THE EXHIBITION
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THE EXHIBITION •
‘Ossifying Shadows’
Serenay Özkan is a Turkish poet and author whose work serves as a distinct voice in contemporary literature. Born October, 2004 in Istanbul, Özkan began writing poetry during her middle school years. She made her literary debut with the poetry collection Viata, published in 2019. Currently, she is pursuing her academic studies at the Istanbul University Faculty of Letters while also advancing her literary career. In November 2025, she published her short story collection, Farklı Bir Mehtap, published by the Yol Akademi Publishing Group. Her poetry and short stories have been featured in various national and international literary journals including The Arlington Literary Journal, Dominique Literary Magazine, Karıncafil Öykü Dergisi, and Daima Edebiyat Dergisi. Email: serenaayozkann@gmail.com.
‘Eine Dämmerung Umwelt’
Amber Noel Wilbur is creative writing graduate of Cardinal Stritch University, born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She written poetry about nature, beauty, chaos, life, death, and spirituality, for over twenty years. Poetry is her form of meditation and how she expresses her perspective on and appreciation for existence. She has also published five books of poetry on Amazon, and is currently working on a new collection, and a new novel. The attached poem is her take on a woman's life and her inner secret world, her umwelt. It captures this world as a metaphor, as if she were a painting of a garden.
‘Older Dream’
Marsal Soren lives in Bokaro Steel City, India. His usual interests lie in sociocultural themes, and some of his works appear in reader communities such as Stretch Your Shelf and in magazines including TwoTwoOne.NYC, The Literary Times, and The Fib Review. Instagram: www.instagram.com/babblebay
‘Bootheel Lullaby’
J. R. Welch is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and photographer from Hayti, Missouri, in the Bootheel, and based in New Orleans. His work explores the cultural memory of the Lower Mississippi River Valley through painting, photography, installation, poetry, memoir, and essays. Drawing from the landscapes and communities of the American South, his stories examine memory, faith, identity before they disappear from the historical record. His writing has appeared in The Christian Century, Reckon Review, Blueline, Queen's Review, Pictura Journal, and other literary journals. He is a 2026 Arts Interchange Resident with the Ross Lynn Foundation and an MFA student at Louisiana State University, New Orleans.
‘Gaze’
Brooke Bovee’s poetry appears in SWWIM Every Day, The Quarter(ly) Journal, Toil & Trouble, and Free the Verse, among others. Her writing draws upon her upbringing in Michigan, her education and adventures in the American West, and the life she has built in the city of Miami.
‘Leperdoptera’
Patrick Johnston is an Anglo-Australian writer and former professor of psychology and neuroscience. His work appears in Washington Square Review, The Louisville Review, Chautauqua, Eastern Iowa Review, Litro Magazine USA, and South Florida Poetry Journal, among others, and has received a Pushcart Prize nomination. He is the author of the completed novel The Gaps Between the Stories. More at dr-patrick-johnston.com
‘Mercury at Dusk’
Khedaren Perumal is a 22-year-old Mauritian poet, independent researcher, and mechatronics engineering student. His creative and academic work spans poetry, philosophy, sociology, political science, criminology, and mathematics. His poems have appeared in international literary journals, and his writing often explores memory, family, grief, labour, tenderness, and the quiet pressures that shape ordinary lives.
‘Descendant of Clay’
Mahmoud Elmardi is a Sudanese novelist and award-winning visual artist based in Cairo. His multidisciplinary work explores themes of memory, migration, and human conflict, creating a unique intersection between narrative fiction and abstract expressionism. A graduate of the College of Fine and Applied Arts at Sudan University of Science and Technology and winner of the prestigious Katara Prize for Fine Art. Elmardi is the author of acclaimed novels including The Secret of the Chisel and Lost in the Mango Orchards. His artwork has been featured in prominent American literary journals, and he is currently developing a large-scale narrative project titled The Walls of Guernica.
‘Black Pepper’
Jean Reyes has been writing scripts, lyrics, cringe, and analyses since her high school creative writing study in San Diego, California. She is a retired classical pianist, a chemist, animanga enjoyer, and deep-reads children's books for fun. Dialogue and argumentative essay are her fortes, but imagery in poetry and prose are her most practiced areas. Her hobbies include freestyle cooking, killing pens, and doodling mishaps with her sister. You can send a piece of your mind to @rhedrion on Instagram and X.
‘Monday Evening’
Paul Potts is a poet from Oklahoma. He was awarded the Jim Spurr Poetry Prize, won the 2026 The Howl Poetry Contest, and was a finalist for the inaugural Rowayat Poetry Prize. Outside of writing, he enjoys playing jazz on both the drums and vibraphone.
‘When We Were Still A Family’
Naomi Dennis is a 15‑year‑old African American high school student beginning their writing career as a poet. Their work mostly pertains to emotionally driven concepts like familial trauma, the dark side of growing up, and the complexities of being a young woman in today’s world. They hope to attend Howard University in the future to earn a bachelor’s degree in English Literature.
‘Original Thought’
Marie Anne Arreola (Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net nominee) is a bilingual interdisciplinary artist and journalist whose work engages speculative lyric, digital culture, and diaspora memory. She is the founding editor of VOCES, a bilingual platform amplifying global writers and artists, and a Rotten Tomatoes–certified critic. Her writing appears in over sixty literary journals across the U.S., Europe, and Latin America.
‘Shell Bowl from Whistler’
Sabrina Shabana Vellani is an Indo-Canadian actress and poet from Vancouver, BC, Canada. Her photography and poetry can be found at @sabrinavellanipoetry on Instagram. Her work has appeared in The New York Quarterly, The Literary Review of Canada, Dark Winter Literary and more. She has just finished her debut poetry manuscript with the Vancouver Manuscript Intensive. Her latest poem, Identity, was released recently in Blue Moon Publishers' Canada Is Our Poem Anthology as well as her three poems in Tidewater Press' Emerge 25 collection.
‘Mountains with Fingerprint Stains’
Jada Johnson is a recent graduate of Auburn University at Montgomery where she won the 2025 Outstanding Capstone Project for her poetry chapbook. She plans to publish this chapbook, cementing her unique abilities within their literary world. Her favorite hobbies include baking Trader Joe’s blueberry muffins and collecting Studio Ghibli journals.
‘The Constellation Keeper’
David Anson Lee is a poet, philosopher, and former academic ophthalmologist whose work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Right Hand Pointing, Braided Way, Ink Sweat & Tears, Eunoia Review, Silver Birch Press, The Scarred Tree, The Orchards, Journal of Undiscovered Poets, and Mouthful of Salt. Born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, he often explores themes of memory, identity, landscape, medicine, environmental stewardship, and the enduring relationship between human beings and the natural world. His poetry combines lyrical imagery with philosophical reflection and is informed by a lifelong interest in literature, science, and Indigenous traditions. He lives in Texas and is currently assembling a collection of poems exploring ecological responsibility, cultural memory, and hope. Substack: https://davidalee.substack.com/
‘Roseshell’
Lydia Pejovic is a writer and alum of the English MA/MFA program at Chapman University. She received her BA in English from the University of San Diego. She writes both fiction and poetry and has been published in Tab Journal, Bluepepper, the Maine Review, and more. Check her out at https://www.lydiapejovic.com/.