Literary Web Exclusives
Issue 159
Fiction: Gravity Is a Vertical Timeline
Charlie M. Case is a fiction author from Southern California, currently based in New England. Case has been published previously in The Masters Review, Long River Review, and Major 7th Magazine; more work can be found at https://cmcase.org/.
Nonfiction: Unicorns and Rainbows
Anita Cabrera’s poetry, short stories, and creative nonfiction have appeared in The New Guard; The Acentos Review; Anti-Heroin Chic; Litro Magazine; Crab Creek Review; Brain, Child; and other journals. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and adapted for stage by the Word for Word Performing Arts Company in San Francisco.
Nonfiction: Just a Frail Old Man
Kelly S. Thompson holds a master’s degree and a PhD in creative writing. Her writing has appeared in many anthologies and literary magazines. Of her memoirs, Girls Need Not Apply and Still, I Cannot Save You were instant national bestsellers. She teaches creative nonfiction at University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Nonfiction: Broncos Nation
Shea Burchill (she/her) lives with her husband in Colorado. She is the 2025 Fourth Genre Steinberg Memorial Essay Contest winner and was a finalist for The Missouri Review 2025 Editors' Prize in nonfiction. Her writing has also appeared in Under the Sun and Marrow Magazine.
Poetry: Second Coming
Allisa Cherry (she/her) is the author of An Exodus of Sparks (MSU Press) and has recent work in Rattle Poetry, Chicago Quarterly Review, Jet Fuel Review, and The Penn Review. Based in Portland, Oregon, she runs workshops for immigrants and refugees and is an editor at West Trade Review.
Poetry: Sitting Pretty in a Sestina
Matthew Zhao is a PhD student at Florida State University and an assistant editor for Southeast Review. He was a finalist in the National Poetry Series and The Mississippi Review Prize. His poems recently appeared in swamp pink, Four Way Review, The Indianapolis Review, PRISM international, Good River Review, Pinch, and elsewhere.
Poetry: Metaphors for My Body on the Examination Table
Anne Duncan is completing her MFA in creative writing and PhD in literature at University of Washington in Seattle. Her poems have been published in Rogue-Agent, Permafrost Magazine, Cherry Tree, and elsewhere. She is also a fiber artist and can often be found knitting.
Poetry: Frat Boy Baby Disco
KT Dorfman is a poet and visual artist pursuing her MFA in poetry at NYU. Her work has been long-listed for the National Poetry Competition, published in Driftwood Press, Furrow Magazine, won Cove Magazine’s one-line poem competition, and was a finalist for the Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards.
Poetry: Doppelgänger
Jose Hernandez Diaz is a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow. He is the author of Bad Mexican, Bad American (Acre Books, 2024) and Portrait of the Artist as a Brown Man (Red Hen Press, 2025), among others. He has taught creative writing at University of California, Riverside, and University of Tennessee.
Poetry: Woman Selling Fish: Oil on Canvas: Raja Segar: 2020
Ranudi Gunawardena is a Sri Lankan poet whose work explores the wombscape, childhood in rural landscapes, and the uncanny in nature, among others. Her work has appeared in literary magazines such as Action, Spectacle, Chestnut Review, Foglifter, Harbor Review, Magma Journal, ONE ART, Shō Poetry Journal, and SUSPECT. She studies at Williams College.
