Randall Albers chairs the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago and is the founding producer of Story Week. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in
Prairie Schooner,
Chicago Review,
Northfield Magazine,
Mendocino Review,
F Magazine, and elsewhere. His fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and a chapter from his novel-in-progress,
All the World Before Them, appeared in the spring 2009 issue of
TriQuarterly: Strong Medicine.
Mort Castle has been an adjunct faculty member of the Fiction Writing Department since 1997 and has also taught in "many other venues," including Midwestern high schools, libraries, social and civic clubs and ... He is the only person to conduct writing workshops at both the annual World Horror Convention and the Green Lake Christian Writing Conference. More than 700 of Castle's books, stories, articles, poems, etc. have been published, with two works cited by Newsweek.PL as being "among the best books published in Poland in 2008." This year sees publication of the graphic novel
format Masques (Checker Book Publishing) and
New Moon on the Water, a story collection (Full Moon Press).
Jonathan Fullmer is the recipient of the Dwight Follett Fellowship and a Graduate Opportunity Award from Columbia College Chicago, where he is currently working on an MFA in creative writing. He co-edits
Knee-Jerk magazine, an online literary journal devoted to humorous and experimental writing. His work can be found in
Time Out Chicago,
Bookslut,
Word Riot,
fictionary, and
Pen Pricks, and in numerous health-related magazines no one has ever heard of.
Laurie Lindeen is the author of the memoir
Petal Pusher (Atria, ’07). She holds an MFA from the University of Minnesota and currently teaches creative writing in TwinCities schools for the COMPAS/WAITS organization. A finalist for the Bush Artistic Fellowship in 2009, she’s working on a novel and two collections of essays. Her essays can be found at
themorningnews.org. She used to front the indie rock band Zuzu’s Petals. Laurie lives in Minnesota with her husband and son.
April Newman is an educator who earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing. These days she works with the storytelling collective, 2nd Story. Her essays have appeared in
The Iowa Review, and her essay in
Hair Trigger Magazine this year landed a Columbia University Scholastic Achievement Award. She likes pirates. Space pirates. Although there aren't any on her Web site,
aprilnewman.com.
David Peak's writing has appeared in or is forthcoming in more than thirty online and print journals and anthologies, including
Lamination Colony,
Dogzplot,
Doorways Magazine,
The Corduroy Mtn.,
Mud Luscious, and
Titular-Journal. His debut novel,
The Rocket's Red Glare, will be released by Leucrota Press in February, 2010. He blogs at
davidpeak.blogspot.com.
Ilana Shabanov is a graduate student in the Fiction Writing Department. Her writing has been in
Hair Trigger 30,
Reservoir,
fictionary, and numerous e-mails to friends and family. During the day she writes press releases for people who live in places you can’t find on a map. Ilana is working on her first novel that will be sure to embarrass most of her family, but still, they couldn’t be more proud. She lives in Chicago with her husband and their three cats.
Karen Schmidt is working towards her BA in telling detailed and intricate lies, or for all professional purposes, fiction writing. She hopes to use what Columbia has taught her to write novels that you will one day thoroughly enjoy. In the mean time, she is embracing her journalistic tendencies with work appearing in
NewCity, and
Healthviews.
Stephen Tartaglione is an MFA candidate at Columbia College Chicago. His work has appeared in
Hair Trigger 31 and on WBEZ Chicago’s Eight Forty-Eight radio program. He is also the co-editor of Knee-Jerk Magazine, a monthly literary publication available online at
kneejerkmag.com.
Stephanie Velasco is majoring in fiction writing and cultural studies, minoring in public relations, and poking her nose into just about everything else. Other such dalliances include dancing, crafting, and saving the world (not necessarily all at the same time, but usually). Stephanie is originally from Kingsport, Tennessee and misses the mountains, the mild winters, and the smell of biscuits and gravy. She recently discovered that rolling down hills, though seemingly fun, can sometimes lead to puking. Twice.
