Poetica Publishing Editors
Michal Mahgerefteh - Managing Editor and Book Design
Michal (Mitak) Mahgerefteh is an Israeli-American poet and artist living in (Norfolk - Alexandria) Virginia. Michal studied psychology, creative writing, and theater at Tel Aviv University. After Her graduation in 1985, she married and relocated to the U.S. Michal's poetry has been published in many literary magazines; she was a Featured Poet by The Poet Magazine (England), Medical Literary Messenger (Virginia Commonwealth University), Mindful Magazine (England), Soul-Lit: A Journal of Spiritual Poetry, Medicine and Meaning Magazine (University of Arkansas Medical Press), Global Voices Group Newsletter (Israel), The Jewish Writing Project, ARC Magazine (Israel), among others. She is the author of five poetry chapbooks, more recent is The Rising Song (2022). The forthcoming new collection, FishMoon, will be released in May 2023. Michal is an active member of Women Who Write and Submit, The Poetry Society of Virginia, and The Muse Writers Center. In her free time, Michal enjoys bike riding, hiking, visiting botanical gardens, cooking for her family, world travel, and making art with recycled material. Visit her art and poetry: www.Mitak-Art.com
Sofia M. Starnes - Editing and proofreading service
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Sofia M. Starnes, Virginia Poet Laureate from 2012 to 2014, is the author of six poetry collections, most recently The Consequence of Moonlight (Paraclete Press, 2018). She is the recipient of a Poetry Fellowship from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, among other commendations, including the Rainer Maria Rilke Poetry Prize, the Aldrich Poetry Prize, the Transcontinental Poetry Book Award (Editor’s Choice), the Marlboro Review Poetry Prize, the Whitebird Poetry Series Prize, five Pushcart Prize nominations, and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Union College, Kentucky. Sofia’s poetry has appeared in such journals as Poetry, First Things, The Bellevue Literary Review, Notre Dame Review, William & Mary Review, Southern Poetry Review, Laurel Review, Gulf Coast, and Modern Age, as well as various anthologies, including the Best of the Decade Edition of the Hawai’i Pacific Review. Her translations of essays on the Philippine-Spanish artist Fernando Zóbel have been issued by Galería Cayón in Madrid, Spain, and the Ayala Foundation, Manila, Philippines. In 2018, she was engaged to translate a book on Spain’s role in the American Revolution, which was subsequently published by Iberdrola. Sofia lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, with her husband, Bill, Gottwald Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, at William and Mary and jazz pianist. More information on her work may be found at www.sofiamstarnes.com.
Jane Ellen Glasser - Visiting Editor and Award Judge
Jane Ellen Glasser’s poetry has appeared in numerous journals, such as The Hudson Review, The Southern Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, and The Georgia Review. Her poems have garnered awards from the Irene Leache Society, Puddingstone, and the Poetry Society of Virginia, and she has been recognized for outstanding articles on teaching poetry that were featured in Virginia English Bulletin and English Journal. In the past she reviewed poetry books for The Virginian-Pilot, edited poetry for the The Ghent Quarterly and Lady Jane’s Miscellany, and co-founded the nonprofit arts organization and journal New Virginia Review. A first collection of her poetry, Naming the Darkness, with an introduction by W. D. Snodgrass, was issued by Road Publishers in 1991. She won the Tampa Review Prize for Poetry 2005, and her award-winning book, Light Persists, received an honorable mention in the 2007 Library of Virginia Literary Awards. The Long Life won the Poetica Publishing Company Chapbook Contest in 2011. FutureCycle Press published The Red Coat (2013), chapbook Cracks (2015), In the Shadow of Paradise (2017), Jane Ellen Glasser: Selected Poems (2019). Cyberwit published Staying Afloat during a Plague in 2021 during the pandemic. She has presented readings and workshops for audiences as diverse as students in the Poet-in-the Schools Program, inmates at the Broward Detention Center, and participants in national poetry conferences. Glasser is a member of The Poetry Society of Virginia and The Fort Lauderdale Writers’ Group. Visit Jane's poetry.
Alan Tolzis - Visiting Editor
Alan Toltzis is the author of 49 Aspects of Human Emotion (Poetica) and The Last ommandment (Poetica). A two-time Pushcart nominee, he has published in numerous print and online journals including, Grey Sparrow, The Wax Paper, Hummingbird, IthacaLit, North of Oxford, and Poetry NI. He also serves as a Contributing Editor for The Saturday Poetry Series in As It Ought to Be Magazine. Find him online at alantoltzis.com and follow him @ToltzisAlan.
Natalie Rose - Typesetting and Mailing
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Natalie Rose earned BA in Finance from Old Dominion University School of Business. She is the CEO of SUN Credit Financial and a senior accountant at Capital Investments and CEO Investments. Rose's passion is animal rights, nature photography, making art using oyster shells, world travel, pottery, and family time. We welcome Rose as our new typesetting specialist: converting hand written manuscripts to digital files. Natalie lives in Virginia by the tranquil waters and gorgeous sunsets of the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Virginia.
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