VoiceCatcher is thrilled to announce currently open for submissions! Now through November 12, 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 fall issue:
Co-managing Editors
Tracy Burkholder is a massage therapist and writer who calls Portland, OR home. Her work has appeared most recently in The Manifest-Station, Nailed and Vinyl. She recently completed a book-length hybrid of lyrical memoir, poetry and image titled I Want More. She received an MFA in fiction from Bennington College and now writes as often as she can with Corporeal Writing as well as online at Not Until Now.
Alison Cantrell is an editor based in Portland, Oregon, with a background in literary and young adult fiction. She’s been working with writers for seven years in various forms, from tutoring writing to editing book manuscripts. She enjoys collaborating with storytellers to create beautiful stories. Alison has a master’s degree in book publishing from Portland State University.
Poetry Editors
Shenan Hahn is Virginia-born writer currently residing in Portland, Oregon (and sometimes on a remote island in Alaska during the summer fishing seasons). She is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University MA in Writing program, and her first full-length book of poetry, In the Wake, was published by White Violet Press in 2014. Her work has been published in a variety of publications both online and in print, and she has served in an editorial capacity for Outside In Literary and Travel Magazine, Magic Lantern Review, and Prompt & Circumstance. Outside of her literary pursuits, she runs a pancake food cart with her partner and enjoys painting, playing the mandolin, and long aimless drives.
Kristen Ludwigsen Born and raised in the great city of Portland, Oregon, Kristen grew up amongst the shelves of Powell’s and neighborhood bookstores. In 2008, she graduated from Lewis and Clark College with a BA in English. Recently, she took her love of books to the next level and is pursuing an MA in Book Publishing at Portland State University. She is currently a publisher’s assistant for Ooligan Press. When she’s not writing or editing, she’s binge-watching Rupaul’s Drag Race and The Great British Baking Show. She is honored to be a part of the VoiceCatcher poetry team, and is continuously blown away by the talented voices found in the Pacific Northwest.
Susie Sweetland Garay
Prose Editors
Brandi Cornelius once authored an awkward advice column for an arts and culture magazine in New Delhi, once managed a remote fishing lodge on an island in Alaska, and is now learning to be a metalsmith. She has edited two travel anthologies, along with the retired Outside In Literary & Travel Magazine, all dedicated to promoting cross-cultural understandings through global storytelling. She reads and writes in Oregon wine country with her dogs, Lola and Cormac McArfy, and a red-bearded husband.
Carol Fischbach is a writer who believes passionately in coming of age, no matter how long it takes. With a BA in Communications, she began nursing school at age sixty-two and graduated with her BSN at age sixty-five. She took a one year break before earning an MFA in creative non-fiction. She has been published in Nailed Magazine, Oregon East, Tide Pools Literary Arts Magazine, and the Port Townsend Leader.
Carol has written since her youth, when her confidant was her journal; slips of paper stuffed her notebooks in school with snatches of poems; books were her best friend. She has been editor of a few inconsequential newsletters that are buried deep in archives collecting data dust bunnies. Carol feels that her real writing began after workshops with Lidia Yuknavich, where she learned to write from her body and find her real voice.
Now she feels the slant of ageism and feels strongly that it is important to change the current attitudes about aging in our culture. She is working with two amazing women on a project, Jouissance Sans Cesse, that deals with the issues of aging and sexuality. The need for intimacy never goes away, it just evolves and looks different over time.
Originally from Northern Illinois with a stint in Fort Collins, Colorado, she now lives in Vancouver, Washington with her husband, brother, her two kitties Sammi and Benji, and her brother’s dog, Missy.
Hannah Chow, originally from Missouri, is a writer based in Portland, Oregon. She graduated from the University of Missouri in Kansas City with her BA in English Literature. From 2015 to 2017 she managed a literary art publication in Kansas City to help new and established writers and artists. Published in print and online, Hannah primarily writes how-to articles for pregnancy, newborn, and nutrition magazines. She has been published with Natural Life Magazine, Pregnancy & Newborn, Love Self Magazine, and The Baby Corner. During the day she works for the West Linn-Wilsonville School District managing community outreach projects. She is married to Allan Chow, a Malaysian-born fine art painter. Together they have two children and a pug named Brutus.
Art Editor
Sarah Fagan has enjoyed working with Portland artists as VoiceCatcher’s art editor since 2014. She received a BA from Stonehill College in North Easton, MA in 2007, relocating to Portland, OR shortly thereafter. Sarah became involved in the Northwest art scene as an artist and teacher, eventually receiving a post-baccalaureate certificate in painting and printmaking from the Oregon College of Art and Craft. She is represented by galleries across the U.S. and is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Texas, Austin. More at www.sarahfagan.com.
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.