The cover art for our Spring issue is “Byodo-In Koi Pond” created by Maddie Manston. Maddie Manston is a student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham studying Art Studio with a painting concentration and a Spanish minor. Her work primarily consists of oil paintings, but she is also very interested in sculpture. The main subject of her works is “life,” whether it be nature or the human portrait.
Check out her pieces: “Two Paper Bags” “Byodo-In Koi Pond” “Basis of Life” and “Self Portrait” in our Spring Issue!
Instagram @maddiemanston

Catherine Davis is a young artist from Talladega, Alabama. She is currently attending UAB and plans on becoming an art historian, but also has a great interest in studio art. Most of her inspiration is taken from horror novels by authors such as Stephen King or the horror genre in general. While her works vary in focus she tends to focus on portraits and human figures.
Check out her pieces: “Caught in prayer” “melting point” “Spinning Prophecies” and “Storm” in our Spring Issue!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caringcryptid/
Redbubble: caringcryptid.redbubble.com

Mario Loprete claims to “live in a world that I shape at my liking.” For his concrete sculptures, he uses his personal clothing, plaster, resin, and cement to transform them into artworks to hang. He says, “my memory, my DNA, my memories remain concreted inside, transforming the person that looks at the artwork, a type of post-modern archeologist that studies my work as if they were urban artifacts.”
Check out his pieces “All Stars” “untitled” “b-boy” “untitled’, “Lo zaino e il pallone consumato di Marco” “Le Crocs di Roberto, Sergio, Lo stendipanni” untitled” and “fabri fibra” in our Spring Issue!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mario-Loprete-277109039825990/

Adele Gardner has worked with her father, Dr. Delbert Gardner, a WWII veteran, to publish over 500 poems, stories, essays, and illustrations in American Arts Quarterly, Pedestal Magazine, The Literary Review, Poetry Digest, American Poetry Magazine, The Cape Rock, Café Irreal, and more. Her poetry collection is titled Dreaming of Days in Astophel.
Website: www.gardnercastle.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegardnercastle
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AdeleGardnerDRG

João Luís Barreto Guimarães was born in Porto, Portugal (June 1967) where he graduated in Medicine. As a writer, he is the author of 10 poetry books since 1989, and has been published in anthologies and literary magazines in over 19 countries.
Translators: António Ladeira was born in Portugal in 1969. He currently lives in Lubbock, USA, where he is an Associate Professor of Portuguese and Spanish at Texas Tech University.
Calvin Olsen is an internationally-published poet and translator. He lives in North Carolina, USA, where he is a doctoral student and the poetry editor for The Carolina Quarterly. More of his work can be found at calvin-olsen.com.
Check out his pieces “A título de exemplo/By Way of Example” and “Acerca da poesia portuguesa contemporânea/About Contemporar y Portuguese Poetry” in our Spring Issue!

Sarah Adkins-Jablonsky acquired a name, in 2020, that is hard to spell over the telephone. When she grows up, she wants to be an artist and a doctor. She will soon move her husband and two rats, Yamcha and Tibble, from Birmingham off to medical school in Dothan, Alabama.
Check out her piece “Becoming” in our Spring Issue!
IG/Twitter : @admiraladkins

Simona Shirley is a Junior at UAB who is majoring in International Studies and is on the pre-med track. Simona believes that an appreciation for art, and its profound representation of the human experience, is necessary for every field of study. She enjoys writing and artistic expression because it offers time for reflection and fun at the end of a busy day.
Check out her pieces “Sealed Shut” and “Feathers and String” in our Spring Issue!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simona.shirley