VoiceCatcher is thrilled to announce our Spring 2020 submission period! From February 15 to March 15, 2020, send us work that will make us laugh. Cry. Think. We want you to push the envelope. We want you to move us with your words.
Our team of creative and passionate editors is ready to see your words and artistic visions. Let us introduce you to our editorial staff for the spring issue:
Managing Editors
Julie Swearingen is an editor and marketing coordinator living in beautiful Bend, Oregon. She previously lived in Portland, where she completed a master’s degree in book publishing from Portland State University and worked for several publishers, including Overcup Press. She enjoys reading in all genres, with a particular love of memoir, young adult, and new adult fiction. In addition to her editing work, she is the events manager at an indie bookstore in Bend and would happily live in the bookstore if they would let her. Find her at julieswearingen.com.
Michele Ford is an editor who has called Oregon home for eight years. In 2018, she earned a master’s degree in book publishing from Portland State University. When she isn’t editing, she reads, writes, plays video games, and trains for her first 5K race. She and her husband live in Portland with their dog and cat, who get along much better than common knowledge says they should. Find her at michelepatriceford.com.
Poetry Editors
Joann Renee Boswell is a teacher, mother, photographer, and poet currently living in Camas, Washington, with her spouse and three children. Before having children, Joann taught and directed high school theater in Washington State. Joann loves rainy days filled with coffee, books, handholding, moody music, and sci-fi shows. Some places she’s been published include Untold Volumes, VoiceCatcher, Western Friend, and Mothers Always Write. Her first book of poetry is expected May 2020 through Fernwood Press. You can read more at joannrenee.com.
Carolyn Adams has been writing poetry since she was twelve years old and has been a working poet for over thirty years. A finalist for Houston Poet Laureate in 2013, she has also been nominated for a Pushcart and for Best of the Net. As author of four chapbooks and many appearances in print and online journals, her poetry and art have been published widely. She has extensive editing experience, having served on the editorial staff of numerous literary journals. She returned to college to proudly, finally, obtain her degree in humanities from the University of Houston in 2016, before moving to Beaverton, Oregon, in 2017.
A retired technical librarian, Linda Appel has lived all around the country but settled into the Willamette Valley as if she had returned home. She lives next to the Willamette River, sees Mt. Hood from her bedroom window, and hopes that the blessings of this spot flow through her poetry.
Prose Editors
Lindley McGuire is a writing professor based in Vancouver, Washington. She has been tutoring and teaching writing for the past six years. She enjoys collaborating with writers to make sure their voice shines through and they put their best piece forward. Lindley has a master’s degree in literary and textual studies from Bowling Green State University.
Marina Garcia moved to Portland three years ago, leaving behind the sun- and agriculture-soaked region of Merced, California. She currently works as an editor in the A/E/C industry and supplements her technical work with creativity by consuming vast amounts of literary and young adult fiction. She earned a BA from UC Santa Cruz and an MS in book publishing from Portland State University.
Patricia Collins is a copyeditor and beta reader based in Portland, Oregon. As an editor, she loves to point out things that really sparkle and to make suggestions about words and phrases that don’t flow. A fan of all things indoors, she loves that the Pacific Northwest’s many months of cold and rainy weather produce an abundant crop of talented local writers. Aside from reading, she also enjoys writing three-sentence movie reviews. You can read her movie reviews at 3SMReviews.com and find out more about her copyediting and beta reading at keen-eye-copyediting.com.
Art Editor
Margaret Henry is a writer and editor living in Portland, Oregon. She received her MA from the University of Montana where she studied aesthetics, art as social practice, and street art while simultaneously developing a robust obsession with Susan Sontag. She learned about the art scene in Portland a few years later while interviewing local artists for a piece on a graffiti buffer. These days, she spends forty-five minutes on the first Thursday of every month exploring the Portland Art Museum with her baby, a docent, and a bunch of other babies.
Young Voices
Kate Ristau is an author and folklorist who writes young adult and middle grade fiction. Her novels, Clockbreakers and Shadow Girl, are now available from Indigo Sea Press, and her essays are available at The Washington Post and Literary Mama. In her ideal world, magic and myth combine to create memorable stories with unforgettable characters. Until she finds that world, she’ll live in a house in Oregon where she found a sword behind the water heater and fairies in the backyard. You can find her online at kateristau.com.