Writers' Biographies

Joseph Andriano is a professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. His short stories have appeared in Argonaut, The Southwestern Review, The Chattahoochee Review, The Emergency Almanac, and Louisiana Literature.

Beth Ellen Anstandig received her MFA in Creative Writing from Arizona State University where she received two Academy of American Poets Prizes. Her poems have been published in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Clackamas Literary Review, Louisiana Literature (2000 Poetry Prize Winner), Flint Hills Review, Sou’wester, Reed Magazine, Caesura, Tapestry, Tattoo Highway, and Yale Anglers’ Journal. She was an International Merit Award Winner in Atlanta Review’s 2001 International Poetry Competition and was nominated for a 2002 Pushcart Prize. She is the co-author of An Anthology for Creative Writers: A Garden of Forking Paths, which was published by Prentice Hall. She lives in Los Gatos, California.

Barry Ballard’s poetry has most recently appeared in Prairie Schooner, The Connecticut Review, Margie, and Puerto del Sol. His most recent collection is A Body Speaks Through Fence Lines (Pudding House, 2006) He writes from Burleson, Texas.

Jack B. Bedell is a professor of English at Southeastern Louisiana University, the editor of Louisiana Literature and a recipient of the LEH Humanities Award (2006). His poems have appeared in Connecticut Review and Hudson Review. He is the author of several books of poetry, including At the Bonehouse, What Passes for Love, Greatest Hits, 1986-2003, and most recently Come Rain, Come Shine (Texas Review Press).

Alaine Benard has co-authored and published three inspirational books with her twin sister and two friends. Her poetry has been published in The Saint Linus Review, Louisiana Literature, The Literary Lion, Tattoo Highway, and more. She has just completed her first creative fiction novel. Benard is a columnist and editor of an ADHD newsletter. Poetry is her passion.

Catharine Savage Brosman, who has lived in New Orleans for more than thirty-eight years, is Professor Emerita of French at Tulane University and Honorary Research Professor at the University of Sheffield (UK). She is the author of two collections of non-fiction prose, including The Shimmering Maya and Other Essays (LSU Press, 1994), three chapbooks of verse, and five full-length collections of poetry, of which the latest is The Muscled Truce (LSU Press, 2003). A sixth collection, Range of Light, is in press for 2007. Among her recent scholarly books are Visions of War in France: Fiction, Art, Ideology (1999), Existential Fiction (2000), and Albert Camus (2001). Recent poems have appeared in the Southern Review, Southern Humanities Review, and Southwest Review. Her forthcoming poems will appear in the Sewanee Review, and five poems from the 2007 collection will appear in French translation next year.

Curtis L. Crisler is currently a Limited-Term Lecturer in the English and Linguistics Department of Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW). He has a forthcoming book Tough Boy Sonatas, a chapbook entitled Burnt Offerings of a City, and work in Black Arts Quarterly, The Fourth River, Obsidian III, Sou’wester, and Callaloo, and he is a Cave Canem Fellow.

Charlene A. Donaghy is a lifelong resident of northwest Connecticut where she resides with her spouse, Gary, and a very spoiled black Labrador Retriever named Sophie. Ms. Donaghy is a breast cancer survivor and is currently pursuing a degree in Writing and Literature at Vermont College. She writes short story fiction, dramatic plays, memoirs, and poetry. Besides her family and writing, her passions include the theatre, photography, and her second home, the city of New Orleans. Her publishing credits include “French Quarter Inspirations,” “Silent Morning,” and “No Feathers” in the Mad River Literary Review, as well as “Stillness-8/29/05” and “Phoenix” in the Louisiana Literary Journal.