Anthony is a creator. He works across many artistic genres, primarily in digital art creation, music and writing. He has a poem published in the Anglican Theological Review. He is currently in the MFA program as a poet, though his interests lie in the interdisciplinary intersection of poetry and the new media, especially around the intersection between the written, the spoken, and the visualized (especially visual and video poetry and film). He works as a Children's Ministry Director and local chaplain and strives to be mindful of other people. He supports ever person and institution as they honor the dignity of all students by supporting in every way Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives and assuring the freedom of thought and speech is preserved. Long live creative writing, the Humanities, and all the free creatures of Middle Earth. We keep us safe.

Originally from California, he has made his home in Memphis for 3 years, enjoyed its hospitality and offers it solidarity. He lives with his spouse and three children and an unredeemable Chocolate Labrador. Anthony received his Master's in Divinity from Duke University in 2017.

POETRY
Bethany Rose Datuin is a Filipino American poet based in Tennessee and managing editor of the Pinch. A firm believer in food as a source of comfort and inspiration, her work focuses on identity as it is defined by culture, love, and cuisine. When she is not penning new poems, her sights are usually set on watching underrated television shows, trying out tabletop roleplaying games, and baking whatever she possibly can.

Kaylie was born and raised just outside of Memphis, TN. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Literature and is currently pursuing her Masters in Literature. She works as a manager of a daycare, but her interests lie within the publishing world.

POETRY
Martins Deep is a poet, photographer, and digital artist whose work appears or is forthcoming in Magma Poetry, Obsidian, The Porter House Review, december, Fiyah, and elsewhere. He is the winner of the 2025 Furious Flower Poetry Prize, selected by aracelis girmay, and a finalist for the 2025 Porter House Review Editor's Prize. Martins serves as a Brand Editor at The Pinch, and is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Memphis. Find him on X @martinsdeep1.

POETRY
Obiageli A. Iloakasia is a Nigerian writer living in Memphis, TN. She is the recipient of the 2024 Creative Writing Award for Poetry at the University of Memphis, where she is also studying for an MFA in Creative Writing. Iloakasia is the current Senior Poetry Editor for Pinch. Find her on IG and X: @obby_iloakasia.

FICTION
Marilyn Jackson is a third-year MFA candidate in Creative Writing with a concentration in fiction. Originally from a small town just up the road from the Mississippi Delta, her fiction explores the intersections of human experience in the American South, with themes of familial expectations, intimacy, identity, and self-preservation. Marilyn is most proud of having raised a whole human.

POETRY
Elena Sunyoung Kang’s work has appeared in VagabondCity, CarminaMagazine, and the ebook anthology, ThreadsofLove. She received an honorable mention in BacopaLiteraryReview and was nominated for the 2025 Rhysling Award.

POETRY
Denise Kerlan is snail-blazing her way through her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Memphis. Born and raised in the mid-south, Denise holds a BA in English from the University of Tennessee and a BS in just about everything else.

When she’s not writing, you can find her shaking her sass all over Memphis as a Zumba instructor and spending time with her crazy family and not-so-miniature schnauzer, Petunia.

Currently, Denise’s work can be seen in Word Travels—a sidewalk poetry collection that’s also featured on the Memphis Greenline. She hopes her poetry finds its way into your hands and beyond in the near future.

NONFICTION
Holly Lau, formerly a solo performer and choreographer, created work that explored the intersection of dance, music and original text in performing life stories. Her seminal choreography, Transitions: (Three Instances), was performed nationally and internationally and was the featured presentation at the conference Interdisciplinary Landscapes, Women and Performance, Northampton, UK.

Lau is now focused on non-fiction writing, which is an outgrowth and expansion of her previous dance texts. Her work has been published in Parabola Magazine, The Porch, and the New York Times (Tiny Love Story). She is pursuing an MFA degree in Creative Writing at the University of Memphis.

FICTION
Baylee Less is pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Memphis and is writing her first novel. She loves fiction in all its forms, but lengthy historical fiction novels will always win the 1st place prize in her heart. She currently serves as the Director of Development for Memphis Jewish Home & Rehab and on the Board of Directors for Music Export Memphis. During her free time, she enjoys traveling to small towns with no cell reception, cooking delicious vegan food, and hanging out with her husband Monte, their daughter Dahlia, and their cats, Miso and Matcha.

FICTION
Sydney is a second semester student at the University of Memphis MFA program and a (mostly) Fiction writer. Current Prose Co-Editor for the Pinch.

FICTION
Caleb McKee is a fiction writer in his second year in the MFA program and is the co-PJO Editor. He has had his work described as “kind of a bummer,” which he finds generous.

He considers home to be the High Desert, and wherever his dog, Koopa, is. He likes to think he tries his best.

FICTION
Gloria Mwaniga Odary, is a writer and educator from Kenya who works as the online co-editor of the Pinch. Odary is fascinated by historical revisionism and the intersection between research and imagination. She uses storytelling as a tool to challenge accepted narratives, and to offer new interpretations of key historical events, epics, myths, folktales and tales of colonial dispossession in East Africa. Odary is a recipient of the 2024 Georgia Review Prose Prize, the 2024 Isele Magazine Nonfiction Prize, the 2021 African Land Policy Centre Story Prize and the 2019 Miles Morland Writing Scholarship. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the GeorgiaReview, Isele, Weganda Review, The Johannesburg Review of Books, The WhiteReview, Lolwe, Porter House Review, CRAFT, and elsewhere.

Chidiebube onye Okohia is a Nigerian creative. He tweets at @o_okohia.

FICTION
Chelsea Panameño is a first-generation Salvadoran-American writer and horror enthusiast. She enjoys writing about magic, mythology, queerness, and the everything in-between. When she isn’t writing, she also enjoys tabletop roleplay games, listening to fiction podcasts, and trying not to kill plants. She placed second in the Fiction category of the 2023 Southern Literary Festival. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Fiction at the University of Memphis.

Joshua C. Pipkins is a Pushcart nominated poet based in Memphis, Tennessee. Their work has previously appeared in The Poet Heroic, The Belfast Review, and Trampoline Poetry.

FICTION
Sam Williams is a second-year MFA candidate at the University of Memphis. A Memphis native, she received her BA from the University of Memphis in 2022. In her fiction, she likes to explore queerness, community, alienation, and hopes to write characters that are just a little off-kilter but have a whole lot of heart. Most of her free time is demanded by her dog, but when she manages to get a spare second, she can be found taking her car for long music-listening rides.

Julia Creson is a PhD student in the Literary and Cultural Studies concentration at the University of Memphis, focusing her work on gender, race, class, and sexuality as we see it performed in women's and gender non-conforming rap artists. She received her BA in Creative Writing at Rhodes College, and my MA in English at Tulane University, both of which influenced her current studies and her creative writing endeavors. She also teaches literature and writing composition at the University of Memphis, which is her main focus in her journey to PhD-hood.