Bio: Kay Gabriel is a PhD student in Classics at Princeton University and a co-editor of Vetch: A Journal of Trans Poetry and Poetics. Her writing has appeared, or will soon, in Nat. Brut, TINGE, Harlot, Plenitude, Transgender Studies Quarterly, and elsewhere. She collaborated with David W. Pritchard on the chapbook Impropria Persona, forthcoming in 2017 from Damask Press.

These poems are excerpted from Kay’s chapbook manuscript Elegy Department Spring, a sonnet cycle for and about the Warhol superstar Candy Darling.

Sarah M. Bess is a transsexual witch from rural southeast Missouri. She currently dwells in the wastes of central Oklahoma, weaving poems and other curses. Her work has been featured in Matrix and The Fem. Sarah was a participant in the 2016 trans women’s writing workshop at Brooklyn College.

Translations by Raquel Salas-Rivera and Gaddiel Francisco Ruiz Rivera

Photo credit: Angelía Mar Rivera Barreto

Gaddiel Francisco Ruiz Rivera (Puerto Rico, 1991) Ha publicado los libros Via crucis de la otredad (2012), Reptura de agua enchufada en una isla (2015) y Remedios crónicos para enfermedades caseras (2016). Este año le han publicado en la revista digital Transtierros, en la revista Retorno y en No cierres los ojos: antología de relatos de horror y terror. Ha reseñado poesía para Letras de Chile y el periódico Freemind PR. Trabaja en la junta editorial de Ediciones Aguadulce. Actualmente, es estudiante del Programa Graduado de Estudios Hispánicos de la Universidad de Puerto Rico.

Gaddiel Francisco Ruiz Rivera (Puerto Rico, 1991) Gaddiel has published the following books: Via crucis de la otredad (2012), Reptura de agua enchufada en una isla (2015), and Remedios crónicos para enfermedades caseras (2016). Over the last year, his work has been published in Transtierros, Retorno, and No cierres los ojos: antología de relatos de horror y terror. Additionally, he has contributed reviews for Letras de Chile and Freemind PR. He is on the Editorial Board of Ediciones Aguadulce, and is currently a student in the University of Puerto Rico’s Hispanic Studies Graduate Program.

catch business is the author of able to / always will (ccm 2016) and founding poetry editor of witch craft magazine. @catchbusiness

Vi Khi Nao is the author of the novel, Fish in Exile, and the poetry collection, The Old Philosopher. Vi’s work includes poetry, fiction, film and cross-genre collaboration. She was the winner of the 2014 Nightboat Poetry Prize and the 2016 Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Contest.

Jennifer MacBain-Stephens went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and now lives in the DC area. She is the author of two full length poetry collections (forthcoming)/ Her chapbook Clown Machine is forthcoming from Grey Book Press this summer. Recent work can be seen or is forthcoming at Jet Fuel Review, Freezeray, The Birds We Piled Loosely, Queen Mob’s Teahouse, Inter/rupture, Poor Claudia, and decomP. Visit: http://jennifermacbainstephens.wordpress.com/. 

beyza ozer would like you to know that you are made of moon dust. beyza’s work has appeared in & is forthcoming from The Offing, Pinwheel, Vinyl, Nightblock, Witchcraft Magazine, Shabby Doll House, & others. beyza is the author of FAIL BETTER (fog machine 2017) & I DON’T MEAN TO REDSHIFT (Maudlin House 2016). They are deputy director of social media at YesYes Books & a co-editor of the journal inferior planets. beyza lives in Chicago where they attend Columbia College, work at the feminist bookstore, & intern at the Poetry Foundation.

Prairie M. Faul is a Cajun trans-woman currently living in Portland, Oregon. She is the author of the upcoming self-published chapbook Root-Heart. Her work has been featured in Inferior Planets and On the Veranda literary journal.

Grace Shuyi Liew is the author of the chapbooks Book of Interludes (Anomalous, 2016) and Prop (Ahsahta, 2016). Her book Careen is forthcoming with Noemi Press. She hails from Malaysia and currently lives in Louisiana. Find her at graceungrateful.com.

Myriam Gurba, Ms. Gurba, if you’re nasty, is a native Santa Marian. She attended U.C. Berkeley thanks to affirmative action. She is the author of two short story collections, Dahlia Season and Painting Their Portraits in Winter. Dahlia Season won the Edmund White Award, which is given to queer writers for outstanding debut fiction. The book was also shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award. Gurba is also the author of two poetry collections, Wish You Were Me and Sweatsuits of the Damned. She has toured North America twice with avant-garde literary and performance troupe Sister Spit. Gurba’s other writing can be found in places such as Entropy.com, TIME.com, and Lesfigues.com. She creates digital and photographic art that has been exhibited at galleries and museums.