Contributors

A.S. Kresnak went to grad school to study health communication. Xe still believes the world listens.

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Charl Christen Aleisha “Ally” S. Guirjen is 19 years old and currently studying mass communications. A writer since junior high, she considers literature her first love and has acquired a small number of accolades for her passion. The horror genre is new territory for this Filipino writer, who has mostly submitted her poetry in the past. However, she has found that the macabre and the conventionally beautiful have a unique way of joining that imprints itself on the mind.

Christian Hanz Lozada’s (he/him/his) near-accolades include two Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations, runner up in the Blossom Contest for BIPOC writers, and almost dated Super Bowl halftime star Jessica Alba (if an initiated conversation and immediate rejection count). He is the author of the poetry book He’s a Color, Until He’s Not (Moon Tide Press), a poignant collection exploring conflicting identities, loves, and traumas that weave the American experience, and co-authored the collection Leave With More Than You Came With (Arroyo Seco Press), and the photographic history book Hawaiians in Los Angeles (Arcadia Publishing). His Pushcart and Best of the Net nominated poetry have been published in over 60 journals and anthologies on five continents in such publications as Zocalo Public Square, Cultural Daily,Bamboo Ridge, and Emerson Review. Christian has presented, featured, or workshopped all over California, LA County and City proper at places like the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, the Autry Museum, Beyond Baroque, and various public libraries including Torrance, Cerritos, Long Beach, and Palos Verdes to name a few.

As the son of an immigrant Filipino and a Tennessean Daughter of the American Revolution who met in Los Angeles, Christian’s heart knows the shape of hope and exclusion.

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Christine Dixon is a Filipino American writer and musician based in the greater NYC area. Her work has been featured in various publications and websites including Mic, The  List, Mashed, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, Poetic Resonance Imaging, Brilliant Flash Fiction, Marias at Sampaguitas, What Rough Beast, The Drabble, The Story Shack, Plum Tree Tavern, and Apocrypha & Abstractions. She is the author of “Barkada Tayo” in the Filipino Star News, a column exploring Filipino American identity and life in the diaspora.

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Faith Lakasan likes all things ocean, oat milk, and sunshine. They have a degree in English Literature and love going on walks with their partner.

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JJ de Melo is a queer, Filipino-American and Portuguese writer from San Francisco with creative writing training from the City College of San Francisco. He has had work published in Sci-Fi Shorts, Fiction on the Web, Space & Time, and Literally Stories. In 2025, he won the editor's choice award for fiction from Forum Magazine.

Nikki Stinson received her Bachelor's degree in English from California Baptist University and her MFA in Creative Writing from Drexel University. Her debut novel, Daughters of Mindanao, won the 2025 Drexel Book Award/ Running Wild Writing Contest and will be published with Running Wild Press. She has a short story published with On The Run and a drawing published with The Dazed Starling. Nikki is originally from Riverside, California, and lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with her husband and three children. Please visit nstinson.com and follow @nikkistinson_ for news on upcoming publications or to say hi.

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Samuel Marzioli is a writer of mostly dark fiction. His work has appeared in numerous publications and podcasts, including the Best of Apex Magazine, Asian Ghost Short Stories, Strange Echoes, and LeVar Burton Reads. His debut collection Hollow Skulls and Other Stories was published by JournalStone Publishing.

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Zeny May Recidoro is a Filipino Independent Art Writer and Artist currently residing in Orlando, Florida. She is a recipient of the Asian Cultural Council fellowship grant from 2018 to 2020. In 2024, she was part of the Burnaway Art Writing Incubator cohort, and was a fellow for Fiction at the 63rd University of the Philippines National Writer’s Workshop held in Iloilo City. She has a degree in Art Studies from the University of the Philippines, and an MFA in Art Writing and Criticism from the School of Visual Arts. 

Her literary works have been published in Lontar: A Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction, University of Hong Kong’s Yuan Yang, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, quarrtsiluni, Terse Journal, Unlikely Journal, Ateneo de Manila University’s Kritika Kultura, Queen Mobs Tea House, Variable West, and Berfois. One of her early poems, We (2012; Best of the Net nominee, 2013) was translated into Chinese for Verse and Voice Poetry Magazine in 2017. As an art writer, she has written for the Brooklyn Rail, Degree Critical, Variable West, and Burnaway: a Magazine for Contemporary Art in the South. Her essay “Works-in-Progress: Artistic Practices and Digital Communities” appeared in the Philippine Contemporary Art Network’s Writing Presently. She has a suite of five poems in Likhaan: the Journal of Contemporary Philippine Literature. She works as a cook at Walt Disney World, paints, writes about art, writes fiction, and produces content for the non-profit arts organization Women in the Arts, Inc.

 
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