About Us

Cat Melaunie is a Texas Native, Washington transplant. She has a degree in English Language Arts and Writing with minors in psychology and education from McMurry University, as well as an ELA Teaching license in Washington. She is a freelance writer, currently working with Nerdfarmer Podcast and has been featured in Tacoma Strong . Cat has three passions: writing, teaching, and dogs. Cat can be seen locally hosting trivia, emceeing events, and volunteering wherever there is a need. Cat is a downtown Tacoma resident and mother of a 2 1/2 year old guinea pig named Obiwan Guinobi.

DL (Larry) Fowler is an award winning author of biographical and thriller novels. He earned a BA in humanities at USC and an MBA from Cal-State. After a career as a CPA and investment advisor, he now pursues his first love, writing. Larry has lived the past ten years in Gig Harbor with his wife Judi and enjoys spending time with his daughter and three grandchildren who live nearby.

Jonny Eberle is a writer, photographer and filmmaker. Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Arizona, he received his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Political Science from Northern Arizona University. He lives in Tacoma with his wife and three typewriters. He blogs at www.jweberle.com.

Jennifer Preston Chushcoff would have been an astronomer or botanist, but she couldn’t do the math. So, she became an author and artist focused on scientific discovery and the environment. Her diverse work appears in children’s books, anthologies and a letterpress print. Her popup, SNOWFLAKES, won a Moonbeam Gold Medal, and her poetry collection, WA IS WATER, was awarded a TAIP Grant. She writes spooky stories for kids as, “The Fairy Gothmother.” Her visual art has been exhibited in numerous galleries, site-specific installations and public collections. For the past four years, she has contributed her design skills to Creative Colloquy. Born in Southern California and educated at UC Berkeley, she now lives in Washington State where she regularly frolics in the woods and water searching for her lost childhood. Find out more at www.byJenn.com. Say hello: contact@byjenn.com.

Sandra King moved from Central Wisconsin to Tacoma in 1989. She enjoys writing poetry, short stories, and an occasional essay, making oil pastel and ink drawings, singing in choir, swimming, and ballet. She has been published in local projects such as Wrist Magazine, the Tacoma Laureate Listening Project, Inquietudes Literary Journal, The Moss Piglet, and a handful of Creative Colloquy Literary Anthology volumes, and has had the honor of being a featured reader for Tacoma City Ballet’s Mid-Winter Masquerade Ball Soiree, the Creative Colloquy Lit Crawl, and the Vision 2025 Literary Festival.

Managing Editor

Emilie Rommel Shimkus is a PNW-born actor, singer, and writer madly in love with collaborative, multi-genre projects and publications. Emilie is also on the editorial staff at Floating Bridge Press and is a board member and reading series host for Northwest Renaissance Poets & Publishers. She was awarded a Tacoma Artists Initiative Program grant to produce Tell Your Children, a short-film project based on original poetry and inspired by women in myth, legend, and fairy tale (www.poetryshorts.org). Her poems can be found in anthologies like Creative Colloquy, In Tahoma’s Shadow, and Sarasvati Takes Pegasus as Her Mount. She has been a featured reader, workshop leader, and event coordinator for the Tacoma Poetry Festival, Creative Colloquy Crawl, Poets on The Ave, and several other South Sound literary events. www.emilierommelshimkus.com ig + twitter: onefootonshore.

Elizabeth Beck is an island writer who likes to share scratched-out and blacked-over words. A deep love for the South Sound Region is only exceeded by her passion to expose the immense talent found there. Her poetry and short stories have been featured at WRIST Magazine, Underneath the Juniper Tree, The Laureate Listening Project, The Washington State and Gig Harbor History Museums, TAM, The Washington State Department of Commerce, and glimpsed floating down storm drains. Hold her work up to the light at americanogig.wix.com/elizabethbeck.

Hannah Hadjes is an emerging writer of fantasy and adventure prose as well as incendiary verse. At age eight, in a history class learning about the momentous Library of Alexandria, she wrote her first story about a little fairy who didn’t like the look of her wings. Ever since then, she has been jotting down ideas and writing short stories between school work and her other hobbies which include dancing, acting, and enjoying the outdoors. She studies writing at Pierce College and is also the student lead editor of the Student Literary Arts Magazine at Pierce. Hannah has always been passionate about leaving the world a better place than she entered it and continues to pursue this goal in her writing.

Craig Craker is a writer, photographer and editor. Born in Idaho, he spent most of his growing up years in Kirkland and has lived in Tacoma for five years combined. He received his Bachelor’s degree in English from Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho. He is a winner of more than 15 writing awards in the last 15 years spent in journalism and college athletics communications and spent time at the Tacoma News Tribune on the sports copy desk. He is an avid reader, a recent avid photographer and a sometimes blogger at travelingthepnw.org. He lives in Tacoma with his wife, daughter and two dogs.

Beatrice Benson was born and raised in Puyallup, Washington. She graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor's in creative writing. Her poetry has appeared in publications like "Wingless Dreamer“ and "The Snowbear Family Circus."Beatrice uses her past as emotional narration. With melancholic tones and religious abstractions, Beatrice hopes to capture her authentic self. She strives for an emotional connection; an impact to relatability. Now, rather than focusing on the past, Beatrice is increasingly focusing on the present. This has inspired her to write about hope and change.