The Fiddleback

Jeff Simpson - Founding Editor/Editor-In-Chief

Jeff Simpson grew up in southwest Oklahoma. He is the author of Vertical Hold (Steel Toe Books, 2011), which was a finalist for The National Poetry Series. His poems have recently appeared in Forklift, Ohio, Prairie Schooner, Cimarron Review, Harpur Palate and others. He now lives in Brooklyn, where he works for Poets & Writers. Visit him at jeffsimpson.org

Daniel Long - Managing Editor/Senior Fiction Editor

Daniel Long is an Oklahoman living in New York. His work has appeared. His hobbies include needlepoint and revenge.

Chelsey Simpson - Consigliere/Nonfiction Editor

Chelsey Simpson is a writer, editor and local food advocate with a deep appreciation for HBO dramas, This American Life and miniature schnauzers. Most of her own writing is journalistic in nature, but her favorite projects are always grounded in humor. Recently, she has been a contributing writer for Edible Brooklyn and New York Magazine Online. Follow her at TheNeoPioneer.com.

Labecca Jones - Senior Poetry Editor

Labecca Jones received her BA in English from Mesa State College of Grand Junction, Colorado in 2005 and completed her MFA in Poetry at Oklahoma State University in 2010. She currently teaches English classes at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, CO. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Cimarron Review, The South Dakota Review, The New Writer, Mad Poets Review, Haight Ashburry Literary Journal.

Brian Gebhart - Senior Reviews Editor

Brian Gebhart, native Oklahoman, now lives and writes in Minneapolis, where he completed his MFA at the University of Minnesota.

Jessica Hendry Nelson - Senior Nonfiction Editor

Jessica Hendry Nelson grew up in Philadelphia and lives in Burlington, Vermont. Her work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in The Threepenny Review, The Carolina Quarterly, Crab Orchard Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, PANK and elsewhere. Her essay "The Whitest Winter Light" (Alligator Juniper, 2011) was selected as a Notable essay in the 2012 Best American Essays collection. She attended the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference in August 2012 where she co-founded the absurd Biffin's Bridge Reading Series with a bunch of equally disturbed writers whom she loves.

James Brubaker - Senior Music Editor

James Brubaker is from Dayton, Ohio, but currently lives in Stillwater, Oklahoma where he is pursuing a PhD in creative writing. In high school, James played saxophone in a band called The Skallett Letter. James’s fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Indiana Review, The Texas Review, Keyhole, Barge, Confrontation, Blue Mesa Review, and The Cupboard, among others. He is finishing up a collection of short stories called Liner Notes. It is kind of about music.

Joshua Cross - Music Contributor

Joshua Cross grew up in Beckley, West-by-God-Virginia. Despite living most of his life in the mountains, he is afraid of heights. He received his MA in English from UNC-Charlotte and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in creative writing from Oklahoma State University. His fiction has appeared in Beloit Fiction Journal and The Evening Street Review, and he contributes music reviews to the blog, PoMo Jukebox. 

Benjamin Davis Brockman - Senior Arts Editor

Benjamin grew up in northern Idaho and central Oklahoma. As a boy, his interests in art and storytelling were kindled by spending time watching his parents work in theatrical scene shops, painting large backdrops for plays and musicals. These interests led him to study art and drama in High School, and later in college at Oklahoma State University, where he discovered a passion for woodcuts and intaglio and graduated with a B.F.A. in art. Benjamin has also studied film production and criticism, and is currently seeks an M.F.A. in printmaking at the University of Minnesota. He is an avid blogger, smoker and cat wrangler. He is currently drawing a very large Rabbit. Follow at www.benjaminbrockman.com.

Molly Rose Quinn - Poetry Editor/Promotions

Molly Rose Quinn is a poet and prose writer raised in Memphis, TN. Her writing has appeared in The Fiddleback and at freerangenonfiction.com. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, where she was the Editor-in-Chief of LUMINA. She teaches writing to kids and teens with the Sackett Street Writers' Workshop and lives in Brooklyn.

Angela Palm - Nonfiction Editor

Angela is a freelance editor and writer. Raised in the rural Midwest, she now resides in Vermont, where she stays busy by sampling syrups and craft beers while trying not to become a dog person. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Midwestern Gothic, Sundog Lit, Prick of the Spindle, Little Fiction, and Six Three Whiskey Press. Read more about her at angelapalm.com.

Andrew Terhune - Music Contributor

Andrew Terhune is from Memphis, Tennessee. He currently lives in Stillwater, Oklahoma with his lovely wife and two beautiful daughters, where he is working on his PhD at Oklahoma State. He holds an MA in Cinema Studies from Savannah College of Art & Design and an MFA in Poetry from Columbia College Chicago. He is the author of the chapbook Helen Mirren Picks Out My Clothes (greying ghost press, 2010) and his poems have recently appeared in West Wind Review, Court Green, Meridian, and DIAGRAM. Find him online at andrewterhune.com.

Brian Flota - Music Contributor

Brian Flota is the author of A Survey of Multicultural San Francisco Bay Literature, 1955-1979 (2009, edwin Mellen Press) and the co-editor of The Politics of Post-9/11 Music (2011, Ashgate, with Joseph P. Fisher). He has written reviews for All Music Guide and Rate Your Music and contributes the column "Songs that Changed the Landscape of Human Thought and Understanding" to the blog, PoMo Jukebox.

Amna Shams - Contributor

Amna Shams is a human being, journalist, activist, writer, music lover and junior at Queens College. She often drinks too much tea, and finds it hard to talk about herself, especially in the third-person. When she is not working, she can be found catching up on sleep or reading. You can find her work at theknightnews.com and follow her @KN_Amna or through the streets of her beloved New York City.

Sally Franson - Book Reviews Contributor

Sally Franson is an MFA candidate at the University of Minnesota. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in elimae, Bartleby Snopes, Room Magazine, and Witness, among others.

Kevin O'Rourke - Book Reviews Contributor

Kevin O’Rourke lives in Philadelphia, where he works as a science writer and editor; he also teaches writing at Moore College of Art & Design. He holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Minnesota. His work, poetry or otherwise, has been published, most recently in Word for / Word and Midway Journal. He recently read Gunther’s Death Be Not Proud in one sitting.

Lisa Litrenta - Social Media Manager

Lisa M. Litrenta is a 23-year-old New Englander attempting to lead a compassionate life. A recent graduate, Litrenta studied literary theory, literature, and creative writing. She was also the editor of Southern Connecticut State University's undergraduate literary magazine Folio. She currently spends her time reading everything in sight and writing daily.

Matt White - Complaints & Pillaging

Battle axe, mead, warships. Direct complaints to complain@thefiddleback.com.