Geoffrey Fox
Geoffrey Fox's story "On a Page from Rilke" appears in HSE's Above Ground anthology. He has published a novel and many stories including the short-story collection Welcome to My Contri. His nonfiction books include Hispanic Nation: Culture, Politics and the Constructing of Identity (U. Arizona Press); The Land and People of Argentina (HarperCollins); The Land and People of Venezuela (HarperCollins); Working Class Émigrés from Cuba (Ph.D. dissertation and book); and Gabriel García Márquez's 100 Years of Solitude (Monarch Notes).
Maya – Authors
Maya Levantini was born and raised in Bucharest, Romania. She is the author of several short stories and has completed two novel manuscripts, The Naked and the Nude and The Ideology of Love, excerpted in the Above Ground anthology. The novel examines the last year of Nicolae Ceausescu’s reign in Romania through the eyes of a woman drawn into the entrails of a plot to topple the dictator.
Alan Swyer
Alan is an award-winning filmmaker whose recent documentaries have dealt with Eastern spirituality in the Western world, the criminal justice system, diabetes, and boxing www.elboxeothemovie.com. His fiction has appeared in Irish, English, German, Indian, and American publications. He teaches screenwriting at Chapman University. He received the Imagen Award (2009) for "Beisbol" — best feature-length documentary; the Golden Microphone Award for "Diabetes: Challenges & Breakthroughs" — best documentary; Multiple festival awards for "Spiritual Revolution."
Jonathan Facelli
A native Ohioan, Jonathan Facelli received a BA from Ohio State and a JD from Harvard Law School. He spent a year in Argentina, working as a volunteer in the slums of Buenos Aires and writing in his spare time. His short story, "La Criada's Guide to Stain Removal" first appeared in HSE's Above Ground. He is currently putting the finishing touches on a travel memoir, excerpts of which have been published, and is also working on a novel. Since returning from Argentina, Facelli's work has appeared in the Humanist, Haruah, South American Explorers Magazine, and BiblioFiles, and is slated to appear in the book Global Issues: Local Perspectives.
Jorge Contreras
Jorge Contreras collects and writes about nineteenth-century art and literature. He won the prestigious Pre-Raphaelite Society's John Pickard Essay Prize for his essay "The Best of the Brethren." His story "The Widow Interview" was first published in Above Ground. His regular column "Works and Days" appears in the Review of the Pre-Raphaelite Society, and his short story "The Enduring Specimen" appeared in the May 2009 issue of the Historical Novel Society's magazine Solander. He also occasionally practices and writes about law.
Phyllis Mattson
Phyllis Mattson was recognized as an “Achiever in Letters” by the National League of American Pen Women, February, 2006. An excerpt from her memoir, War Orphan in San Francisco: Letters Link a Family Scattered by World War II, appeared in HSE's Above Ground.
RK Marfurt
Growing up in a small, historic Swiss town where everyone knew each other’s business, R.K. Marfurt let the stories of its inhabitants, their joys, heartbreaks, quarrels, discontent and dreams fill her heart. They echo in her to this day. However removed her writing might seem from its origin — transformed through new experiences and locations, through education in different countries, through family and work life — early impressions rarely fade, and much living and writing is done in reaction to them. Her stories have appeared in American and Canadian literary journals.
Vic Cavalli
Vic Cavalli grew up in Vancouver B.C. surrounded by narratives of immigration and the Canadian wilderness, the arts and the trades. His Swiss mother (who spent her youth in Smithers, B.C. before eventually moving to Vancouver) taught sewing for most of her life and was a gifted professional tailor of both women’s and men’s garments.
Jeanie Keogh
Jeanie Keogh has had stories published in Riddle Fence, Grain, FreeFall, The Puritan, and Matrix magazines. Her story 'The Offbeat' won second prize in Broken Pencil's 2013 Deathmatch contest and her creative non-fiction story 'The Constant Variable' received an honourable mention in Room Magazine's creative non-fiction contest. Her play Baby Making was produced at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto by Summerworks Theatre Festival and also staged at The Geordie Theatre in Montreal. Her articles have appeared in Elle Canada, Today's Parent, ParentsCanada, Femme D'Aujourd'hui, Herizons, and Together, among others. Her story 'If At First You Don't Succeed' was previously shortlisted for the Vancouver Writers Festival contest and will be published in The Circle, an anthology of fiction from Brussels.
Paul Buchanan
Paul Buchanan is an award-winning professor of writing and the author of more than twenty books, including the novels Snapshots and The Last Place I Want to Be. His work has appeared in dozens of literary journals and magazines, including Story Quarterly, History Magazine, Crime Magazine, The Humanist, Morkan's Horse, and Cicada. He holds degrees in creative writing from both USC and Chapman University.
