Vaughan Rapatahana is Māori and lives in Hong Kong, with a house in Aotearoa. His wife is from the Philippines, where they also have a home. His work has been published in variety of genres worldwide. Two poetry collections were published in 2011: Home Away Elsewhere (Proverse Hong Kong) and china as kafka (Kilmog Press, Aotearoa). His recent publications include a critique of English language agencies, English Language as Hydra (Multilingual Matters, U.K), and part-collections Karon Beach and Bride Price Two (Good Samaritan Press, Thailand). His novel Toa (Atuanui Press, Aotearoa) is forthcoming in 2013.

Siobhan Harvey is the author of the poetry collection, Lost Relatives (Steele Roberts NZ, 2011), the book of literary interviews Words Chosen Carefully: New Zealand Writers in Discussion (Cape Catley, 2010), and the anthology Our Own Kind: 100 New Zealand Poems about Animals (Random House, 2009). Recently, her poetry has been published in Evergreen Review (Grove Press, US), Five Poems Journal (Ned), Meanjin (Aus), Shenandoah (US), Stand (UK) and Structo (UK). The Poetry Archive (UK) showcases a Poet’s Page devoted to Harvey’s work here.

Bruce Curtis was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1961. Bobby Darin’s version of ‘You must have been a beautiful baby’ was number one the week he was born. Great things followed from this auspicious start. He works as a sociologist at The University of Auckland. He is married to Cate. He strives to be loving and laconic in his poetry. He wishes he had started thirty years ago; he would be so much better now.

Holly Painter is an MFA graduate of the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. She and her partner currently live in Ann Arbor, MI, where Holly writes poetry and fiction and teaches creative writing to students at 826michigan. Holly is also a copy-editor as well as a poet for hire. She writes love poems, wooing poems, apology poems, thank you poems, and special occasion poems for clients all over the world.

Michalia Arathimos is a Greek New Zealand author. She has published short stories and poetry in several New Zealand books and journals, including Best New Zealand Fiction Volume 4, Lost in Translation: New Zealand Stories, Sport, Turbine, JAAM, Metro, The NZ Listener, Otoliths and Blackmail Press. She is currently undertaking a PhD in Creative Writing with Bill Manhire at the International Institute of Modern Letters, where she is writing a novel.

Carolyn Stack is writing a memoir that speaks to the forces that drove her away from New Zealand – her native country. She ran off at the age of twenty to travel the world and finally settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her work pivots on the theme of emotional violence. She is a psychologist and psychoanalyst, and she lives and practices in Cambridge. She runs a professional/fictional blog on her website: www.carolynstack.com.

Jeni Curtis teaches English at St Andrew’s College, Christchurch, New Zealand. She has a keen interest in Victorian literature and history. She is President of the Christchurch branch of the Dickens Fellowship, and editor of their magazine, Dickens Down Under. She has published poems in the Christchurch Press, Blackmail and International Literature Quarterly, as well as having a poem featured on Helen Lowe’s Tuesday poem blog, October 31, 2012.

Kate Larkindale is a writer, cinema manager, film reviewer and mother to two boys. She is constantly surprised she can find any time to write, but doesn’t sleep much. You can usually find her hanging around the espresso machine at her cinema in Wellington, New Zealand. If that’s too far to travel, you can find her here.

E.A. Fow was born and grew up in New Zealand but has lived in New York for the last twenty years. She has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College, CUNY, and now spends her time teaching, writing, painting, and chasing her four-year-old daughter around Brooklyn. Her Kiwi accent, however, hasn’t faded.

Originally from Bristol, UK, Julie now lives on the Surf Coast, Australia. In 2012 she was shortlisted for The Crashaw Prize (Salt, UK). Her debut collection of poetry, When I saw Jimi, will be published in June 2013 by Indigo Dreams Publishing UK. Her poetry and short fiction feature in UK, US and Australian journals including The Best Australian Poetry (UQP). She blogs at juliemacleanwriter.com.

Lucy Butler recently completed a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne which looked at romance and dismemberment in recent fiction. She has published fiction in Australasia and abroad, most recently in Hue & Cry, New Fraktur and Paragraphiti. She currently lives in Golden Bay, New Zealand, where she is working on her first novel and pursuing research interests in the realm of popular culture.

Kerrin P. Sharpe lives in Christchurch, New Zealand where she is a poet and a teacher of creative writing. She has published in NZ, Australia and England. Her first collection, Three Days in a Wishing Well, has just been published by Victoria University Press.

Some of the poems published in the Anthology previously appeared in Best New Zealand Poems, Takahe, Turbine and Sport and she has a forthcoming poetry selection in Oxford Poets 2013.

Gail Ingram writes poetry, short stories and is working on a short novel for teenagers. Her work has appeared or is pending in Takehe, Fineline, The Climber 2012, Ice Diver, Building a time machine and The Christchurch Press. She is the president of SIWA (South Island Writers Association) and a member of Airing Cupboard, a group of woman poets. She is inspired by great books, family and conservation, particularly of the sublime South Island landscape.

Host of the Gelato Poetry Series, instigator of the San Diego Poetry Un-Slam, and an editor of the San Diego Poetry Annual, Jon Wesick has published over two hundred fifty poems in journals such as The New Orphic Review, Pearl, Pudding, and Slipstream. He has also published over fifty short stories. Jon has a Ph.D. in physics and is a longtime student of Buddhism and the martial arts. One of his poems won second place in the 2007 African American Writers and Artists contest.

Claire Orchard lives in Wellington, where she divides her time more or less evenly between writing and working at a local primary school. In 2013 this ratio will shift dramatically when she begins an MA in creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University.

Tom McLean is a student at Victoria University of Wellington, and editor of Three Islands Magazine. His website is at tommclean.co.nz.

Sarah Bainbridge lives in Paekakariki, New Zealand. Her writing has appeared in Hue&Cry Journal, Pasture, and JAAM (forthcoming). She has an MA in creative writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters, and is an echocardiographer by trade.

Diane Andrews was born in Wainuiomata, NZ in 1953. She and her husband sailed from Sydney to Cairns in a sixteen-foot boat; she now lives there and is involved in many activities—see www.dianeandrewspublishing.com and Cairns Tropical Images.
She survived life-threatening cancer, with the most amazing response using medical treatment supplemented by diet. Diane has been featured in many poetry and short story anthologies and been placed in several competitions. She has published a collection of previously published stories, The Speed of Darke.

An American freelance writer living in New Zealand, Elisabeth Smith Wood usually writes poetry wearing at least one layer of cashmere. Her work has appeared in various publications including Emerge Literary Journal, Oz Poetic Society, and The Camel Saloon.

Sandi Sartorelli was born in the Hutt Valley of New Zealand and has lived there ever since. She has recently completed a degree in creative writing with the Whitireia Creative Writing Programme. Some of her work has appeared in 4th Floor, Blackmail Press, Conversations Across Borders, Eye to the Telescope, Poems in the Waiting Room, The Mozzie, and Valley Micropress.
She is also known as Abra Cadabra.

Airini Beautrais is a poet and fiction writer living in Whanganui, New Zealand. Her collections of poetry are Secret Heart (2006) and Western Line (2011), both published by Victoria University Press, Wellington. She has worked as a science teacher and is currently at home with her two sons, Lukas (2.5) and Felix (6 months).
“A pair of hands” is set in Whanganui in the early 1990s, a time of record unemployment in New Zealand. The Whanganui river featured in the story has been home to a variety of well known artists and writers, and often finds its way into Airini’s work.

Melanie Dixon is currently studying at Hagley Writers’ Institute. She has published work for adults and children and is working on her first novel for children. Having spent years working in television and website production, she is now indulging in full-time writing. Originally from Wales, Melanie now lives overlooking the beautiful Lyttelton Harbour near Christchurch, New Zealand, with her husband and two energetic children.

Daphne Cohen is a 24-year-old medical student currently studying in Christchurch, New Zealand. Over the last few years she’s lived in most of NZ’s major cities, usually by choice. She writes poetry and other flash fiction in her spare time (which she never seems to have enough of). Her backup plan is to live on a boat and sail around the world. She also has amazing hair.

Born in a log cabin in Virginia, Amanda McRaven directs plays and writes, for the time being, in Los Angeles. She is a Fulbright scholar to New Zealand and occasional stonemason, photographer, and stargazer. She has been published in New York ______. Magazine and muses at Stars In My Hands and Coffeeshop Heart, a blog about her constant detours to America’s most intriguing coffeehouses. Georgia In Her Mind, a memoir of the women she taught in the Virginia prison system, is forthcoming.

Joey Dean Hale is a musician and writer in the St. Louis area. He received his MFA from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and has published stories and poems in several magazines, including Eureka Literary Magazine, Temporary Infinity Press, Red Booth Review, Marco Polo Arts Mag, theNewerYork, and Octave Magazine, which also has his song “High Noon” posted online.

Nicole Wolverton is a freelance writer from the Philadelphia, PA area. Her short fiction has appeared in Black Heart Magazine, The Molotov Cocktail, and Trembles Horror Magazine. Her debut novel, a psychological thriller titled The Trajectory of Dreams, will be available in March 2013 (Bitingduck Press). Nicole is the moderator of the weekly flash fiction contest 5 Minute Fiction and founder of Farm to Philly, a website devoted to eating locally grown foods.

Chad Stroup is currently pursuing his MFA in Fiction at San Diego State University. His work has recently been featured in the San Diego Poetry Annual, Linguistic Erosion, and Educe Journal, and he will have a story in an upcoming anthology called Enter at Your Own Risk: Fires and Phantoms from Firbolg Publishing. He also runs a blog called Subvertbia, which showcases some of his short fiction and poetry.

Steve Castro’s work has been published in This Great Society (Canada), Hobart (print), Grey Sparrow Journal, Underground Voices, ASKEW, Splash of Red, Kindling, Scythe Literary Journal, The Broken Plate, the Dublin Quarterly (Ireland), The Tower Journal, Everyday Genius, Andar21 (Spain), Cricket Online Review, Phantom Kangaroo, Numinous: Spiritual Poetry, Chiricú, The Whistling Fire, etc. Herr Castro was born in San José, Costa Rica. He was raised in Santa Ana, Costa Rica and Evansville, Indiana. He has also lived in Israel, Germany, etc.

Kelsey Garmendia, 22, is an alumni of SUNY New Paltz. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. Garmendia has been published in the Stonesthrow Review, Poydras Review and twice in Midnight Screaming. Besides writing, she has sport photography published in The Little Rebellion.

Garmendia also played varsity volleyball for the New Paltz Hawks all four years of her college career. She was a Resident Assistant for the last two years of her college career.

Martin Cohen is a retired computer programmer who loves dancing (favorites are West Coast Swing, Waltz, and Tango), writing (but not revising) poems, and solving math problems.

Richard Peabody is a French toast addict and native Washingtonian. He has two new books due out this fall—a book of poetry, Speed Enforced by Aircraft (Broadkill River Press), and a book of short stories, Blue Suburban Skies (Main Street Rag Press).

Josh Crummer is a poet from the Tri-Cities of Michigan. Currently he is working on both an MA in Creative Writing and his first chapbook. His work has been featured in various magazines like Perceptions Literary Journal, Temenos, Bare Back Magazine, Cardinal Sins, and most recently, this one.

Anthony Isaac Bradley’s stories and poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Red Ink Journal, Moon City Review, Cave Region Review, Elder Mountain, Main Street Rag and The MacGuffin. He was a finalist in the Moon City Review 2011 Short Story Contest, judged by Kevin Brockmeier. Anthony studies creative writing at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri, where he occasionally leaves his room.

Gary Leising is the author of a chapbook of poems, Fastened to a Dying Animal, published by Pudding House Press. His work has appeared in many literary journals, including The Cincinnati Review, River Styx, and The Prose-Poem Project. His essays and reviews have appeared in Chicago Review, The James Dickey Newsletter, and elsewhere. He lives in Utica, New York, with his wife and two sons, where he teaches creative writing and poetry as an associate professor of English.

Mark Rosenblum—a New York native who now lives in Southern California—misses the taste of real pizza and good deli food. His work appears in Tiferet Journal, Boston Literary Magazine, Everyday Fiction, Six Minute Magazine, Short, Fast & Deadly, Sleet Magazine, Monkeybicycle, Vine Leaves, and Apocrypha and Abstractions. His ramblings also appeared in the anthologies: It All Changed in an Instant, Thinking Ten—A Writer’s Playground, Pure Slush Volume I, Daily Flash 2012, Six Words about Work and Six-Word Memoirs on Jewish Life.