.

Scott N. Callaham <s.callaham@bts.org.sg> is Lecturer in Biblical Hebrew and Old Testament at Baptist Theological Seminary, Singapore, where he teaches in both Chinese and English. Dr. Callaham is author of Modality and the Biblical Hebrew Infinitive Absolute (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010), lead editor of World Mission: Theology, Strategy, and Current Issues (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), and has written book chapters and journal articles spanning Biblical Hebrew grammar and syntax, Old Testament theology, biblical theology, language learning, preaching, pastoral ministry, worship, and songwriting. He has served as a conference speaker and Bible translator, and he is also a composer of Chinese worship music for congregational singing. Dr. Callaham earned his Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2006.

Melissa Comer, Ed.D. <mcomer@tntech.edu> has served on the faculty in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at Tennessee Technological University since 2004. She teaches literacy related courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Professional scholarly experience includes numerous presentations at the local, state, regional, national, and international venues as well as the publication of conference proceedings and scholarly articles in various reputable journals. Additionally, Professor Comer served as the webmaster and president of the Tennessee Council for Teachers of English (TCTE) as well as the co-editor for Visions & Revisions, TCTE’s newsletter. Beyond this, she currently serves on the editorial review board for The ALAN Review. Current research interests include Appalachian culture, storytelling pedagogy/methodology, technology integration, and Christianity in higher education.

Rebecca Duke <Rebecca.Duke@mobap.edu> is Special Lecturer in English at Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis, MO. Rebecca enjoys engaging students in both the academic and creative writing processes inside the classroom. In addition to writing lesson plans that encourage students to develop their voice and to record meaningful detail within their essays, Rebecca has studied creative writing within her undergraduate and graduate career in English studies and has written and produced a short play at Bob Jones University. Rebecca personally keeps a poetry journal by her side during travels, Bible study, and when recording simple observations about daily life. Poetry challenges and retreats with friends and colleagues as well as quiet Saturday mornings with her husband and dog inspire her to fill her poetry journals.

James Fowler <jamesf@uca.edu> teaches literature at the University of Central Arkansas. His literary essays have appeared in ANQ, Children’s Literature, and The Classical Outlook; his personal essays in Southern Cultures, Cadillac Cicatrix, Quirk, and Under the Sun; his short stories in such journals as The Labletter, Anterior Review, Little Patuxent Review, Best Indie Lit New England, Line Zero, The Chariton Review, the Southern Review, Riding Light Review, and Elder Mountain; and his poems in such journals as Futures Trading Magazine, Aji Magazine, Cantos, Dash, Valley Voices, Sheila-Na-Gig, Common Ground Review, Angry Old Man Magazine, and Cave Region Review.

John J. Han <John.Han@mobap.edu> is Professor of English and Creative Writing and Chair of the Humanities Division at Missouri Baptist University. Han is the author, editor, co-editor, or translator of twenty-three books, including Worlds Gone Awry: Essays on Dystopian Fiction (with Clark Triplett and Ashley Anthony; McFarland, 2018), Autumn Butterfly: Haiku, Senryu, and Other Poems (Cyberwit, 2019), and On the Road Again: Photo Essays on Famous Literary Sites in Japan (Cyberwit, 2020). He has published hundreds of poems, as well as numerous critical essays, worldwide. His recent poems have appeared in The Bamboo Hut, Cave Region Review, drifting-sands-haibun, Elder Mountain, Frogpond, Modern Haiku, Tanka Origins, Valley Voices, Wales Haiku Journal,

World Haiku Review, and other periodicals. Han earned his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Philip C. Kolin <Philip.Kolin@usm.edu> is Distinguished Professor of English (Emeritus) and Editor Emeritus of the Southern Quarterly, has published more than 40 books, including critical studies and reference works on Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, David Rabe, Edward Albee, and a host of contemporary African American women playwrights, especially Adrienne Kennedy. Also a poet, Kolin has published nine collections of his verse, most recently Emmett Till in Different States (Third World Press, 2015), Benedict’s Daughter: Poems (Wipf and Stock, 2017), and Reaching Forever: Poems (Poiema Series of Cascade Books, 2019). His poems have appeared in America, Spiritus, Christianity and Literature, The Cresset, St. Austin Review, Emmanuel, US Catholic, Anglican Theological Review, Sojourners, Michigan Quarterly Review, South Carolina Review, and Louisiana Literature. He has coedited three eco-poetry collections, including Hurricane Blues (Southeastern UP, 2006), with Susan Swartwout, Down to the Dark River (Louisiana Literature Press, 2017), and Night’s Magician: Poems about the Moon (Negative Capability Press, 2018) with Sue Walker. Kolin has also published the 11th edition of his business writing textbook Successful Writing at Work (Cengage). Kolin was the featured poet in the most recent issue of Delta Poetry Review.

Julie Ooms <Julie.Ooms@mobap.edu> is Associate Professor of English at Missouri Baptist University. She received her Ph.D. in English from Baylor University in 2014. Her current research projects focus on Christian practices for teaching reading and the crossroads of religion and secularism in twentiethcentury American fiction. She has published articles on the writing of Tim O’Brien, J.D. Salinger, and Sylvia Plath in Renascence, Journal of the Short Story in English, Christian Scholar’s Review, and Plath Profiles.

Todd Sukany <tsukany@sbuniv.edu>, a Pushcart nominee, lives in Pleasant Hope, Missouri, with his wife of over 37 years. He holds degrees from Southwest Baptist University and Southeast Missouri State University. Sukany currently serves as an instructor of English at Southwest Baptist University. His work has appeared in Ancient Paths, Cantos: A Literary and Arts Journal, Cave Region Review, The Christian Century, Intégrité: A Faith and Learning Journal, and The Ekphrastic Review. Sukany co-authored a book of poetry, The First Book of Mirrors, with Raymond Kirk. A native of Michigan, Sukany stays busy running, playing music, loving three children, their spouses, five grandchildren, and caring for four rescue dogs, a kitten, and one ancient cat.

Kyung-ok and In-kyung Sung are leaders of the Korean L’Abri. As a married couple, they raised three children and have been helping many young truthseekers for the last thirty years since they attended the first L’Abri conference in 1988. The author of A Mother to Mothers (1992), Kyung-ok, graduated from Ewha Girls’ High School and Yonsei University in Seoul. In-kyung graduated

from Chongshin University and Chongshin Theological Seminary in Seoul. His many books include The Answer Is There (1996), Turning My Worldview Upside Down (1998), Bible & Culture (1998), The Truth Is Still Alive (2001), Cocktails of Pluralism (2007), and The Paradigm of Lowlands Vision (2010). All of the books by the authors are in Korean.

John Zheng <zheng@mvsu.edu> is author of Enforced Rustication in the Chinese Cultural Revolution (Texas Review Press, 2019) and editor of five books, including the forthcoming Conversations with Dana Gioia (UP of Mississippi, 2021). He has published more than ten photoessays, including “Avalon and Valley: Mississippi John Hurt’s Blues Base” in Mississippi Folklife (Spring 2020). He teaches at Mississippi Valley State University, where he serves as editor for Journal of Ethnic American Literature.