In the East & West Issue (Dec 2016),
“everyone” was…
Josephine Allen – Home
Josephine Allen is a Writer and Poet from the Midlands, UK. Her short stories and poems have appeared in literary magazines including Here Comes Everyone, Paper & Ink and Pour Vida. She is currently working on her first novel. In her spare time she performs at open mic nights and procrastinates about going to the gym.
Twitter handle: @el1jea
Maria Apichella – East West
Maria lived in Mid-Wales for ten years, where she wrote the poem ‘East West’. She studied English and Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University and this poem was first published in her pamphlet ‘Paga’ by Cinnamon Press.
Website/Creative Space: https://mariaapichella.com
Kateryna Bortsova – Way to My Heart (Berlin)
Kateryna Bortsova is a scientist, painter, graphic artist and a participant of many international exhibitions. She has won prizes in a number of contests (silver medal in participation in “Factory of visual art”, New York, USA; Winner of cover competition of Oxford University Press, Great Britain; Winner of the 2015 Emirates Skywards Art of Travel competition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates). In 2007 Kateryna earned the diploma of Bachelor in the field of graphic arts; in 2008, she was awarded the diploma of Master’s degree in the field of fine arts and decoratively-applied arts. Her scientific interest consists in studying the graphic legacy of the Russian, Ukrainian and Western Europeans artists.
Website/Creative Space: http://bortsova6.wix.com/bortsova
Sean Burn – Pebble from the Pacific Coast
Sean Burn’s third full volume of poetry is that a bruise or a tattoo? was published by Shearsman Press in 2013. This spring he was the Jessie Kesson 2016 literary fellow at Moniack Mhor – Scotland’s writing centre. He is currently associate writer with Greyscale Theatre in his native Tyneside.
Grace Carlini – Over the Event Horizon
Grace is an Oxfordshire-based writer who likes crime fiction and writing short stories. She has just completed an MA at the University of Warwick.
Michael Harris Cohen – Story Without End
Michael Harris Cohen is a graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing program at Brown University where he studied with Robert Coover and authors Carole Maso, Howard Norman, and Colson Whitehead among others. He has had stories and essays published in Litro, Our Stories, The Virgin Fiction anthology, The Land Grant College Review, web-Conjunctions, The Sofia Echo and in Mixer, as well as having feature stories in the print anthologies The Modern Grimmoire and Uncommon Bodies. Michael is a recipient of the New Century Writer’s Scholarship from Zoetrope: All-Story, a Fulbright grant, and fellowships from the Atlantic Center for the Arts, The Djerassi Foundation, The Jentel Artist’s Residency, and The Blue Mountain Center. He has won the Modern Grimmoire Literary Prize as well as Mixer Publishing’s Sex, Violence and Satire prize. At Brown, he received the Weston Award for best graduate fiction manuscript. His first book, The Eyes–A Novella and Stories was blurbed by Brian Evenson, Robert Coover, Stephen Graham Jones and Stephen Wright.
Tony Concannon – The Real World
Tony Concannon grew up in Massachusetts. After graduating from college with a degree in English and American Literature, he taught for 18 years in Japan, where much of his fiction is set. Since returning to Massachusetts, he has been working in human services. Stories of his have appeared in On the Premises, Litro, The Taproot Literary Review, and Eastlit.
Dermot Connaughton – Staring
Dermot Connaughton lives midway between Leamington Spa and Warwick. He was a student at Coventry University where he studied English and Creative Writing. “Ever since I began writing I have focused on the differences between people, mainly based on class but also in terms of multiculturalism, which is very evident in Leamington, Coventry and essentially throughout the country. Novels and poetry are my main passion but I have also written short stories, plays, screenplays and try to express my ideas and opinions of the world, as well as hopefully reflecting them in a truthful, insightful view.”
Djibril Drame – Magic Soccer
Djibril Drame is a young visual artist, journalist and publicist with over 10 years of experience, known amongst his visual peers as “Gadaay/GodEye”. He earned his Bachelors in Communications and Journalism, with concentration in public relations, at the Institut des Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication in Senegal. Many exhibitions and competitions in Europe have included Gadaay’s art collection “My Colored City”, in which he pushes the envelope of the Senegalese street art and the talents that play a great part such as graffiti artists, hip hop activists and ambassadors of the urban culture. Gadaay participated as one of the youngest artistic photographers in the book ‘Dakar Emoi’ (Les Editions Vives Voix) . Right after this project, he joined the daily popular newspaper L’As where he hosted for one year a section of photographs called “A picture is worth 1000 words.” In 2010, he represented Senegal in an international event of contemporary art at the GRAFFRICA Festival (Las Palmas), in 2011 at the Festival of the City of Tarifa (Spain) and many more. Down the line, GodEye aims to continue to share his expertise and experience by giving back to his community with the creation of his Visual Art & Communications Academy. He dreams of bringing the true image of Africa to the world one country at a time and creating future ambassadors to continue this legacy.
Website/Creative Space: https://www.instagram.com/gadaay or www.peuplesenegalais.net
Arden Fitzroy – Mistral
Arden is a London-based writer and performer. They will always be a citizen of the world. Their work has been heard all over the London circuit, and has sometimes been published.
Twitter handle: @ArdenFitzroy
Dan Gilbert – Sometimes the Lies
Dan writes and records poetry and spoken word pieces and has independently published books. He also likes baking and creating minimalist soundscapes. Rock on!
Tom Glover – A Taste of the West
Tom Glover is from Hampshire and works primarily as a scriptwriter. He has had plays performed in London, Edinburgh, Exeter and Liverpool, and currently has a couple of TV series in development. His award-winning short film ‘Textual Relationship’ is touring international festivals. His play ‘Wet Bread’ is due to tour next year as well as ‘Bin and Gone’ a one-man show based on the ’80s quiz show host Ted Rogers. Tom has been invited to perform readings of his short stories at Shoreham Arts Festival, Clapham Arts Festival and at London venues.
Stephan Groß – The Dichotomic Cage
Stephan Groß studied visual arts and mathematics at the University of Bremen with Frieder Nake, among others. His films have been shown at the ZKM, Karlsruhe, FACT, Liverpool, and at the International Short Film Festival, Hamburg. Based in Berlin, he is teaming up with the neurologist Dr Martin Groß, Oldenburg, for music and sound art pieces realised at Zeche Zollverein, Essen, and the Municipal Gallery, Bremen.
Website/Creative Space: https://fleeimmediately.com/02-danceandcode/stephan/gross/euro-beats.html
Ledlowe Guthrie – Each Side of the Water
Ledlowe Guthrie lives in the very green city of Sheffield amongst badgers, foxes, dogs, chickens and hundreds of cats. Ledlowe loves nothing more than being out in the dark, watching bats fly and listening to owls in the trees…except having a short story published.
Javeriah Hashmi – The Kalash Tribe of Northern Pakistan
Javeriah Hashmi is an international student from Pakistan pursuing MA in Communication Culture and Media at Coventry University in UK. “I’m a hardworking, creative and friendly individual with a broad outlook towards life. I am a passionate photographer, enthusiast and risk-taking traveller, who likes to meet new people and learn about their cultures. I share stories through the lens and narrate my thoughts through writings. I have travelled to Holland, Germany, UK and Pakistan as a part of my coursework.”
Website/Creative Space: http://perceptionj.wordpress.net www.behance.net/javeriahhash
Dheepa Maturi – Namaste
Dheepa Maturi is the director of a nonprofit fund in Indianapolis, and she is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago. The child of immigrants from India, she lives and breathes the multiple, overlapping, proliferating intersections between east and west! Her writing has appeared in Tweetspeak Poetry, A Tea Reader, and Every Day Poems.
Website/Creative Space: www.DheepaMaturi.com
Emilia Moniszko/HCE editorial team – From East to West With Love
Emilia Moniszko is a Polish multidisciplinary artist and a social entrepreneur. Having completed her BA in Fine Art at Coventry University (2014) and MA in Arts, Enterprise and Development at University of Warwick (2015), she actively promotes the city’s cultural scene through her freelance arts practice as well as through her engagement in the role of director and researcher at Kalejdoskop East-West. Emilia is a Creative Project Leader on the MA course at Warwick University (Art, Enterprise and Development) where she teaches about the importance and impact of the creative industry and the roles of arts practices within local and global development.She has exhibited and performed across many local and regional spaces including: Lanchester Gallery Projects (Coventry), Fargo Village (Coventry), A.E Harris (Birmingham), Museum of Royal Worcester (Worcester), Free Range (London) and Knock Art Festival (London). Moniszko’s practice is also deeply rooted in community arts practice, mental health and well-being. Recently, she spent eight months working at the Art in Minds Foundation in a role of an exhibition and publicity coordinator for the World Mental Health Day. Additionally, her work produced for the foundation has won the Community Catalyst Micro-Enterprise video competition. In her arts practice Emilia explores how we create our own environments as well as how we challenge them; the barriers and contradictions, the problems and defence mechanisms that we produce in order to secure, maintain or destroy social status.
Shirley Muir – Did I Just Waste Ten Years?
Shirley Muir is a molecular biologist and worked internationally as a technical journalist. She spends some of the year in Scotland and some in Turkey. She writes short stories and flash fiction. As well as scientific topics and memoir she writes about the cultural differences and bonds she has made with people in both countries. Her work has been published in the UK and the USA. She lives near Edinburgh and takes inspiration from walking along the beach and taking bus trips.
Atman One – The Evanescence…The Immutability
Atman One, represented by CUMEDIAE, Culture & Media Agency Europe, is a Chinese visual and performance artist whose mission not only enhances mutual understanding between East and West by blending contemporary elements into traditional oriental arts, but is an artist who is a thought leader in emerging post-’80s native Chinese artistic discourse. Elements of his art can be segmented as part of a general ethos. Taking “All Is One” and “Linking Past and Future” as his main principles, Atman One integrates his exploration of other art forms such as meditation, music, installation, filming, costume, architecture, and archaeology into his presentations.
Website/Creative Space: https://culture-media.eu/harmony-as-an-essential-part-of-performances-cumeadiae-represents-chinese-artist-atman-one-in-europe
Mark Antony Rossi – This Ancient City
Mark Antony Rossi’s poetry, criticism, fiction, creative nonfiction and photography have appeared in many magazines and journals, including: The Antigonish Review, Anak Sastra, Bareback Magazine, Black Heart Review, Brain of Forgetting, Deep Water Literary Journal, Dirty Chai, Enclave, Expound, Farther Stars Than, Flash Fiction, Gravel, Indian Periodical, Japanophile, Journal of Microliterature, Kulchur Creative Journal, Mad Swirl, On The Rusk, Purple Patch, Scrivener Creative Review, Sentiment Literary Journal, Snapdragon, Syzygy Poetry Journal, The Sacrificial, Toad Suck Review, Transnational.
Website/Creative Space: http://ethical-stranger.webnode.com
Tatiana Figueroa Ramirez – A Night in the Same World
Tatiana Figueroa Ramirez graduated with a B.A. in English Literature from University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and is a 2016 VONA Voices Alumna. She currently performs spoken-word in the greater Washington D.C. area and has previously performed in Philadelphia, Miami, as well as the Dominican Republic. Most recently, she has been published online in Public Pool.
Dimple Shah – The Twelve Tribes of Geography
Eight years ago, Dimple Shah moved to Hong Kong from Mumbai, India, and promptly decided to forego the lucrative benefits of continuing a career in banking for the immeasurable joys of writing. An avid consumer of words her entire life, she has only recently assumed the mantle of producer of words and spinner of yarns.
Danni Shen – The Curator of Western Art
Danni Shen is an artist, curator, and writer based in New York. She is also a contributor to Hyperallergic, Two Coats of Paint, and SCREEN界面, a bilingual digital journal dedicated to media art.
Website/Creative Space: http://contemporaryartsinodiaspora.tumblr.com (curatorial exercising)
Instagram: @danni_sh
Jac Shortland – Here We Come, Ready or Not
Jac Shortland is a Cork woman. She works with young people with Intellectual Disability, teaching relaxation skills, touch therapy, yoga dance, meditation and creative self expression. She has been published with The Poetry Porch, Hungry Hill, Into the Void and The Cannon’s Mouth and shortlisted for Creative Writing Ink. Her poems reflect the mind of a woman, who simply hasn’t made her mind up about any of life`s mysteries and most likely never will.
Samuel Smith – Western Cuisine Vs. Eastern Cuisine
Sam Smith is a former Creative Writing and Script-Writing student, who has previously experimented with both community radio broadcasting and stand-up comedy. His preferred genres of writing are sci-fi, horror and comedy. He would like to get published as a short story writer.
Mark Tucker – You Don’t Want To
Mark Tucker is an Australian writer of poetry and short-fiction who also contributes non-fiction irregularly as a columnist to: www.runnerstribe.com. He received his Master’s degree in education from Butler University (Indianapolis).
Joe Turpin – Tamodatchi
Joe Turpin is a 21-year-old Johannesburg painter. Born in Johannesburg and recently based in United Kingdom. “Pop Expressionism” and more recently, striking scenarios and direct visions are coined and held in his stencils and emotive style. Turpin recently has had exhibitions in Bordeaux France, Oxford , London United Kingdom, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg, South Africa, Chicago, Washington D.C., USA and Taichung,, Taiwan. “Tomodatchi (友達)” explores the similarities of warrior cultures of the Samurai (Japan) and Zulu (South Africa) and how they have been unexplored. With colonialism, the Zulu have been in the Western narrative of the “Atlantic World”.
Website/Creative Space: http://joeturpinart.tumblr.com
Phibby Venable – Woman with Children
Phibby Venable lives in Abingdon, Virginia..She has been published in various national & international mags,including; the Appalachian Journal, Southern Ocean Review, the Clinch Mountain Review, Poetrybay, and 2River. She has two poetry chapbooks, two full collections, and one recent book of short stories, Dry Branch Hollow. Her latest book, Bones of A Generous Woman, is available at Amazon.com, along with her other books.