Rae Bastoni believes art and creativity nourish the soul and free the mind. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a Doctor of Chiropractic, but studies art out of love for the creative process. Inspired by nature and her university studies of anatomy and physiology, she works in a variety of mediums. Rae is a New England native currently residing in Napa, California. She enjoys visiting her sister in New Hampshire and exploring the state’s forested hills with her. If you enjoy Rae’s work, please look for her on Instagram: @b.sunrae.
Molly Berard is currently a student in New Hampshire, studying Creative Writing and Studio Art. She spends lots of her free time writing poetry and short stories, and one of her biggest passions is photography. Whether at school, at home in Lowell, Massachusetts, or anywhere around New England, her camera is always by her side photographing beautiful flora and fauna. Since lots of her summer is spent walking in forests and along beaches with her family, she expands her portfolio of photography and poetry with every new adventure.
Alice Christian grew up in Derry, New Hampshire, in a poetry-loving family. She studied classics at Smith College. She has attended the Frost Place Conference on Poetry in Franconia during several summers. Her poems have been chosen for the annual “PoemCity” in Montpelier, Vermont, for the past six years. She lives with her husband, cat and husky dog in Colchester, Vermont.
April Claggett is a visual artist, art historian and educator who has lived in Dublin for 20 years and keeps a studio in Wilton. She is currently teaching Drawing at Colby-Sawyer College and Foundations at Franklin Pierce University. Learn more at aprilclaggett.com, @apclaggett (Instagram) @aprilclaggettart (FaceBook).
Ann B. Day moved into a cottage at the RiverMead Retirement Community in Peterborough, New Hampshire, in 2013. She and her family owned a working guest farm in Mad River Valley of Vermont, where they raised Highland cattle, taught skiing, and held writing retreats for 50 years. She belongs to the Monadnock Writers’ Group, the Poetry Society of New Hampshire, and the Poetry Society of Vermont. Ann writes a nature column for the weekly Valley Reporter and publishes nature books and annual engagement calendars with her poetry and photos. Her poems have been printed in many publications, including Time Magazine, The Lyric, Green Mountain Trading Post, New England Memories, and The Poets’ Touchstone.
Diane B. Forman is a writer and educator who has published or has pieces upcoming in The Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, Cognoscenti (WBUR), fresh.ink, Toho Journal, The Write Launch, Whale Road Review, FOLIO, and others. A graduate of Northwestern University and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Diane lives on the north shore of Boston, where she tutors students in writing and leads adult writing groups. She walks most days on her favorite New Hampshire beaches: Hampton, Jenness, Wallis Sands. See more at dianeforman.com.
Jack M. Freedman is a poet and spoken word artist from Staten Island, New York. Publications featuring his work span the globe. Countries where original poems found homes include USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, The Netherlands, Ukraine, India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, South Africa, Singapore, and Thailand. Under the pseudonym Jacob Moses, he penned …and the willow smiled (Cyberwit, 2019), Art Therapy 101 (Cyberwit, 2019), and Seance (Cyberwit, 2020). Currently, he is a student at Southern New Hampshire University pursuing an MA in English and Creative Writing – Poetry.
Carlene M. Gadapee teaches high school English in northern New Hampshire, and she is the Associate Creative Director and Education Consultant for The Frost Place in Franconia. Her work has been published by or is forthcoming in the Aurorean, Backchannels, The Blue Nib, Fishbowl Press Poetry, Northern New England Review, Thimble Literary Magazine, Think, and English Journal, among others. She lives in Littleton with her husband, a bossy chi-pin dog, and one beehive.
Dev Hardikar is a student at New York University who has returned to his hometown of Peterborough to weather the ongoing pandemic. He enjoys creative expression in all forms and often has trouble sticking to any one medium long enough to finish his projects. His portfolio is a mix of writing, drawing, painting, photography, audio, and video work.
Maxwell Irwin was born and raised in Nashua, New Hampshire. He currently is working towards his BFA in Graphic Design at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire. You can see more of Maxwell’s work at maxirwindesign.com/photography and instagram.com/mxi.designs.
Jennifer MacBain-Stephens went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and now lives in Iowa where she likes to rock climb. She is the author of four full length poetry collections and fifteen chapbooks. Recent work can be seen at or is forthcoming from The Pinch, Cleaver, Yalobusha Review, Zone 3, and Grist. She also hosts an indie reading series sponsored by Iowa City Poetry called Today You Are Perfect. The last time she was in New Hampshire was on her honeymoon (with her now ex-husband,) where she did not get to enjoy the full benefits of the Greenhouse Suite in a Bed and Breakfast, as it was characteristically freezing in April. Find her at jennifermacbainstephens.com.
Carl-Peter Mayer is a silkscreen artist and also enjoys stone balancing and photography. He has been involved in screen printing for over 40 years, from fine art to commercial applications. He resides in Franconia, New Hampshire and Sharon, Massachusetts and is a life-long Cannon/ Mittersill skier. His parents emigrated from Germany and built a home in Franconia for its similarities to Franconia in their native Bavaria.
Nattie O’Sheggzy is a consummate poet who has been writing poetry and short stories for more than two decades. He is currently researching the plight of French Canadians who migrated to the Manchester area of New Hampshire. Nattie’s work has appeared in Brave Voices Poetry Journal, Africa Writers Caravan, Medium, Universul Culturii, and Spillwords. The poet has recently published Random Imaginations, his first poetry book. Nattie can be contacted on Facebook at www.facebook.com/iNattie.
Meg J. Petersen is a writer and a teacher of writing at Plymouth State University, where she directs the National Writing Project in New Hampshire. Her poems have won prizes with the New England Association of Teachers of English and the Seacoast Writers Association. She was named as a feature poet by the New Hampshire Arts Council. Her poems have appeared in Concrete Wolf, Entelechy International: A Journal of Contemporary Ideas, Garden Lane, English Journal, The Leaflet, The International Journal for Teaching Writing and other publications.
Tracy L. Thompson writes short fiction, poetry, and memoir, and is currently working on her first novel, an admixture of memoir and speculative fiction. She is veteran of the U.S. Navy and a graduate of Yale Law School. A native of Pennsylvania, she has lived in eight states, and now resides in Schenectady, New York with her dogs, Happy and Lucky. Her nearly eight years in Keene, New Hampshire, are some of her sweetest memories. It was a gentle town for a single mom raising three sons, and she and the boys, adults now, maintain their friendships from that time.
Susan Levin Wessels’s path to photographer and writer has spanned decades, including work in psychology, artificial intelligence, personal computers, organizational development, teambuilding, and marketing. Susan has always enjoyed writing and, in an early job, trained as a marketing writer with a visionary Marketing Executive in a Fortune 50 company. Over the course of her career, she created marketing materials for a wide variety of public and private organizations. Susan created her own marketing consulting business in Southern New Hampshire, doing business as “The Mighty Pen,” where her forte was developing marketing concepts and materials, including web and print design. She is currently working on a collection of poetry.
Allison Whittenberg is a Philadelphia native who has a global perspective. She enjoyed her visit to Amherst, New Hampshire, especially the vineyards. If she wasn’t an author she’d be a private detective or a jazz singer. She loves reading about history and true crime. Her novels include Sweet Thang, Hollywood and Maine, Life is Fine, Tutored and The Sane Asylum. Her latest play, Choice, will be performed at the Downtown Urban Arts Festival and will be directed by Tony nominee Reg E. Gaines. You can reach Allison by email: whittenbergallison@gmail.com
Smoky Quartz 