Lucy Dou is a writer, actor, singer, and professional level zither performer. She loves writing and feel thankful to the joy that this storytelling format brings to her. She mainly writes fictions and plays, and also composes music. Her works has been awa

Shalini Jasti is a recent University of Iowa graduate having studied English and Creative Writing and Secondary Education. She recently spent time student teaching 8th grade English at Southeast Junior High in Iowa City.  Shalini is passionate about

Shreya is a rising high school senior at West High School in Iowa City. She currently serves as the Inaugural Iowa Student Poet Ambassador for the 2021-2022 academic year. Her work has been recognized by the Scholastic Writing Awards and can be found, or

Arinze Ifeakandu was born in Kano, Nigeria and studied English at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is a recent MFA graduate from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he was the winner of the 2018 Richard Yates Short Story Contest. Arinze was also shortl

X.H. Collins was born in Hechuan, China, and grew up in Kangding, on the East Tibet Plateau. Flowing Water, Falling Flowers is her first novel. She lives in Iowa with her husband, son, and dog. To learn more about her and her work, visit her website at xh

Angela Pico was born in the Andes in 1994, spent her early childhood in Bogotá, Colombia and then moved with her parents and twin sister to the Blue Ridge Mountains in rural North Carolina.   She called western North Carolina home, until she mov

Dawson Davenport is a Meskwaki from the Meskwaki Settlement. A 2019 UI grad with a degree in Art, Dawson uses various mediums to showcase his Art. Dawson draws inspiration from his life experience and his Meskwaki way of life. The music for this podcast i

Jarod Valencia-Cheng is a 2nd-year student at the University of Iowa, being originally from Maryland, with a major in Creative Writing and minors in both Dance and Cinema. They are multifaceted in their interests as an RA, a member of the Change UIowa Eng

Mekhia Hillgren is from West Des Moines, IA and just graduated from the University of Iowa, where she studied English/Creative Writing and Sustainability. She writes nonfiction work that explores mental health and how emotional abuse affects children as t

Yasmina Din Madden is a Vietnamese American writer who lives in Iowa. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published or are forthcoming in The Idaho Review, PANK, Necessary Fiction, The Forge, The Atticus Review,The Fairy Tale Review and other journals. H