photos and Flash animation by Patrick Scott Vickers
(Left to right) Sitting: Patrick Scott Vickers; First Row: Mary Flinn, Leia Darwish, Chelsea Gillenwater, Sarah Doerfler, Rachael Taylor, Heather Duke, Gregory Donovan; Second Row: Meagan Lawrence, Kaitlyn Donahue, Sarah Vaughan, Brittany Cowan, Kayleigh Conner, Molly Wright, Lyndon German, Nicholas Artrip; Third Row: Keenen Collins, Joe Woods, Mary Selph, Trevor Hart, Justin Carmickle; Fourth Row: Will Nelson, Meagan Dermody, Cade Varnado, Annie Rudy, Jake Branigan, Tomas Daniel Peters, M.A. Keller (Not Pictured: Susan Settlemyre Williams, Randy Marshall, Eren Gerety, Keegen Hatley, Paige Powers)
Blackbird joins individuals from its publishing partners—Virginia Commonwealth University and New Virginia Review, Inc.—with members of the Richmond, Virginia, and Doha, Qatar communities. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only venture at VCU that joins together international collaborators, undergraduate students, MA and MFA students, PhD students, alumni and community volunteers, and a regional non-profit.
Lead Associate Editors Chelsea Gillenwater 2014–2015 Leia Darwish 2013–2014 Lena Moses-Schmitt 2012–2013 Ross Losapio 2011–2012 Emilia Phillips 2010–2011 Grant White 2009–2010 Matthew Baker 2008–2009 Tarfia Faizullah 2007–2008 Kate Beles 2006–2007 Anna Journey 2005–2006 Steven Collis 2004–2005 Maria Hagan 2003–2004 Tara Moyle 2002–2003 Jamye Shelleby 2001–2002 Blackbird benefits from the contributions of student interns, as well as from MA and MFA Graduate Assistants from the VCU Department of English. Students from the interdisciplinary PhD program in Media, Art, and Text (MATX) have also worked with us over the past five years. We are grateful for everyone's contributions. Several MATX students remain with Blackbird as advising editors.
Each year, Blackbird awards the coveted lead associate editor position to a second–year VCU MFA graduate student; to qualify, the student must already have been awarded a graduate fellowship and must have worked as an intern for the journal. The lead associate editor staffs the Blackbird office and is at the center of all the journal’s activities, working to coordinate communication between literary and production editors, as well as between the editors and contributors.
Staff listings are by categories.
EDITORS
Gregory Donovan, senior editor, is the author of the poetry collection Torn from the Sun (forthcoming from Red Hen Press in spring, 2015) and Calling His Children Home (University of Missouri Press, 1993), a collection that won the Devins Award for Poetry. His poetry, essays, translations, and fiction have appeared in The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, New England Review, 42opus, diode, Crazyhorse, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Gulf Coast, Copper Nickel, and elsewhere. His work has also appeared in a number of anthologies, including Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets of Virginia (University of Virginia Press, 2003). Among other awards for his writing, he is the recipient of the Robert Penn Warren Award from New England Writers, as well as grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and fellowships from the Ucross Foundation and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Donovan has served as guest faculty for many summer conferences, including the Chautauqua Institution Writers’ Center, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Other Words Conference of the Florida Literary Arts Coalition. With the writer/director Michele Poulos, he is co-producer of A Late Style of Fire, a feature-length documentary on the life and work of Larry Levis. Donovan is a faculty member in Virginia Commonwealth University’s graduate creative writing program.
Mary Flinn, senior editor, has been the director of New Virgina Review, Inc., since 1985. She is the co-editor, with George Garrett, of Elvis in Oz: New Stories and Poems from the Hollins Creative Writing Program (University of Virginia Press, 1992) and facilitated the editing of The Gazer Within (University of Michigan Press, 2001), a collection of essays by Larry Levis. Flinn served as the poetry and fiction editor of 64 and the editor of New Virginia Review. She has participated on numerous editors’ panels, served as a judge for literature fellowships from various arts councils, and been a review panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Flinn won the inaugural Theresa Pollak Award for Words from Richmond Magazine.
M.A. Keller, senior online editor, is a technologist, web coordinator, and writing instructor for Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of English. His poetry has appeared in The Southern Review, New Virginia Review, Runes, and elsewhere. Keller is the author of a chapter, “Meghan Sapnar’s ‘Car Wash’ as a New Media Sonnet,” in RAW (Reading and Writing) New Media (Hampton Press, 2010). His work centers on electronic writing, issues of materiality and multimodal writing, and how to define, support, and teach online publishing and new media. He has taught poetry and advanced writing workshops, as well as courses in hypertext and new media. He publishes the visual blog, Abaculi, and is the editor of The Abaculi Project. Keller earned an MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Randy Marshall, senior literary editor, edited, along with Mary Flinn, Andrew Miller, and John Venable, The Gazer Within (University of Michigan Press, 2001). His poetry, essays, and reviews have appeared in Richmond Arts Magazine, New South (formerly Georgia State University Review), cream city review, and Blackbird. Marshall earned his MFA in poetry from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Chelsea Gillenwater, lead associate editor, is a second-year MFA student in fiction at Virginia Commonwealth University. She earned a BA in English and communication from Virginia Tech. She has served as an associate editor and contributor for Philologia, where she has published fiction and nonfiction.
Leia Darwish, lead associate editor emerita and lead copyeditor, is a third-year MFA student in poetry at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her work has appeared in diode, The Journal, PANK, The Pinch, and elsewhere. Darwish has worked as a managing editor at Copper Nickel.
Patrick Scott Vickers, online editor, is a technologist and instructor for Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of English. His poetry, fiction, and nonfiction have appeared in 32 Poems, Strange Horizons, Mid-American Review, Touchstone, and Miracle Monocle. His Flash art has appeared in failbetter.com. Vickers earned an MFA in poetry from the University of Alabama.
Susan Settlemyre Williams, book review editor and literary editor, is the author of Ashes in Midair (Many Mountains Moving, 2008) and a chapbook, Possession (Finishing Line Press, 2007). Her poetry has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Diode, and Shenandoah, among other journals, as well as in various anthologies.
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Justin Carmickle, assistant literary editor, earned a BA in English from Indiana University. Currently he is a third year MFA student in fiction at Virginia Commonwealth University. His fiction has appeared in Louisiana Literature.
Annie Rudy, lead page builder, is a third-year MFA student in poetry at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her poetry has appeared in or is forthcoming in The Journal, Salamander, TriQuarterly, and West Branch. She earned a BA in English and art history from the University of Virginia.
Mary Selph, associate production editor, is a second-year PhD student in the Media, Art, and Text program at Virginia Commonwealth University. She earned an MFA in poetry from Texas State University–San Marcos and a BA in liberal arts from Hofstra University.
Joe Woods, lead developer, is a first-year MA student in English research at Virginia Commonwealth University. His multimedia work has appeared or is forthcoming in several publications, including failbetter, Bandcamp’s Staff Picks, and The Commonwealth Times. He earned a BA in English from Virginia Commonwealth University.
INTERNS
Jake Branigan, literary intern and copyeditor, is a first-year MFA student in fiction at Virginia Commonwealth University. He earned a BA in English and an MAT from James Madison University.
Keenen Collins, second-semester literary intern and copy editor, earned an AA in liberal arts from Northern Virginia Community College. He will graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University in May 2015 with a BA in English and a minor in creative writing. He has volunteered on the staff of Amendment.
Kayleigh Conner, literary intern and page builder, is a junior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. She will graduate with a BA in English, a minor in creative writing, and an MT in secondary education in 2017.
Brittany Cowan, literary intern and audio editor, is a junior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. She will graduate with a BA in English in May 2016.
Meagan Dermody, literary intern and copyeditor, is a senior at Virginia Commonwealth University. She will earn a BA in English in 2015, and is the print managing editor of The Commonwealth Times.
Sarah Doerfler, literary intern and copyeditor, is a first-year MA student in English literature at Virginia Commonwealth University. She earned a BA in English from the University of Michigan and an MEd in curriculum and instruction from the University of San Diego.
Kaitlyn Donahue, literary intern and copyeditor, is a senior at Virginia Commonwealth University. She will earn a BA in English as well as a BA in gender, sexuality, and women’s studies, with a minor in general business in 2015.
Heather Duke, literary intern and page builder, is a senior at Virginia Commonwealth University studying English and Spanish. Zie has had flash fiction published in Amendment and will graduate in August 2015.
Lyndon German, literary intern and copyeditor, is a third-year undergraduate at Virginia Commonwealth University and editor at Poictesme. He will earn a BA in English May 2016.
Trevor Hart, second-semester literary intern and photo editor, is a senior at Virginia Commonwealth University. He will earn a BA in English with a minor in creative writing in May 2015.
Tomas Daniel Peters, literary intern and audio editor, is a senior at Virginia Commonwealth University and will graduate with a BA in English in December 2014.
Rachael Taylor, literary intern and copyeditor, is a first-year MFA student in poetry. She earned a BA in English from the University of Mary Washington.
Cade Varnado, literary intern and copyeditor, is a first-year MFA student in fiction. His fiction has appeared in Product, and he has presented research at the national PCA/ACA conference. He earned a BA in English and the Latin classics from University of Southern Mississippi.
Sarah Vaughan, literary intern, copyeditor, and bio editor, is a first-year MA student in English literature at Virginia Commonwealth University. She earned a BA in English from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Molly Wright, literary intern and page builder, is a senior at Virginia Commonwealth University and will earn a BA in English with a minor in Russian in May 2015.
VOLUNTEERS
Erin Gerety is a former Blackbird intern and volunteer submissions reader. She graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a major in English and a minor in religious studies. Her work has appeared in Poictesme.
Keegen Hatley, volunteer manuscript reader, earned an MFA in nonfiction from Saint Mary’s College of California where she was the recipient of the 2012 MFA Advisory Board Scholarship and the 2011 Chester Aaron Scholarship for Excellence in Creative Writing.
Meagan Lawrence is a former Blackbird intern and returning volunteer copyeditor, bio editor, and submissions reader. She is a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University, majoring in English and minoring in media studies. Her writing has appeared in Virginia Horse Lovers Magazine.
Will Nelson, volunteer, is earning a BS in psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. He plans to pursue an MA in art therapy counseling.
Paige Powers is a former Blackbird intern and returning volunteer submissions reader. She earned a BA in English from Virginia Commonwealth University.
& MANY THANKS
to all the editors, staff members, interns, and volunteers who made Blackbird, volume 13, number 2 possible.
Thanks to Mary Selph for her meticulous audio and video editing and for leading the media team; Leia Darwish for taking charge of the formidable copyediting team; Patrick Scott Vickers for editing and taking photos; and Annie Rudy and Joe Woods for shepherding the pagebuilders.
Thanks to Randy Marshall and Justin Carmickle for their extensive work with submissions and for leading the reading groups.
Thanks to M.A. Keller for organizing and designing innovative gallery builds and keeping everyone on track under a tight deadline.
Thanks to Joe Woods for his tireless efforts in renovating code, creating special builds, and leading the way in updating the index.
Thanks to Randy Marshall, Mary Flinn, Leia Darwish, and Harrison Fletcher for contributing to the foreword text, and to everyone who wrote metatext for this issue.
And to all others—manuscript readers, content converters, pagebuilders, audio editors, transcribers, and copyeditors, our sincere appreciation. 
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