STEPHEN GARDNER, a native of Columbia, SC, received his B.A. and M.A. in English from USC Columbia, where he studied creative writing with George Garrett and Ennis Rees. He earned the Ph.D. in English and Creative Writing from Oklahoma State University, where, under the direction of Gordon Weaver, he wrote the first creative writing dissertation in poetry while, schizophrenically enough, he pursued the traditional degree track in literature. A member of the USC Aiken faculty since 1972, he served for fifteen years in academic administration, most recently as Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. In summer 1993, he returned to the ranks of the faculty where he teaches poetry and creative writing and holds the G. L. Toole Chair in English. His poems, stories, essays, and scholarship have appeared widely in such venues as Southern Review, Poetry Northwest, New Orleans Review, Kansas Quarterly, California Quarterly, The Connecticut Review, and The Texas Review. He was formerly editor of kudzu; and for over a decade he was editor and publisher of The Devil’s Millhopper magazine and TDM Press. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Aiken Center for the Arts and as former president of the Board of Governors of the South Carolina Academy of Authors. His first collection of poems, This Book Belongs to Eva, was published in 1996. A second collection is scheduled for publication in 2008. With William Wright, he is co-editor of The Southern Poetry Anthology: South Carolina, which will be released in 2007. He lives with his wife-like girlfriend JoAnn Biga in Aiken, SC, where he eagerly awaits retirement in 2008.

GILBERT ALLEN lives in Travelers Rest, SC, and teaches at Furman University. His fourth collection of poems, Driving to Distraction, was featured on The Writer's Almanac and Verse Daily. A new chapbook, Body Parts, will soon be forthcoming from the South Carolina Poetry Initiative.

KEN AUTREY, a resident of Columbia, South Carolina, teaches composition, poetry, and creative nonfiction at Francis Marion University in Florence. His poems have appeared in many magazines around the country, including Chattahoochee Review, Cimarron Review, Interim, Poetry Northwest, South Carolina Review, Southern Poetry Review, Tar River Poetry, and Texas Review. He has an essay forthcoming in Drunken Boat.

JOHN LANE's latest book of poems is Noble Trees (Hub City Writers Project 2004), a suite of tree poems accompanying photos of trees of upcountry South Carolina. His latest prose book, Circling Home (University of Georgia Press), a book-length personal narrative about the mile around his house, is due out in November. He teaches at Wofford College.

THOMAS DAVID LISK, Professor of English at North Carolina State University, has published three collections of poetry--most recently, These Beautiful Limits (Parlor Press, 2006)--as well as many articles, short fiction and poetry in literary journals and newspapers.

PHEBE DAVIDSON is the author of sixteen published collections of poems, most recently Twelve Leagues In (Spire Press), The Drowned Man (Finishing Line Press), and Song Dog (S.C. Poetry Initiative, Stepping Stones Press). A new book of poems, Fat Moon Rising will be published by Main Street Rag in 2008. She is the founding editor of Palanquin Press and a staff writer for The Asheville Poetry Review. She lives in Westminster, SC, with her husband Steve and their cat Fripp.