MEET THE WRITERS

Rex Adams has had work appear in The Georgia Review, Writers in the Attic: Song, New Plains Review, CRAFT, Sky Island Journal, Everyday Fiction, and elsewhere. He’s been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and a Best of the Net award. He is the father of two young daughters. Currently, he resides in Caldwell, Idaho.

Genalea Barker is a native Idahoan with a lifelong love for the written word and an Associate’s Degree in English Literature. Along with publication in Rupture, her short stories have also earned her First Place in the Idaho Creative Authors Network Writing Contest (twice). An ever busy, full-time mom, Genalea writes, edits, and queries her work in between raising her four children.

Mara Bateman lives in Boise, Idaho where she works as an acupuncturist and bodyworker. A native of the Paciic Northwest, much of her work relects that place, its beauty, oddity, and possibility. She is currently working on the publication of her irst novel.

Carolyn Bevington is a Chicana poet and writer who published her irst book of graphic poetry with 10 illlustrators called Wide Eyed Wonders Graphic Poetry Project in 2019. Wideeyedwonders.com

christy claymore is a former adjunct professor of English and Humanities, an aspiring adventurer, and an explorer of the sacred. her boys are her very heart, and she inds herself while running wildly on the beautiful trails surrounding Boise.

Captain Bill Collier lew helicopters for 32 years all around the world. His “Rupture” story is but one small incident taken from his soon-to-be-published third book of his trilogy about his gypsy-moth life of daring and death-defying adventures and… misadventures. He retired to Sandpoint in 2008.

Jamie K. Corbin is an educator who has been navigating whiteness and nonwhiteness her entire life due to her own transracial adoption and her interracial marriage to her greatest ally, Kelvin. She is raising her three Afro-Latina daughters to change the world by loving themselves deeply and sharing that love generously with others. Jamie is passionate about using stories to build connection and empathy as she works in her community to develop equipped, reliable, and action-oriented allies.

JoAnn Koozer enjoys all the social aspects of being human and sharing life’s challenges and victories whether through journal entries or writing poetry, the creating and telling of all of our stories, allowing written moments, ideas, and people to live again and again. World travels as a young girl fueled her curiosity about other cultures and lands. Idaho is now home base. The Cabin and local poetry groups have been wonderful discoveries that support her writing habit.

Stephanie Nelson is a freelance writer living in an old house in Boise with her husband, two kids, a cat and a dog.

Kathryn Durrant is an attorney by day but at night is glad to switch from the facts only side to her creative side. She has written two romance novels and is working on a third. Although she has no published novels, she won’t give up. Her children encourage her in her dream. She is a member of the Idaho Writers Guild, the Coeur Du Bois chapter of Romance Writers of America, and The Cabin. She enjoys gardening, reading, and spending time with her nine grandchildren.

Sonya Feibert Kuhn is a writer, comedian, and improviser who grew up in Eastern Oregon with plenty of space for her imagination to run wild. She got her start penning letters to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. While she waits to hear back, she’s happy to make a living as a freelance writer.

Kara J. Fort is is a former journalist/magazine publisher turned communications leader serving global clients from southern Idaho. Her last poetry was published in Phoenix Downtown Annual Poetry Competition. Once kicked out of the Walter

Cronkite School of Journalism at ASU, she was asked back to guest lecture and teach. Her unconventional, heart-wrenching, and unforgettable tales are marinading for a juicy memoir, although her ultimate writing dream is to be a subsidized poet.

Allison Fowle is a writer and educator whose previous work has appeared on The Dirtbag Diaries, Out There, and Freelow podcasts. Allison is a passionate advocate for environmental justice, and her work primarily focuses on threats to Idaho’s wildest places. She lives in Boise with a hound dog named Pilot.

Farley Egan Green is a Scripps College graduate and retired from a writing/ communications career. Her poems have appeared in the Trestle Creek Review, Emerge Literary Journal, Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine, and her high school alumni newsletter, which could hardly turn her down. She lives in Coeur d’Alene.

S. G. Hamilton earned her MFA at the University of Idaho. She has Bachelor’s degrees in History, Asian Studies, and Civil Engineering. She was the 2019-2020 Hemingway Fellow and a 2019 Centrum Fellow. Her work has appeared in The Stonecoast Review and elsewhere.

GiGi Huntley is obsessed with stories. So much that she owns a salon and does hair, knowing that she will hear more honesty working behind the chair than she could ever hope for with a notebook in hand. She is a published writer with magazine bylines that include a name she tossed aside years ago. She starred in a full-length indie ilm, wrote for numerous blogs (some her own), and created scripts for local ilmmakers. She is an artist and poet who posts her work daily on Instagram and Facebook, was recently awarded an Alexa Rose grant along with a Boise Weekly cover, and believes that everyone should be creating something daily, even if that means serving a beautiful meal to others. She is currently inishing her novel In the Margins. Look for updates on gigihuntley.com.

D.M. (David) Koffer is a fourth-generation Idahoan and the third generation to work for the family business. He holds a Master’s degree in English from Idaho State University, with a focus on linguistics and Old English. When he’s not pulling

pumps or running the oice computer, he’s usually writing or practicing martial arts. David lives in sunny Southern Idaho with his wife, son, and a delightfully quiet Chihuahua named Tattoo.

Stacey Arrington Leybas writes stories for children ranging from picture books to middle grade iction. Outside of writing, she enjoys teaching music classes, digitally scrapbooking, and cheering on Arizona sports teams. She lives in Kuna, Idaho with her husband and ive kids.

Liza Long mis a writer and Assistant Professor of English at the College of Western Idaho. Her book, The Price of Silence: A Mom’s Perspective on Mental Illness (Hudson Street Press),was a 2014 “Books for a Better Life” award winner. She is also a coauthor of the Open Education Resource irst-year composition textbook, Write What Matters. She lives in Eagle, Idaho.

Eliszabeth MacDougal graduated from Brown University with degrees in Literary Arts and Geology-Biology. Most of her writing consists of letters to friends, and her inspiration comes from her studies of the natural world. She is excited to begin a PhD at Tulane, studying wetland ecology and restoration.

James McColly irst developed his interest in moths, birds, and octopuses as a lad exploring the tidepools of the Paciic Coast. He and his fellow child criminals spent busy days picking pockets, running shell games, and shoplifting decongestant tablets and laundry detergent. His rare beach excursions allowed him to dream of better days ahead. Learn more at jamesmccolly.com.

Julia McCoy is a middle school teacher, world traveler, and a long-time member of Writer’s Write. This is her fourth publication in WITA.

Kim Monnier enjoys the challenge of paring down language in describing the world around us. Creating images that explore our perceptions. A former English teacher, he is also a member of the editorial committee of The Whistle Pig, a Mountain Home Arts Council literary publication.

Cameron Morfit is a Staf Writer for the PGA Tour and has had a long career as a sportswriter. In addition to golf, he has written about rodeo and arm wrestling, astrology, and Arco the Atomic City. And yes, he has met Bill Clinton, an encounter that inspired this short story.

Amanda K. Nida is originally from Emmett, Idaho. She received a degree in creative writing from Seattle University and a master’s in library and information science from University of Washington. She is a librarian at College of Western Idaho and spent the last year writing and getting way too into gardening. She lives in Boise with her husband.

Eileen Earhart Oldag writes from Boise, Idaho, where she spent the last yearplus keeping a Covid diary and losing her religion. She was a founding member of Upper Gladstone Writers’ Workspace in Shreveport, LA, and she continues to value the poets and critics in local writing circles. She’s previously published in Crosscurrents and Writers in the Attic.

Diane Raptosh had her collection American Amnesiac (Etruscan Press), longlisted for the 2013 National Book Award in poetry. The recipient of three fellowships in literature from the Idaho Commission on the Arts, she served as the Boise Poet Laureate (2013) as well as the Idaho Writer-in-Residence (2013-2016). In 2018 she won the Idaho Governor’s Arts Award in Excellence. She teaches literature and creative writing and co-directs the program in Criminal Justice/Prison Studies at the College of Idaho. Her seventh collection, Run: A Verse-History of Victoria Woodhull, will be published next month (Etruscan, August 2021). www.dianeraptosh.com

During the COVID-19 shutdown, Laureen Leiko Scheid began journaling and writing poetry with her two elementary school aged daughters. “Embrace Embarrassment” began as a dare. Laureen is thankful for family, friends, and teachers in Hawai’i and in Idaho. Laureen is honored to be included in this year’s anthology.

Bonnie Schroeder has been a storyteller since the ifth grade, when her teacher

suggested she put her vivid imagination to work as a writer. She took the advice to heart and has pursued the craft of iction ever since. After escaping the business world, she began writing full-time, completing two women’s iction novels, Mending Dreams and Write My Name on the Sky — both published by Champlain Avenue Books. In addition, she has authored numerous short stories which have appeared in print, as well as screenplays and noniction articles, including a newsletter for the American Red Cross. She lives in Boise, Idaho, where she is a member of the Idaho Writers Guild. Her website is www.bonnieschroederbooks.com

Alyssa Stadtlander is a writer, actor, and musician from Boise, Idaho. She studied Piano and Theater at Wheaton College (IL). She began writing poetry as a child, and since then, her writing has morphed into an opportunity to consider her own journey of becoming, to ofer words of hope hidden in ordinary things, and to tell her story through the gift of rhythm and words in such a way that readers ind their own. She currently spends her time writing essays, poetry, and songs for her personal blog, Bird Songs and Saints, working at her local grocery store, playing Chopin, biking along the river, and hiking in the foothills surrounding the city with her family. You can ind more from Alyssa at alyssastadtlander.com.

Judith McConnell Steele is a published poet, writer and teacher, the author of two books of newspaper columns and a novel, The Angel of Esperança. During the long year of Covid rupture, she wrote poems in her pandemic journal.

J. L. Stowers grew up in the small town of Shoshone, Idaho, watching the stars with insatiable curiosity. Question-illed notebooks gave birth to ideas, then stories, and inally books. Stowers enjoys writing space opera and post-apocalyptic tales with a focus on exploration. You can read more of her work in the novel The Cost of Survival or within the Ardent Redux Saga. Visit her website www.jlstowers.com for more information.

Jenn Sutkowski is an author and musician in Boise, Idaho, currently working on her irst memoir, Tender Weirdo, and her second solo album. She was a columnist and feature writer for The Newport Mercury for twelve+ years, has contributed to Huf Po and Elephant Journal, and has an MFA in Screenwriting and an MLA in

English and American Literature and Language. Interests include: hanging with her husband and their three cats, her bands — Trippy Hearts and East Witch West, and invoking just the right word or harmony by staring into space.

Reading and writing makes Anita Tanner feel most alive. She’s perpetually energized by the world of ideas. Living in Boise for seventeen years blesses her life. Being a mother and grandmother enhances her ability to love and be loved.

Mary Walker is a 19-year-old college student currently living in Idaho. She’s lived here for almost 8 years now and has enjoyed most of her time so far! She doesn’t usually write many pieces in her spare time. She’s usually too busy to write recreationally but she tries to make time for it all the same. She’s hoping to have more time to enjoy her hobbies this year, and to relax before college picks up again.

Eric E. Wallace, who lives in Eagle, Idaho, is the author of three short story collections (Undertow, Hoar Frost and Stonerise) and three literary novels (Emperor’s Reach, The Improviser and Mind After Mind), and his work appears in numerous literary journals. This is the eighth Writers in the Attic anthology to include one or more of Eric’s stories. His website is www.ericewallace.wordpress.com.

Trevor Warren is a JD candidate at the University of Idaho College of Law. He received an MFA in Creative Writing from Northern Arizona University where he served as iction editor for Thin Air Literary Magazine, and his work is published with The ABA Journal and Assay: A Journal of Noniction Studies.

Mark Woychick is a long-time Boise resident who writes occasionally. Now that his work has been published, he’ll likely be emboldened to write more often. Mark is grateful for the ongoing encouragement for his work from Jim, Norm, and, especially, Nicole.

Driek Zirinski is America’s oldest emerging poet. She also knits, cooks, and grows lowers in a pot. She used to be a professor at BSU.

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