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Meghan Maloney-Vinz first served as a poetry editorial board member for W~SR over 15 years ago when she was an MFA student in the Creative Writing Programs at Hamline University. Soon after, she was hired as W~SR‘s first and so far only, managing editor and dedicated employee. Meghan acquired Mary Rockcastle’s role as executive editor in 2020 upon Mary’s retirement from the position.

Aside from her work with the Creative Writing Programs and its other associated literary journals (rock, paper, scissors, and Runestone), Meghan is also managing editor of the Under Review, an online literary journal with a sports slant. She is also founding member and project manager for a small book arts press, broadcraft press. Meghan hails from a small town in South Eastern, Wisconsin and now lives in cozy St. Paul, MN with her wife and two children.

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Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong-American writer. She is the author of the memoirs The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir, The Song Poet, and Somewhere in the Unknown World. Yang is also the author of the children’s books A Map Into the World, The Shared Room, The Most Beautiful Thing, and Yang Warriors. She co-edited the ground-breaking collection What God is Honored Here?: Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss By and For Native Women and Women of Color.

Yang’s work has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the PEN USA literary awards, the Dayton’s Literary Peace Prize, as Notable Books by the American Library Association, Kirkus Best Books of the Year, the Heartland Bookseller’s Award, and garnered four Minnesota Book Awards. Kao Kalia Yang lives in Minnesota with her family, and teaches and speaks across the nation. kaokaliayang.com 

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Mona Power is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, born in Chicago. She is the author of four books of fiction: The Grass Dancer (recipient of a PEN/Hemingway Award), Roofwalker, Sacred Wilderness, and the forthcoming novel, A Council of Dolls, to be published in Summer 2023 by Mariner/HarperCollins. Grants that have supported her writing include an Iowa Arts Fellowship, James Michener Fellowship, Radcliffe Bunting Institute Fellowship, Princeton Hodder Fellowship, USA Artists Fellowship, McKnight Fellowship, and Native Arts & Cultures Foundation Fellowship. She lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota. 

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Ed Bok Lee is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Mitochondrial Night (Coffee House Press, 2019). Honors for his work include an American Book Award, Minnesota Book Award, Asian American Literary Award (Members’ Choice), and a PEN/Open Book Award. He also works as an artist and translator, and for two decades has taught in programs for youth and the incarcerated. You can learn more about Ed’s work at his website. 

Photo credit © Ted Hall

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Rachel Guvenc is an MFA candidate at Hamline University. She has taught writing classes for kids at The Loft. She was a cast member at the 2016 Listen to Your Mother production in the Twin Cities, and her poetry has received an award from The League of Minnesota Poets. She is also a teacher, parent and a yoga instructor.