she/her

Bio: Jessika Bouvier is a queer Cajun writer raised between New Orleans & Atlanta. Her work appears (or soon will) in Puerto del Sol, monkeybicycle, Waxwing, Electric Literature, HAD, SUNHOUSE, Split Lip, and elsewhere. She previously served as the Assistant Managing Editor for X-R-A-Y and the Editor-in-Chief for So to Speak, an intersectional feminist journal.

Preferences: I appreciate when stories explore serious topics with irreverence, often through humor, absurdism, or satire. Lyricism, experimentation (formal or informal), and voice-driven fiction with a political core are all things I’m drawn to. Get dirty, get funky, get flirty—whatever! I’m a fan of Andrea Lawlor, Samantha Irby, Isle McElroy, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Jamil Jan Kochai, Silvia Park, Emma Copley Eisenberg, and Ling Ma.

she/her

Bio: Kara Crawford is a nervous talker and chronic rambler who holds an MFA from George Mason University. She is a prose reader for phoebe’s Incarcerated Writers Project, a Longform reader for Ploughshares, and previously served as the Fiction Editor for So to Speak. Her work has appeared in Pinch, Cream City Review, JAKE, and elsewhere. She was born and raised in Manassas, Virginia and now lives in Pittsburgh.

Preferences: I love stories that are weird, gruesome, and hit some emotional core. I’m especially compelled by body horror and literary fiction with a speculative bent. Essentially, I’m interested in picking at the line between genre and lit fic to see what flakes off. Writers I adore: Mariana Enriquez, Shirley Jackson, Han Kang, Carmen Maria Machado. 

he/him

Bio: Connor Harding is the world’s most average Midwesterner. His works have been published in Black Warrior Review, HAD, Flash Frog, Crow & Cross Keys, Bullshit Lit, Barren Magazine, The Maine Review, and BOOTH. He’s also the Fiction Editor for Five South and a graduate of George Mason University’s MFA program.

Preferences: I find a submission to be the most compelling when it takes risks with its form, voice, and perch. If forced to choose between a story I've read a hundred times (polished to a nearly perfect degree), or a unique​ and engaging piece that's still a little rough around the edges, my preference will almost always fall towards the one that shows the most innovative and authentic approach to its telling. Submitters are welcome (and encouraged) to send their best and their strangest—so long as the work contains ample soul and urgency!