The Avalon Literary Review
Contributors Winter 2026
Biographies:

Emily Alston-Follansbee is a former elementary and preschool teacher, now disabled with a neurological illness, but using her good moments to write, mostly poetry. She recently finished a book-length manuscript entitled PeterEmilyKatieJohn: A Semi-Fictional Memoir. Emily lives in Maynard, Massachusetts with her cheery husband and two goofy dogs.

 
Rick Bursky’s most recent book is Let’s Become a Ghost Story, BOA Editions. You can find him on Instagram at instagram.com/rickbursky.

 
Zhu Xiao Di, author of Thirty Years in a Red House: A Memoir of Childhood and Youth in Communist China (memoir), Tales of Judge Dee (novel), Leisure Thoughts on Idle Books (essays in Chinese), and poems published in journals based in the U.S., Singapore, U.K., and Canada. 

 
Andrew Dolby is a native Mainer, denim aficionado, and father. He holds not one, but two academic degrees in critical Media Studies. He works in advertising and lives in Massachusetts. 

 
Deborah H. Doolittle has lived in lots of different places, but now calls North Carolina home.  A Pushcart Prize nominee, she is the author of Floribunda, No Crazy Notions, That Echo, and Bogbound. When not editing BRILLIG: a micro lit mag, she is going on birdwalks or practicing yoga. 

Marchell Dyon is a poet and a poetry enthusiast. She enjoys reading poetry wherever she can find it. She has been published in many magazines over the last fifteen years. Her most recent publications are Toasted Cheese Lit Journal, Five Fleas and Agape Review. She was nominated for the best of the net prize. She has won the 2012 romancing the craft award from Torrid Lit Journal. Her chapbook The moon is never as bright as it appears was short listed at Nightingale and Sparrow Press. With stars in her eyes and a deep-rooted imagination she continues to write in Chicago IL

 
Salwa Emerson is a New York City–based ghostwriter of memoir and nonfiction and the recipient of the 2025 Andy Award for writing collaboration. She is currently at work on two memoirs and on No One Joins a Cult, a long-form exploration of identity, persuasion, and belonging. More of her writing can be found at substack.com/@salwaemerson.

Paul Goodwin is based in Somerset England. His books include Forewarned, published by Biteback, and Something Doesn't Add Up, published by Profile Books.    His short fiction has appeared in literary journals including Literally Stories, The Phare, Marrow Magazine, Litbreak, CommuterLit, and 10 by 10 Flash Fiction.

 
Martin Groff is a high school literature teacher who writes whenever he’s able to carve out some time in his busy life. He holds a PhD in English and Comparative Literature, but creative writing is his original passion. His work has appeared in publications including The Lyric, Aphelion, and The Broken City.

 
Short fiction by V.J. Hamilton has been published in The Penmen Review, The First Line, and Litro Online, among others. She won the EVENT Speculative Fiction prize. Most recently, her work appears in Ocean State Review. She lives and works in Toronto.

 
Ruth Holzer is the author of ten chapbooks, most recently, On the Way to Man in Moon Passage (dancing girl press) and Float (Kelsay Books). Her poems have appeared in Blue Unicorn, California Quarterly, Freshwater, and Slant. A multiple Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, she has won the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Prize, the Tanka Splendor Award and the Ito En Art of Haiku Contest Grand Prize. 

Danielle Hubbard lives in Kelowna, BC, Canada, where she works as the CEO of the Okanagan Regional Library. Her poetry has appeared in The Malahat Review, Graini, and Room, among other places. Her first book of poetry, The Electrocutionist, will be released by McGill-Queen's University Press in summer 2026. When not writing or working, Danielle spends much of her time swimming, hiking, and exploring the Okanagan Valley.

 
Elizabeth B. Morse’s fiction and poetry have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies. She won first prize for flash fiction in an issue of Cardinal Sins. Her full-length poetry collection, Unreasonable Weather, was published last year, and one of the poems was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

 
Cindy Calvani Northrup is from New York state.

Kassandra Owens is a passionate writer with preferences for flash fiction, creative nonfiction, suspenseful thrillers and fantasy stories. Idaho-raised, with roots spread throughout Alaska, Oregon, Washington and the Midwest, Kassandra has collected a crew of real-life heroes that inspire her every day. She likes writing things that make her son laugh.

Andy Roberts is the author of nine collections of poetry. His latest book is My Favorite Failures (Half Inch Press 2025). His work has appeared in American Life In Poetry, Atlanta Review, Fulcrum, Lake Effect, The MacGuffin, The Midwest Quarterly, Roanoke Review, and Slipstream. He lives in Columbus, Ohio where he handles finances for disabled veterans.

 
David John Rosenheim is a poet, songwriter, and executive coach. His work is concerned with the emotional weather of relationships and the landscapes—internal and external—that shape identity over time. He is the author of the poetry collection OWL. He lives in Northern California.

 
Russell Rowland is a trail maintainer and Poetry Out Loud judge in New Hampshire's Lakes Region.  His most recent book, Magnificat, is available from Encircle Publications.

 
Beth Sherman has had more than 200 stories published in literary journals, including Ghost Parachute, Fictive Dream, Bending Genres and Smokelong Quarterly, where she’s a Submissions Editor. Her work is featured in Best Microfiction 2024 and 2026 and Best Small Fictions 2025. She’s also a multiple Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee. She can be reached on social media @bsherm36.

 
Scott Taylor hails from Raleigh, North Carolina.  He is a writer and a musician, and an avid world traveler.  His short stories and poetry have appeared in numerous print and online publications; his novels Chasing Your Tail and Screwed have been released with Silver Bow Publishing, and his novellas Freak and Ernie and the Golden Egg are slated for inclusion in an upcoming anthology with Running Wild Press.  He graduated from Cornell University and was a computer programmer in a past life.

 
Holden Wertheimer-Meier is a fiction writer and playwright previously published in Quiver, Cellar Door, and in the anthology The Last Five Minutes of a Storm (Sans. Press). Holden’s play Faraway was named a Semifinalist for the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center’s National Playwrights Conference, and his plays have also received developmental readings at the Coterie Theatre and the Knox College New Plays Festival. He lives in Queens, NY with his wife.

 
Jeffrey Zable is a teacher, conga drummer/percussionist who plays for dance classes and rumbas, and a writer of poetry, flash-fiction, and non-fiction. He's published five chapbooks and his writing has appeared in hundreds of literary magazines and anthologies. His seleed poetry, When I'm Dead and Felling Blue is now available from Amazon or directly from Androgyne Books.