Novus Spring 2025 Contributors
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L. Ward Abel
L. Ward Abel’s work has appeared in hundreds of journals (Rattle, Versal, The Reader, Galway Review, Main Street Rag, others), including two recent nominations for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, and he is the author of four full collections and ten chapbooks of poetry, including his latest collection, Green Shoulders: New and Selected Poems 2003–2023 (Silver Bow, 2023). He is a retired lawyer and teacher of literature, and he writes and plays music (Abel and Rawls). Abel lives in rural Georgia.
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Wendy BooydeGraaff
Wendy BooydeGraaff’s poems have been included in Cutleaf, Barzakh, About Place Journal, Dunes Review, and anthologized in Under Her Eye (Blackspot Books), Midwest Futures: Poems & Micro-Stories from Tomorrow’s Heartland (forthcoming from Middle West Press, March 2025), and Not Very Quiet (Recent Works Press). Born and raised in Ontario, Canada, she now lives in Michigan, United States.
Jeff Bien
Jeff Bien is an internationally acclaimed poet, musician, activist, and highly regarded meditation and consciousness teacher. His work has been published, translated and performed in eighty countries. Recent poems have been featured in 1749 Online World Literature Magazine (Hungary), Jintian (China), The Antigonish Review, The Montreal International Poetry Anthology, Vallum, The Notre Dame Review, as well as several seminal poems, ‘As the walls came down’, ‘Kyiv’ and ‘My mother in Gaza’, which have been rendered into more than forty languages, are to be released by a prominent Italian filmmaker, as a poetic documentary and accompanying short films, in Summer 2025.
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L.F. Conrad
L.F. Conrad is currently a freshman at Cumberland University. She has been writing since she was three years old, ever since she was instructed to write down her dramatic and imaginative stories. She plans to pursue a career in writing and she looks forward to her next few years at Cumberland. This is her first publication in Novus Literary Arts Journal.
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Cristian Dunn
Cristian Dunn is a senior majoring in Creative and Professional Writing and minoring in English at Cumberland University. He recently finished writing a poetry chapbook titled Sandfallen Saints. When Cristian is not spending his time writing, he enjoys listening to songs from musicals.
M. F. Drummy
M F Drummy holds a PhD in historical theology from Fordham University. The author of numerous articles, essays, poems, reviews, and a monograph on religion and ecology, his poetry has appeared in dozens of journals, literary magazines, and anthologies. His debut full-length collection of poetry from MSR Publishing, as well as a chapbook of haibun, will both be forthcoming later this year. Originally from Massachusetts, he and his way cool life partner of over 20 years enjoy splitting their time between the Colorado Rockies and the rest of the planet. He can be found at https://www.instagram.com/miguelito.drummalino/
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Frank William Finney
Frank William Finney is a poet from Massachusetts. A recipient of The Letter Review Prize for Poetry, his poems have appeared in Brussels Review, Fairfield Scribes, Penn Journal of Arts and Sciences (PJAS), The Paradox Magazine, Route 7 Review, Songs of Eretz Poetry Review, and elsewhere. His chapbook The Folding of the Wings was published in 2022 by Finishing Line Press.
Christian Fisher
Christian Fisher is a junior at Cumberland University, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in English. He has dreams of penmanship & publication, but otherwise intends to teach English in Japan as a career. Hobbies include reading, concert going, writing, and studying Japanese… lots of studying.
Leith Fae
Leith Fae is a lover of all things art, to non-exhaustively include poetry, photography, music, and fiction. She can be found walking nature trails with her poetry notebook & camera readily available.
Davin Faris
Davin Faris is a student of philosophy and literature at St. John’s College, in Annapolis, Maryland. His writing has been featured by the New York Times, Patagonia Magazine, the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, Livina Press, Ink & Marrow (2024 Pushcart Prize nominee), and others. He is a submission reader for ONLY POEMS.
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Rich Glinnen
This is Rich Glinnen’s first publication with Novus Literary Arts Journal.
Ben Groner III
Ben Groner III is the author of the poetry collection Dust Storms May Exist (Madville Publishing), winner of the 2024 American Fiction Award for Religious Poetry and named the Best Poetry Collection of 2024 by The Nashville Scene. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Orison Anthology, and been published in Peatsmoke Journal, GASHER, South Carolina Review, Rust & Moth, and elsewhere. Formerly a bookseller at Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee, you can see more of his work at https://bengroner.com/
Lillie Gibson
Lillie Gibson is a sophomore at Cumberland University studying Creative and Professional Writing and English. This is her first publication in Novus Literary Arts Journal.
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Lola Hobson
Lola Hobson is a writer and poet based in North Wales where she studies English Literature. She has previously been published in Wingless Dreamer’s ‘Echoes of Frost and Fantasies’ anthology where she came 2nd place in the contest. She has also been posted on PoetryFest’s blog.
Matt Hanson
Matt A Hanson is a poet from Massachusetts based in Istanbul. The first of his ten-poem series Blue Voyage appeared at dipity. This decad cycle is inspired by Azra Erhat, an early translator of classical Greek verse into modern Turkish. He archives his writings at FictiveMag.com
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Bryana Lorenzo
Pushcart Prize and Best of Net nominee Bryana Lorenzo is a Cuban and Nicaraguan American short story writer. She’s had her fiction featured in Outlander Zine, The Graveyard Zine, Rhodora Magazine, Le Château Magazine, The Literary Canteen, Pile Press, Agapanthus Collective, Novus Literary Arts Journal, io Lit, The Talon Review, White Wall Review, Birdie Zine, Occulum Journal, Caustic Frolic Magazine, Same Faces Collective, Art of Life Magazine, As Alive Journal, and Twin Bird Review. She’s currently attending UCLA for Political Science
E.P. Lande
E.P. Lande, born in Montreal, has lived in the south of France and now, with his partner, in Vermont, writing and caring for more than 100 animals. Previously, as a Vice-Dean, he taught at l’Université d’Ottawa, and he has owned and managed country inns and free-standing restaurants. Since submitting less than three years ago, more than 90 his stories and poems have found homes in publications on all continents except Antarctica. His story “Expecting” has been nominated for Best of the Net. His debut novel, “Aaron’s Odyssey”, a gay-romantic-psychological thriller, is to be published in 2025.
Kaylee Lowe
Kaylee Lowe lives in Tennessee and recently graduated with a Creative Writing degree from Cumberland University. Poems from her senior project chapbook, “Black Apron,” have been published in New Square literary journal, Cafe Review, and here in Novus Literary Arts Journal. She plans to pursue a M.F.A. in Creative Writing.
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Kimberly Madura
Kimberly Madura is a writer, essayist, and social worker. Originally from Indiana, she currently writes from a cabin in the woods of Vermont.
Gordon Mennenga
Gordon W. Mennenga grew up in a small Iowa town and has worked as a field hand, a truck driver, a wedding singer, a high school English teacher, and a college professor of creative writing and film studies. Publications include work in Jabberwock Literary Review, North American Review, South 85, Epoch, and Hamilton Stone Review. He made his first appearance on Spotify last year. Gordon’s work has been featured on National Public Radio and produced by the Riverside Theatre Company.
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Will Neuenfeldt
Will Neuenfeldt studied English at Gustavus Adolphus College and his poems are published in Capsule Stories, Months to Years, and Red Flag Poetry. He lives in Cottage Grove, MN, home of the dude who played Steven Stifler in those American Pie movies and a house Teddy Roosevelt slept in.
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Kaitlyn Owens
Kaitlyn Owens is a product manager and poet based in Richmond, Virginia. With roots in Indiana and Tennessee, she writes both formal and free verse poetry exploring family history, identity, and modern relationships. Her work has appeared in Hare’s Paw, Canvas Creative Arts Magazine, and Wingbeats: Exercises and Practice in Poetry, and she is completing her first collection of poetry.
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John Pring
John Pring is a poet and author based in the UK, where he is a Masters candidate at the University of Sussex. His work has been featured in The Passionfruit Review, MONO, Oroboro, Letter Review, Qu Literary, The Banyan Review, The Tomahawk Creek Review, Dolorem Ipsum, The Rising Phoenix Review, and others.
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K. Roberts
K Roberts is a writer whose creative work has appeared in the college journals Soundings East, Common Ground Review, Isotrope, Axon: Creative Expressions, and independent magazines in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Europe. Roberts is a reader in fiction and creative non-fiction for three literary magazines.
Ed Ruzicka
Ed Ruzicka has published three full-length books of poetry, most recently, “Squalls” (Kelsey Press, 2024). Ed’s poems have appeared in the Atlanta Review, the Chicago Literary Review, Rattle, Canary and have received Pushcart nominations. Ed, who is also the president of the Poetry Society of Louisiana, lives with his wife, Renee, in Baton Rouge.
Shelby Rogers
Shelby Rogers is a poet and writer living in Tennessee. She graduated with a Creative and Professional Writing degree from Cumberland University. Her poems have been published in Cafe Review, New Square, and previous editions of Novus Literary Arts Journal.
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Alex Stolis
Alex Stolis lives in Minneapolis; he has had poems published in numerous journals. Two full length collections Pop. 1280, and John Berryman Died Here were released by Cyberwit and available on Amazon. His work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Piker’s Press, Ekphrastic Review, One Art Poetry, Black Moon Magazine, and Star 82 Review. His chapbook, Postcards from the Knife-Thrower’s Wife, was released by Louisiana Literature Press in 2024, RIP Winston Smith from Alien Buddha Press 2024, and The Hum of Geometry; The Music of Spheres, 2024 by Bottlecap Press.
Travis Stephens
Travis Stephens is a tugboat captain who resides with his family in California. Recent credits include: Gyroscope Review, 2River, Sheila-Na-Gig, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, Raven’s Perch, Crosswinds Poetry Journal, Gravitas and The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature.
Terry Sanville
Terry Sanville lives in San Luis Obispo, California with his artist-poet wife (his in-house editor) and two plump cats (his in-house critics). He writes full time, producing stories, essays, and novels. His stories have been accepted more than 580 times by journals, magazines, and anthologies including The American Writers Review,Bryant Literary Review, and Shenandoah. He was nominated four times for Pushcart Prizes and once for inclusion in Best of the Net anthology. Terry is a retired urban planner and an accomplished jazz and blues guitarist – who once played with a symphony orchestra backing up jazz legend George Shearing.
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Russell Thorburn
Russell Thorburn is the author of four books of poems. Somewhere We’ll Leave the World, published by Wayne State University Press, draws on the poet’s own experiences while imagining fictional characters and personal heroes. In a previous book, Misfit Hearts, he chronicles the making of The Misfits through the filming-location photographs of Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift. In Let It Be Told in a Single Breath, his latest book published by Cornerstone Press, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, he picks up where he left off with recurring characters and a younger self in dislocations of time and space. He has received numerous grants, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. The Upper Peninsula’s first poet laureate, Thorburn teaches composition at Northern Michigan University.
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Emma Wells
Emma is a mother and English teacher. She has poetry published with various literary journals and magazines. She writes flash fiction, short stories and novels. She is currently writing her sixth novel.
Melody Wilson
Melody Wilson’s poems appear in Catamaran, Watershed, VerseDaily, West Trade Review, Emerson Review, Crab Creek Review, and elsewhere and her manuscript Madre Dura was a finalist for the Catamaran Prize and the Louisville Review National Poetry Prize. She received her MFA from Pacific University. Find more of her work at melodywilson.com.
Evan Wilburn
Evan Wilburn is a sophomore at Cumberland University. This is his first publication in Novus Literary Arts Journal.
Kory Wells
Kory Wells is author of two poetry collections, most recently Sugar Fix from Terrapin Books. Her writing has been featured on The Slowdown from American Public Media and won Blue Earth Review’s 2023 Flash Creative Nonfiction Contest. A former poet laureate of Murfreesboro, she nurtures creative community through her leadership with Poetry in the Boro, the Bloom Stage storytelling show, and the from-home creative writing program MTSU Write.
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Art Contributors
Ryo Kajitani
Ryo Kajitani works as both artist and queer art model in Tokyo, Japan. His identity as nonbinary and asexual enriches not only his presence as a model but also resonates throughout his artistic practice. During his time at Tama Art University (2010-2014), he specialized in oil-based woodcut printmaking. In the doctoral program (2016-2019), he studied under the late MOTOE Kunio (art historian, 1948-2019) and Nakamura Yutaka (cultural anthropologist). His research focused on implementing the ontological aesthetics method in exhibition spaces with the artistic activities therein and proposed tentative logical models based on Heidegger’s art theory. After graduating, he returned to work as an art model and graphic designer in Tokyo. His experience in art modeling and knowledge of woodblock printmaking techniques converge in his current photographic practice. His work combines analog photography and computational methods using Python libraries. Recent exhibitions and awards include the Montage Award at Meta Morph AI Film Awards, participation in “AI AI AI International Group Invitational” at WESSLING Contemporary (formerly Radian Gallery), and recognition at the Asian Digital Art Award FUKUOKA. He also uses his experience of being assaulted to provide international humanitarian aid and support orphans and others who wish to reintegrate into society.
Roger Camp
Roger Camp is the author of three photography books including the award winning Butterflies in Flight, Thames & Hudson, 2002. His documentary photography has been awarded the prestigious Leica Medal of Excellence. His work has appeared in numerous journals including The New England Review, North American Review and the New York Quarterly. He is represented by the Robin Rice Gallery, NY.
Christopher Woods
Christopher Woods is a writer and photographer who lives in Texas. His monologue show, Twelve from Texas, was performed in NYC by Equity Library Theatre. His poetry collection, Maybe Birds Would Carry It Away, is published by Kelsay Books.
Rachel Coyne
Rachel Coyne is a writer and painter from Lindstrom, Mn
Trevor Nichols
Eagle Scout Trevor Nichols has, for his entire life, been an avid consumer of fiction, fantasy, and art. Since he was little, he had dreamed of writing, drawing, and painting his own worlds for others to enjoy; to be remembered fondly for his work, and to make others feel the way he did. He became a Boyscout, so he could experience the outdoors, travel, and learn. He tried his hand in craft, music, writing, everything he could to find how to express himself and the things he imagined. All this to say that while he is only a learner in all that he does, his goal is to to hone himself, and give unto others the wonder he feels and has felt.
Edward Michael Supranowicz
Edward Michael Supranowicz is the grandson of Irish and Russian/Ukrainian immigrants. He grew up on a small farm in Appalachia. He has a grad background in painting and printmaking. Some of his artwork has recently or will soon appear in Fish Food, Streetlight, Another Chicago Magazine, Door Is A Jar, The Phoenix, and The Harvard Advocate. Edward is also a published poet.
Cynthia Yatchman
Cynthia Yatchman is an accomplished Seattle based painter and printmaker, whose career spans over 30 years. Her art celebrates the unification to be found in transformational dichotomies. Her work has been featured extensively throughout the Puget Sound region and beyond as well as in multiple publications.