Authors
Contributors And Editors Past And Present
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Brittany Ackerman is a third-year MFA candidate in creative nonfiction. She visits Disney World at least five times a year and her favorite ride is Space Mountain.
Ruben Aguilar has been a vegetarian for the last six years and has recently become a c at lover despite his allergies. For the last year, he has been living with a Ragdoll cat, Lady Morgana, and he considers her to be the best cat in the universe.
Yasmina Aidi is ori ginally from Morocco and got an undergraduate education in English Philology from the University Complutense in Madrid. She then moved to England to work in video editing while attending London Metropolitan University. Currently, she supervises film proj ects with Spanish students at Florida Atlantic University while she works on a master’s degree in Comparative Literat ure (Spanish and Film Studies). The short film "Bloody Mary," was filmed in Madrid in 2010 and then shown in numerous film festivals around Spain, Germany, Morocco, and England. It won Best Short Film at 5C Festival de Cine in Barcelona and the Audience Award at EMERGEANDSEE in Berlin
Lisette Alonso is a Miami native who is quite relieved the world didn’t end in 2012. She hopes to earn her BA in English summer of 2013.
Alison Amato holds an MFA from FAU. She hopes you enjoy her poetry.
Stephanie Anderson is a third-year MFA can didate in creative nonfiction. She holds a BA in English from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Her work has been published in The Chronicle of Higher Education, SCOPE Magazine, and Farm and Ranch Living.
Jodi Weissman Antman is a wife and mother of two wonderful boys who keep her life interesting and full of writing material. She spent the last twenty years looking for the "right" profession until finally deciding to follow her passion. She has been secretly writing fiction with a flashlight and legal pad since she was a little girl; now she's brought that desire into the light of her laptop with the goal of being a full-time fiction writer.
Jean-Pierre Ardoguein is a recent graduate with a BA in English, concentration in British Literature. This is his second time being published in Coastlines.
Michael Garrett Ashby II was born in Florida, on Friday the 13th of all days. He focuses mainly on short fiction while also writing various poetry pieces.
Aaron Avis earned a BA in English with a concentration in writing and rhetoric fro m Florida Atlantic University. He is currently seeking an MFA in creative nonfiction. Upon graduation, Aaron hopes to become a teacher while publishing manuscripts that demonstrate the possibilities and uniqueness of the creative nonfiction genre.
Christian Barajas is an undergraduate student at Florida Atlantic University.
Edgard Barbosa is a junior pursuing a BFA on Graphic Design. He finds inspiration in geometry, urbanism, technology, and literature. His life verse is found in Jeremiah 33:3.
Ingrid Barreneche is a senior year student of Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture. Her art reflects the feelings of her soul and her deepest emotions. Her creations are guided by a very personal intuitive process.
Molly Bickel is currently seeking her BA in studio art although she is considering pursuing a bachelor of fine arts with a concentration in ceramics. Her favorite work is of the figure; it reminds her of how beautiful the world can be, and she hopes others are reminded of that when they view her work. As for what she will do next, she cannot say since she is still largely in a state of discovery with herself as an artist.
Connor Boyle is a second-year MA student and would like to visit Antarctica before he dies.
Amanda Brahlek is a South Floridian with a cat, a typewriter, and a penchant for trains.
Cate Brecht is a writer, above all else, because she loves anything that adds beauty and understanding to our world. She is a Florida native but has recently moved to Chicago with high hopes of being successful there.
Diana Burgos relishes her Colombian nickname, "Rola," because it reminds her of a Rolex watch and forbidden caramel candy. She wants her tongue to become a great contortionist capable of twisting, bending, stretching and pressing its way through the narrow cracks of language barriers.
Gyasi S. Byng can run wenty miles in two hours.
Su Carlson (MFA, '06) currently lives and creates in South Florida.
Nuala Carr will graduate with an MFA degree this year. She has published work in Coastlines in 2011, Florida International University's Women's Studies journal Making Waves, and an Irish women's poetry publication titled Women's Work.
Mo Case focuses on the musicality and visual images presented through Modern era literature as she pursues her MA. She is a passionate enthusiast of the human imagination, and strives to ensure that her contemplations and introspection will encourage others to endeavor towards the same discoveries.
Merle E Causey III studies graphic design and print making at Florida Atlantic University. He has completed an internship at First Class Alliance and he currently designs for Revolution Live and Iron Forge Press. You can contact Merle at INFO@MECIII.COM or to see more of his work please visit MECIII.COM.
Lisa Chiles is a first-year MFA candidate in fiction. She lives with the handsomest dog in the universe and will fight anyone who says otherwise.
Babette Cieskowski is a senior earning a BA in English. She wishes Mina Loy was taught i poetry workshops, and she also thanks Susan Mitchell for showing her how poetry comes alive.
D.P. Clark is a mediocre auctioneer and antiquities researcher.
Jessica Cohn-Kleinberg is a junior majoring in English with a focus in creative writing. She started writing at the ripe old age of eight in order to entertain her family and hasn't stopped since. Sometimes, she still writes stories about princesses and fairies when no one is looking.
Robert Corrao was born, and spent most of his life, in New York City. There, he was constantly exposed to, and inspired by, many cultures, personalities, inspirational teachers and mentors. This shaped him as an artist from an early age.
Mario Corsaro is a full-time poet who writes every chance he gets and this is his first appearance in Coastlines. He is a recent Psychology graduate from Florida Atlantic University and is currently in pursuit of his Masters of Social Work.
Erin Cunningham is an English major in her second year at FAU. She hopes to pursue creative writing and is very excited to have her first piece of fiction published!
Christina Curcio is an English major at Florida Atlantic University and a self-taught painter. She enjoys jogging with her dog, Bishop. Her favorite is Ernest Hemingway and her favorite singer is Neil Young.
Amanda Davis is from South Florida, and when she is not a photographer for the University Press, she is experimenting with black and white photography.
Nick Day is an English major graduate from Florida Atlantic University and currently resides in Boynton Beach, Florida. He is a full-time, accomplished musician and the drummer for the band "Leading the Heroes."
Kelly De Stefano earned an MFA from the creative writing program at FAU. She studied fiction and has had a poem published in Coastlines as an undergraduate at FAU.
Daniel Dickey earned a BA in English with a concentration in writing and rhetoric.
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Shannon Ellis is an artist and South Florida native with a deep affinity for the local ecology. Her most recent body of work utilizes paint to explore the negative impact of society on the environment. She is in her senior year at Florida Atlantic University pursuing a BFA in painting.
Laura Gayle Fallon moved to South Florida almost a decade ago to study literature. However, her small hometown in Southern Ohio still dominates most of her poetry. "Summer in Ohio" was inspired by the recent passing of a high school friend.
Beckett Farkas loves mangoes, the color gray, and conspiracy theories that implicate all things into a grand unified con-theori-cy. He was born in Sinaloa, raised in Santa Cruz then Colorado, and hates the way race and religious differences are used to mask financial inequality.
Jena Favinger earned a BA in English in 2012 from FAU. She plans on full-time traveling while continuing to experiment with writing and photography.
Victoria Fedden graduated with an MFA in Poetry in the summer of 2009. She recently had two poems published in Revelry; her poem, "Sickness," received honorable mention for the Thomas Burnett Swann poetry prize. She lives in Fort Lauderdale with her husband.
Aj Ferguson (MFA, '10) makes his home in South Florida. You can keep up with his most recent projects and misadventures at: Aj-Ferguson.com.
Betty Feuerberg worked as a court stenographer for more than 20 years before she sold her business and began taking classes at FAU. She is currently working on her Master’s degree in English with a concentration in British and American Literature.
Misoo Filan was born in the Bronx in 1980 but moved back to her parents' homeland of South Korea when she was one-year old. Seventeen years later, she returned to the US with ambitions to use painting as her mode of emotional communication and story-telling. She will graduate with an MFA with a concentration in painting from Florida Atlantic University in the spring of 2014.
Africa Fine is an FAU alumnus and associate professor of English and literature at Palm Beach Community College in Boca Raton. Fine has published four novels, including Katrina, Becoming Maren, Looking for Lily and Save Me . She recently completed her fifth novel, Swan, to be published in 2010.
Janna Renee Fowler is from sunny and historical Pensacola , Florida. She moved to South Florida to attend FAU and graduated December 2008 with a BA in English.
Michele Francoeur is currently an art educator and is in Florida Atlantic University’ s Visual Arts master’s program. As an artist , she abstracts colors and shapes from her visible wor ld to express in her paintings. Her current body of work employs the use of rice paper and watercolors.
Gaia Gallinaro was born and raised in Florence, Italy. She moved to Florida three years ago to attend FAU. She is majoring in interdisciplinary social sciences and studio art.
Janelle Garcia recently earned a creative writing MFA from FAU. She writes fiction and has published short stories in Quiddity, The Binnacle, and Grasslimb Journal.
Tracey Gayle was born in Miami and raised in various states/countries. She aspires to be a professor.
Katrina Gersie is an MFA candidate in fiction at Florida Atlantic University. She grew up in New Jersey, studied liberal arts at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, and worked as a writer for the United States Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. Her work has been published in Scholastic’s anthology Where We Are, What We See and in Literary Calvacade .
Avery Elizabeth Godwin is an aspiring writer pursuing a bachelor’s degree in E nglish with a minor in history. She is also the president of the English Club and the secretary of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.
Before attending FAU, Clay Goldstein traveled the country and world as a musician (harmonica/vocals), including several USO tours. He also facilitates the ropes/challenge courses here at FAU and at Florida International University.
Kim Grabenhorst enjoys iced coffees, mostly, but also steamy mugfulls done in the pour-over style. She’s interested in the individual’s re lationship with her or his body and in that body’s relationship to the world (and in writing about it).
Alexandria Gray is a graduate student who studies speculative fiction. She brings lip balm and a camera on every journey.
Mike Gray is the nom de plume for the author of the same name. He is currently refining his approach to anonymity.
Kelly Ann Gregorio is by nature an optimistic thinker and writer of nonfiction. She graduated from FAU with an MFA in the spring of 2011.
Francis L. Giunta drinks too much and writes too much and makes too much of an awful mess at both. Examples of the two can be found at frankieontherocks.com, his collection of original short stories and essays.
Raul Guizzo draws on his multi-cultural background—which includes Uruguay, the United States, and Luxembourg—to address and attempt to resolve issues of identity in this increasingly globalized world community.
Mia Hansen is an aspiring Elementary Education major with a passion for graphic design and photography.
Rebecca Harthcock is a half-Mexican Texan who cheers for the Longhorns even when she can’t understand the rules to the games. She has five younger siblings and a beta fish named Benji who acts like a dog.
Michelle Hasler is currently working toward her MFA in creative nonfiction with a specialty in narrative science writing. She is convinced that her best ideas come from the pressure of looming deadlines, so she embraces her inclination toward procrastination. With an affinity for culture and travel, she hopes to live in a number of different countries throughout her lifetime.
Kimberly Heise is a student at FAU pursuing a BFA in painting.
Jacob Henson concluded his MFA in creative writing and tenure at Florida Atlantic University. Jacob is the recipient of the 2008 Thomas Burnett Swann Memorial Scholarship and has published numerous pieces of fiction as well as nonfiction and plays in FAU’s literary journal, Coastlines.
Megan Hesse is a third-year MFA candidate in fiction with some scant publishing credits, but she would much rather tell you about the time she was driving to Miami and saw Burt Reynolds driving the car next to hers , and whereupon doing a double take, he smiled and winked at her.
Born in Oklahoma and proud of her Midwestern roots, Erin Hobbie completed a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from Florida Atlantic University. She enjoys compiling soundtracks for the pieces she writes and stands on the conviction that being a nonfiction writer is like being an American Picker: you have to love scouring "the country's junkyards, barns, and basements for hidden gems."
Mary Ann Hogan is an MFA candidate in creative nonfiction. She cooks and raises ducks. She doesn't cook the ducks.
Leah Honarbakhsh is an aspiring nonfiction writer pursuing a Bachelor’s degree as an English major and History minor at FAU. She spends most of her free time reading, writing, playing with her cat and gaming. After she graduates with her BA, she plans to pursue a graduate degree, hopefully at either Princeton or Yale Universities.
Avia Huisman is a PhD candidate in Comparative Studies with a concentration in Environmental Psychology. The desire to share the obvious and not so obvious beauty in the world around her is one of the passions driving her to capture the world through the lens of a camera.
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Adella Irizarry is a rare bird, an MAT in the graduate English department at FAU. She works both as a college writing teaching assistant and a writing consultant. In her free time, she enjoys reading and writing. Arithmetic? Not quite as much.
Christopher Irving is a graduate student at FAU, seeking his Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing. He is also a GTA with the Department of English and the treasurer of the English Graduate Student Society. With a background in both literature and film, his work usually involves either off-beat or sardonic fiction with occasional trysts into the science fiction and fantasy realms. Hoping to strike some balance between teaching literature, creative writing, and film, Christopher aims to continue broadening his literary and writing horizons by way of conferences, workshops, his peers, and his own dedication to his writing.
Rebecca Jensen is an MFA student in creative nonfiction. In addition to her work with Coastlines, she has worked as the fiction editor for Driftwood Press, and she currently writes feature articles for Fort Lauderdale’s city magazine, Go River walk . Her creative work has been published or is forthcoming in FishFood Magazine, an online journal.
Taylor Johnson was born and raised on the sunny beaches of Fort Lauderdale. She has been heavily influenced by her French, Spanish, German, Irish, and Swedish heritage. She dances, plays sports and can always be found with her camera in hand. She is in her junior year and pursuing a degree in studio art.
Mary Regine Joseph’s art speaks for those who are afraid to speak for themselves.
Vanessa Michele Salmon Kaplan teaches environmental science, rhetoric, and literature, has degrees in economics, philosophy, and fiction writing, considers herself a poet and critical theorist, and is a doctoral candidate at FAU. She also plays bass for Meow Meow Index.
Dan Kennard earned a degree in Secondary English Education from FAU in 2007 and earned his MFA 2011. Additionally, as a former place-kicker, he was the leading scorer for the 2005 FAU football team and encourages non-believers to Google it.
Claudia Kisielewicz recommends looking up Salvador Dalí’s artwork in dry times, tasting the pichuberry , and jumping in party bounce houses; she doesn’t advise falling asleep on the subway in New York City with a suitcase unless one is desperate for a good story. She wonders if ideas have ideas too.
Christopher Krider is a film student from Dave, Florida. He hopes to keep pursuing the visual arts.
Mikaela von Kursell is a third-year MFA candidate in fiction who also moonlights as a poet. Her work has appeared in The Explicator, Halfway Down the Stairs, The Found Poetry Review, and other publications.
Melissa Landolfa is a senior graduating in May 2013, studying for a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art with a minor in Sociology. She has a passion for photography and wishes to pursue photo-journalism while practicing fine art as a hobbyist. Taking a leap towards her career, she joined the staff at FAU’s University Press as a photographer in 2011. She enjoys photographing a wide range of subjects including sports, events, nature, and portraits.
Julia LaShure is a recent Florida Atlantic University graduate with a BA in Film, Video, and New Media. She hopes to pursue a career with a local production studio and continue her pursuit of art and animation using her camera for both moving and still images.
Shari Lefler is an MFA student and recipient of the President’s Award a t Florida Atlantic University. Her focus is on nonfiction, espec ially travel and family memoir. This is her second year working on the Coastlines staff, and she is currently serving as Vice President of Graduate Teaching Assistants for the Eng lish Graduate Student Society. In her spare time, s he is organizing an underground group of rebel grammarians to join her fight against the overuse of the exclamation point.
Daniele Leoce is a student of geoscience a t Florida Atlantic University. She is 24 years old.
Maurice Leone was born in Sicily and immigrated to the United States with his parents and two broth ers when he was five years old. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He earned his BA in English, with a concentration in writing and rhetoric and a minor in psychology, fro m Florida Atlantic University. He enjoys wri ting poetry and short stories. He lives with his wife, Nancy, and his two children, Daniel and Marianna.
Matthew Lerette is the uncut hair of graves.
Jason Levitt is a graduate student of politics and an admirer of artists and thinkers who take chances – who rebel.
Lauren Lightbody yearns to understand the natural cycles of life by bearing witness to the developing of moments. B;ack is the color from which all colors stem. Flowering from a dirt black space, she aligns herself through unbroken contemplation.
ManZi Liu is an undergraduate student at Florida Atlantic University.
Mary Long believes in the power of love between a hungry klutz and a monster man. She hopes to one day work for Hank Scorpio, and get some pocket sugar. Challenge her to a game of knucks sometime, or try her neatloaf.
Renee Long is a third-year MFA student and the digital editor for Coastlines. She’s recently become aware that she’s obsessed with the ocean and is currently working on two novellas set at sea. She’s awful at writing titles and bios, but pretty good at making eggplant rollatini and white chocolate chip cookies.
Itxaso del Olmo López was born in Bilbao, Spain in 1988. She got her BA in English Philology at the University of Deusto, Bilbao. When she graduated, she decided to move to the United States in order to pursue her academic career. She worked for one year as Spanish Instructor at the University of Mary Washington, and then started her MA in Spanish Literature at Florida Atlantic University. Currently, Itxaso is writing her MA Thesis and expects to graduate in May 2013.
Kandy G. Lopez is a portrait painter interested in nonverbal communication. She explores how posture, gesture, gaze, and dress can express a personality.
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Eugenia Malioykova is a senior at FAU working towards a BFA in painting.
Toni M. Marino is an English major attending Florida Atlantic University. She writes as a way of conquering everyday frustrations, which helps her maintain a positive attitude and resilient nature.
Phil Mazzeo is foremost a stay-at-home dad of three boys, who occasionally allow him enough time to be a freelance copy-writer, writing tutor, and journeyman wordsmith.
Amber McCammon is currently a graduate student in the biology department. She has been stimulated by light and the study of life since childhood and loves to combine her love of photography and science.
Kristin McGlothlin is the visual arts editor for Coastlines. She plans to graduate this spring with an MA in English literature. Her concentration is children's literature and Edward Gorey. With a background in art history, she is elated to begin a writing career combining on art and fiction.
Monique McIntosh is a third-year MFA candidate at Florida Atlantic University. She writes short stories about the Caribbean and beyond.
Kel McIntyre got her MFA degree in the mail yesterday. She can think of nothing nearly as exciting to report.
Khristian Mecom was born in Oklahoma, but grew up here in South Florida. She has a BA in English from FAU and an MFA in creative writing to go along with it. Previous publications include Frost Writing and Stepping Stones Magazine: ALMIA.
Adel Mettawa is a junior pursuing a degree in English.
Michelle A. M. Miller is a native Floridian who prefers snow to sand. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Georgetown University, and is currently in pursuit of a BFA from Florida Atlantic University.
Negean Mohi is a second year MFA student, the kind that talks in movies, and every song she listens to long enough to critique is literally the best song she has ever heard.
Jonathan Mundell is from Boynton Beach and graduated in the fall of 2014.
Andrea Neumann currently lives in Doral with her husband/proofreader and their three cats. Andrea discovered creative non-fiction when a friend recommended she read David Sedaris, who is now her favorite author.
Shannon O'Brien is a writer, a photographer, a bleeding heart, and a cynical optimist residing in Illinois. She received her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Florida Atlantic University in 2009 and works as a freelance writer for her local paper. A sample of her work can be found here at the MFA at FAU Blog: "Writing With Ink and Light."
Nicole Oquendo loves these sounds—glass breaking, ice being chewed—and also these smells—sandalwood, grass. She loves madly. She is cheating on Lucretius with Gertrude Stein. Her Latin hurts.
Donovan Ortega is a third-year MFA candidate with a focus in chain smoking.
Michael J. Pagan holds an MFA in poetry. His previous works published by Coastlines have been "Palmistry," "Writing Surfaces," and "An Interview with Forrest Gander."
Ben Hill Parham graduated from Florida Atlantic University with an MFA in creative writing. He works in both the short and long forms of fiction.
Matthew Parker is an MFA candidate in fiction at Florida Atlantic University.
Kristine Parsons is a senior, finishing up a degree in Business Management and Marketing. She hopes to earn a minor in photography before graduating.
Richard Peacock is a 2009 graduate of FAU's MFA program for creative writing. He was recognized as a 2009 national finalist for the Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers. He's also an alumnus of the summer writing workshop sponsored by The Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundations. He's currently an English instructor at Bethune-Cookman University.
Kim Pekala is grateful to have served as Editor-in-Chief of Coastlines. She will graduate from the MFA program in Creative Writing in just a moment and continue to wander about teaching and writing things down. She still makes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, though now they are cut into triangles by request.
René Pérez has a BA in Spanish with a certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and is currently in the MA in Comparative Literature program with a primary focus in Spanish and a secondary focus in Gender Studies.
Vinh Pham is a Vietnamese-born artist and current MA student whose work main ly focuses on conquered spaces. His paintings have been featured in shows such as Palm Beach 3, Miami Scope, and Congressional Arts as well as in magazines and on television.
Adam Phillips hails from Niles, Ohio. He received his BA in English at Youngstown State University. He is a second-year MA candidate at Florida Atlantic University, where his thesis research focuses on the rhetorical advantages of multimodality within the composition classrooms.
Justin Piesco is a fiction writer who enjoys learning things he doesn’t know and arguing about things he thinks he does know.
Nicole M. Preble is a 29 year-old graduate from Florida Atlantic University. Her degree is in English, although Nicole currently works in commercial real estate finance (this is an enigma). Somewhere in the space of that spectrum, Nicole enjoys the whispers in coffee smoke as well as fulfilling her duties as mommy and witness to Jazzy, her pug.
Simone Maria Puleo received an M.A. in English from Florida Atlantic University and is currently working as an adjunct professor at Broward College. His writing has appeared previously in The Wide Net, The Journal of American Culture, and The Ish. During his time at FAU, peers secretly called him a "dwarf dragon" and often imagined him in front of the mirror, naked, centered with knees bent, engaged in repetitive punching motions, while yelling "Nietzsche, Nietzsche!" over and over again as a sort of empowering mantra.
Christopher J. Pumphrey was born in Hollywood, Florida, the second born of the second generation of Italian-American immigrants. He earned an M.F.A. in fiction from Florida Atlantic University in April, 2009.
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Kalynina Queiroz is a junior majoring in civil engineering. Photography is her passion. It makes her stop, capture, and magnify the life around her.
Scott Pierce Rachesky is a second -year MFA candidate in fiction. His hobbies include baking alcoholic cupcakes and searching for unipegs in the Everglades. This is his second year serving on the Coastlines staff.
Mark Ragoonathsingh is a senior at Florida Atlantic University pursuing the BFA degree with a concentration in Painting. Mark shows great interest in many forms of art-making from sculpture, installations, design, video, and film, and hopes one day to leave a ‘mark’ on the world.
Deanna Ramcharan is a recent Florida Atlantic University graduate with a BA in fine arts photography. She enjoys spending time with her awesome family and friends. She also has a mean sweet tooth and loves to eat copious amounts of chocolate for inspiration.
Amber Reed is a recent graduate of Florida Atlantic University with a BFA and a minor in psychology. She is a painter interested in how color and symbols can be translated through the fluidity of paint.
Sahar Rehman is originally from Pakistan and moved to Boca Raton at the age of nine. She’s passionate about painting, photography, and writing poetry. She earned an MFA in Poetry at FAU, and in the future would like to teach and continue to write poetry and memoir.
Ian Rice is a second-year MFA candidate in poetry.
Alonso Rodriguez Romero is a Peruvian- born West Palm Beach resident. He is the son of Juan Rodriguez and Gladys Romero, the brother of Marita and Annelisse , and the uncle of Alejandra and Ernesto.
Pamela Rossow is a native SoFlo-idian who is passionate about words, her children, and green, growing things. She has a BA in Sociology from FAU and is working on a second BA in English with an emphasis in rhetoric. Moon halos, buzzing cicada, wet bark, eccentric people, and blue sea glass are known to mesmerize her, and prose ensues much to her delight.
Tamanna Rumin was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and moved to Florida at the age of nine. She is a full-time student at Florida Atlantic University pursuing a double major in English and Interdisciplinary major in Arts and Humanities. She devotes her free time to taking pictures of affectionate scenery and life images, especially from foreign countries.
Gina Russo is a studio art student at FAU Boca. This photo was taken during an adventure in Dublin, Ireland, and thus combines her two greatest passions: art and travel.
Craig Ryan is an aspiring writer and English major who lives in Lake Worth, Florida. He writes about his family and friends and the p eople he loves, the people he’s afraid of (fear being the greatest and longest-lasting kind of seduction known to man).
cindyschwarz experiments with fiction.
Philip Scire was born out of place, like a dog in a fishbowl.
Christopher Selvarajah is a former Motorola Embedded DSP computer engineer but in recent years turned his pursuits toward the arts, which earned him a Bachelor's degree in music from Florida Atlantic University where he specialized in film scoring, composition, and audio engineering. Christopher, however, feels equally comfortable hanging around the halls of the English department where he hopes to pursue an MFA degree in creative writing, ultimately aspiring to realize his ambitions of becoming a Hollywood screenwriter and composer. Currently, Christopher and his wife, Dana, run Ankhara Yoga Studios from Hypoluxo and Manalapan.
Mary Sheffield teaches, writes, performs in the band Zombies! Organize!! and lives in South Florida with her husband, sister, their four cats, one bird, and one hamster (there were once two, but that is a sad and bloody tale).
Catherine Shelton is a native Floridian; completing her MFA in Fiction at FAU, utilizing the styles of meta-fiction, experimental fiction, and graphic narrative transadaptation. She works as a freelance writer for very little money, and volunteers as a proofreader for cosmic brownie points.
Mike Shier is a third-year MFA in creative nonfiction and will be graduating in May 2012. Or at least he thinks he is.
Risa Polansky Shiman is an MFA candidate in creative nonfiction at Florida Atlantic University, where she also teaches. Her work has appeared in such publications as the Brevity blog, Harlot, and HelloGiggles .
Maggy Shirley is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in English Education. In her spare time, she enjoys playing with her daughters, reading, writing, and crafting.
For Robert Slattery, every moment is full of gaiety, joy, ecstasy, and revelry—always. It's just bliss, bliss, bliss, all the time. He graduated with an MFA in creative writing in 2011.
Rosalia Sparacio is a graphic design student. She hopes to graduate soon and work in magazine design as well as explore shoe design. She also loves pizza and ice cream.
Donna Olivia Sprauer graduated from FAU with a B.A. in English on December 10, 2010. Donna Olivia is a poet known by many names including Donna, Olivia, and Liv, but has learned from her pomos that identity is mutable anyway, just another word game.
Emilija Stanic enjoys reading trashy, violent novels set in the American South. She is currently working up the courage to try out for the local roller derby league.
Elizabeth R. Straight is a 31-year-old Mississippi Gulf Coast native. She is a highly respected and accomplished spoken word artist, having ranked 7th in the world at the Individual World Poetry Slam in 2007. She took first place at the Southern Fried Poetry Slam in 2003 and again in 2008. She will graduate in May 2012 with a BA in English with a concentration in creative writing. She currently resides in West Palm Beach with her fiance Matthew and her infant daughter, Alora Michelle.
Patricia Straub lives in Boca Raton with her husband, fiction writer Joshua Wilkes, and cats Pinchie and Daisy. She hopes to move back to the Midwest after completing her MFA in poetry.
Jason Stephens is .
Caryn Suhr is an MFA candidate in fiction. When she is not in Florida, Caryn Suhr spends her summers in middle Georgia hanging out with a cat named Fancy. Her thesis is a collection of short stories.
Jonathan Barry Sullivan was born in New York. He w as raised in the Arizona desert dry-comes-from-everywhere heat and then the Florida evaporated-ocean-g host-spilling-into-lungs heat. He writes about the way the sun, clay, and sand warp reality and gush up palm trees like telephone poles sending fever dreams and prayers between them.
Jake Syersak is a first-year MFA candidate at FAU with a focus in poetry. His most recent work has appeared in Elimae, Revolution House, and Birdfeast. He is a folk music, punk rock, and avante-garde geek.
Sebastian Terneus was born in Quito, Ecuador and raised in South Florida. He is currently completing his MA in English at Florida Atlantic University. He aspires to one day meet Bob Dylan, live in Paris, and become an astronaut.
Alexandra Nicole Thomas was born and raised in West Palm Beach. She has an awesome family wit h two of the greatest brothers. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Florida and is now a master’s student in anthropology at Florida Atlantic University.
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Cimmerian Urbanek is a misfit, rebel, ne’er-do-well, madwoman who is currently skirting the edge of the lacuna that we call life. This lost little grrrl is developing wrinkles in real-time while pursuing three degrees at FAU. She is an activist for those who have been silenced and serves as head of the South Florida affiliate of Mindfreedom International.
Matthew Vega is an undergraduate completing his bachelor’s degree in English. He hopes to live in New York City someday but not before he satisfies his (seemingly) insatiable appetite for travel. Besides writing, he really enjoys listening to good music, being with good friends, and cooking even better food in his spare time.
Sasha Verbetsky was born in Ukraine but was raised in Detroit. Because of her culture, Russian was her first language. Her family moved to South Florida one year before she began high school and she still visits the Motor City often. It seems she lives a split-life, but she wouldn’t have it any other way: she loves the two very different regions and it helps her find inspiration.
Erick Verran studied English at FAU and received an award. Currently, he is bike touring in Europe. He plans to study aesthetic philosophy in graduate school.
Justin Waldron writes and plays music as well as some other things. He almost has an MFA in creative writing.
Courtney Watson is a journalist and writer who recently completed her MFA at Florida Atlantic University. She lives in Wellington.
James A. H. White is completing an MFA in poetry. He is a winner of the 2014 AWP Intro Journals Project award in Poetry and a 2016 Pushcart Prize nominee. His work is featured in the Colorado Review, JMWW, and Decades Review.
Elizabeth Whitton is an English major and part-time photographer. She displays her photography throughout Broward and Palm Beach Counties, with some works incorporating her poetry. She's excited to be published in Coastlines for the second time and looks forward to exploring her writing. She currently resides in an apartment with her brother and adorable cat.
Scott Wood's previous editorial work includes the literary magazines Grub Street (Towson University) and Connections (College of Southern Maryland). He holds an MFA in creative writing from FAU.
Kira Wolak grew up a lonely only child, finding friends and adventure in fiction books since a very young age. She has lived in South Florida for all her fourteen years, but loves to travel and dreams of circumnavigating the globe and writing of her experiences. Kira has a European stay-at-home mother who speaks multiple languages, a father who owns a software engineering company named after her, and a spoiled and adorable German Shepherd named Buck.
Kari Woolsey graduated in fall 2011 with a BFA in studio art and is currently a non-degree seeking student at FAU. She is a functional potter gathering inspiration from her own personal heritage. Detailed carvings containing flora and fauna adorn her vessels, delivering calm and nourishing narratives.
Whitney Van Wormer is a printmaker in Miami with a degree in Art History. She is heavily influenced by contemporary and modern art.
Dylan Leslie Wright recently graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a bachelor of arts degree in English. He loves to write and hopes to make it as a well-known poet or novelist in the future.
Karla Yvette enjoys ornithology, subplots with subplots, and simple carbohydrates. She hopes to one day make a living writing about ghosts, monsters, or something equally impractical.
Cory Zimmerman doesn't understand much; he understands a few things—and thus, everything. If that made sense, you also know Cory enjoys nature, thinking, and assorted stuff. And if that made sense, then Cory doesn't understand you at all.