Meet the People Behind the Stories
| Derek Alger fiction |
Derek is a freelance writer whose most recent fiction has appeared in Confrontation, The Literary Review, Del Sol Review, and Writers Notes. He is currently the head editor of PIF Magazine, as well as its fiction editor, and a graduate of the MFA fiction writing program at Columbia University |
| Gary Berkovich memoir |
Gary Berkovich is a Chicago-area architect who came to the US from the Soviet Union in 1977. “The Graduate,” is part of his memoir, Human Subjects, about his life in the USSR. |
| C.B. Bernard essays |
C.B. Bernard’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Gray’s Sporting Journal, Word Riot, The Hub Occasional, Atelier, the Boston Fiction Annual Review, HarpStrings, The Advocate, and in numerous newspapers and magazines. He was a featured writer at the 2007 Boston Fiction Festival, and has won awards for his nonfiction writing and photography. He’s lived in eight states, including Alaska, and recently moved from Portland, Oregon, to Maine. |
| Bill Bilodeau columns |
Bill is the editor of a small daily newspaper in New Hampshire. He studied creative writing at Harvard and is currently at work on a novel. He is married... with children. |
| Scott Dominic Carpenter fiction |
Scott Dominic Carpenter teaches literature and writing at Carleton College, in Minnesota, and in connection with this position he has published extensively in non-fiction. The topics range from madness in literature to literary hoaxes: among his book credits are Acts of Fiction (1995) and Reading Lessons (2000). Two years ago he turned his attention back to fiction, producing a number of shorts (including the stories “General Relativity,” “Grand Canyon,” Light”) and, most recently a first novel: “An Empire of Dust.” |
| Brandon Cole fiction |
Brandon Cole has written, co-written, produced, or directed five feature films, most recently 13 MOONS, co-written and directed by Alexandre Rockwell, that stars Steve Buscemi, David Proval, Peter Dinklage and Jennifer Beals. His other film credits include MAC and ILLUMINATA, co-written and directed by John Turturro; OK GARAGE, which he wrote and directed, which starred Lili Taylor, John Turturro and Will Patton; and SONS, co-written and directed by Alexandre Rockwell. MAC won the Camera D’Or at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. OK GARAGE was awarded best screenplay at the 1998 Avignon, France, Film Festival. The Difficult Ones is his second novel. |
| Heather Diack art gallery |
Heather is a Toronto-based arts writer and curator. Walking the tight rope between freelance art world criticism and academia (she is currently completing a PhD dissertation), a balancing act not to be taken lightly, she fantasizes that such acrobatics will improve her flexibility. Impassioned by contemporary art, and especially by photography, Heather strives to see the frame within the frame within the frame, without being framed. |
| Diane Dwyer humor |
Diane is a painter who splits her time between Woodstock and NYC. Her images can be seen at dianedwyer.com. |
| Beth Dugan fiction |
Beth Dugan is a Masters of Fine Arts candidate in Fiction Writing at Columbia College, Chicago. Her work has appeared in the South Loop Review, The Banana King, Laying Down with Full Stomachs. She freelances for TimeOut Chicago, NewCity, UR Chicago, and bookslut.com. She was the editor of Columbia’s online magazine Reservoir’s Whats Going On? section, 2006-2007. |
| Bob Eckstein humor |
Bob is a writer/cartoonist who lives in NYC. A sneak peek at his new book, The History of the Snowman; From the Ice Age to the Flea Market can be seen at historyofthesnowman.com. |
| Jerry Farrell humor |
Jerry has been contributing humor to Ducts since the Summer 2004 Issue. His first piece, “Praise for Codename: Vengeance” ran under the pseudonym Paul MacTavish, which was a huge mistake considering that a Paul MacTavish of Lansing, Michigan immediately began mailing Mr. Farrell a single steel-tipped bullet each week with a note accusing him of stealing his identity and thoughts. In November of 2006, Mr. MacTavish successfully tracked down Mr. Farrell at a Virginia Artists’ Colony. After surviving eleven gunshot wounds, Mr. Farrell’s street cred as one of the country’s baddest (and most important) webzine humorists is indisputable. |
| Danny Goodman fiction |
Danny currently attends the MFA program at the University of New Orleans. Back home in Brooklyn his days were filled with super-heroes, the New York Mets, and a love for that slice of pizza that has just been removed from the oven. |
| Jyllian Gunther humor |
Jyllian Gunther writes and directs for film, television, and theatre. Her critically acclaimed documentary, “PULLOUT” was an official selection at numerous film festivals including: Hamptons International, Raindance UK, Newport International, and Mill Valley Film Festival. Most recently, she directed multiple episodes of the Emmy nominated PBS series, “Postcards From Buster.” Other shows include MTV’s “Made,” and Noggin’s “Love High,” an original pilot. She won an EMMY as Writer and Director for Maryland Public Television in 2002. She produced episodes of the series BodyWorks for New York Times Television/TLC and developed an original series based on her documentary, “PULLOUT” for NYT as well. She was the V.O. Director for the CBS-Nick-Bill Cosby series, “Little Bill.” She was staff writer at Nickelodeon where she wrote and developed two short films and two series. Other TV clients include: IFC, WE, AMC, USA, Oxygen, and Noggin. Jyllian has made two short films, which have screened at Film Fest D.C., at the Kennedy Center, The AFI Film Festival, and others. As a playwright, her work has been produced in New York. L.A., and San Francisco. She is currently working on a new documentary about the opening of BCAM, a small public high school in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn. |
| Russell Jones poetry |
Russell (b.1984) grew up in the industrial new-town of Telford, Shropshire. He later read English literature at Lancaster University, then studied creative writing at Edinburgh University. He has written poetry and travel documents for several magazines and books, was founder of the Sendai City Creative Writing Group, and has lead group seminars on popular modern British Fiction. In 2007, he won the Grierson Verse Prize for “Craftwork”. |
| Megan E. Kaesshaefer poetry |
Megan is in her senior year at Lafayette College, where she’s studying English, Theater and Poetry. Her work has been published in on-campus literary magazines, and last year she received honorable mention in the Jean Corrie Poetry Prize Competition. Next year she will return home to Philadelphia to pursue a career in writing. |
| William Kennedy fiction |
Bill Kennedy is an Artist – In – Residence in the state of North Dakota in Literature teaching Creative Writing to elementary students, all brilliant; and adults up to Nursing Home residents; equally brilliant. This is his second published short story. He is the Marketing Director at Jamestown Hospital. He and his wife Mary K.have two adult children living in Brooklyn. |
| Jessica P. Lalli art gallery |
Jessica is a recent graduate of Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA with a degree in English Literature. She has written stories for multiple publications; she is presently a freelance writer for the Williamsport Sun-Gazette and the Williamsport Guardian. |
| Lynette Ledoux fiction |
Lynette’s fiction has appeared in Product, a literary magazine featuring poetry and prose from the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi. As a freelance writer and editor, she has prepared the instructor’s manual for the seventh edition of Rereading America (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007), contributing approximately thirty entries. |
| Roger Lipman memoir |
Roger grew up in London during the Second World War and was besotted with chemistry at age 7. From 1956 he attended London and Cambridge Universities and eventually ended up with a Ph.D. in physical chemistry. He emigrated to the USA in 1963 and became an industrial chemist. In 1973 he switched to developing medical products, such as catheters and skin adhesives and award winning wound dressings that absorb nasty smells. In 2003, after nearly 60 years of chemistry and science, he started to write about his life and work experiences and found he quite liked the process. Now he lives in Manhattan, still does a bit of chemistry, but mostly writes. In addition to working on ‘Memoirs of a Chemist’, Roger writes occasional personal essays. |
| Fredricka R. Maister memoir |
Fredricka is a freelance writer and screenwriter who lives in New York City. Her articles have appeared in a variety of publications, including the Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Jewish Week, Unity Magazine, Brooklyn Bridge,Baltimore Magazine, Equity News, Big Apple Parent, and in the Archives of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Her screenplays include the romantic comedies, “It Began With Anchovies” and “The Olympians.” |
| Benjamin Malcolm columns |
Benjamin Malcolm focuses mainly on intercultural themes in his writing, and has been at various times a weekly newspaper journalist, Peace Corps volunteer, Thai university professor, semester abroad leader, refugee camp volunteer, “international development associate,” and freelance writer. He has lived over six years in Thailand and in four out of the six states in New England. His work has appeared in the Thai national newspaper the Nation; U.S. and Thai-based periodicals including Bates Magazine, Thailand Magazine, Chiang Mai Citylife, Tropical Living, Lifestyle + Travel; and the online publications ThingsAsian.com and PopPolitics.com. He now lives with his wife Supalak in Burlington, Vermont. |
| Jennifer Murphy art gallery |
Jennifer is a Toronto based artist who has exhibited in public and private institutions including The Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, White Columns, New York, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, as well as galleries in Toronto, Berlin and Vienna. In 2006 she was nominated for the prestigious Sobey Art Award in Canada. |
| Sharilyn Neidhardt art gallery |
Sharilyn Neidhardt (sharilyn.neidhardt@gmail.com) is a painter and photographer who lives and works in Brooklyn. She stubbornly clings to obsolete technologies and is mildly obsessed with chess. Sharilyn is usually over-caffeinated. Her work can be viewed online at www.sharilynneidhardt.com. |
| Roger Poppen fiction |
Roger has published short pieces in several ezines, including Long Story Short, Flashquake, and Insolent Rudder, and a novel, MISTER LUCKY. ‘Peacocks and Dragons’ differs from his other work by evoking a different place and time. |
| Helen Rafferty columns |
Brooklyn born and bred, Helen Rafferty now resides in beautiful Mamaroneck, New York with her husband and three daughters. Her short stories have appeared in journals such as Lynx Eye, Sanskrit and Studio One. Helen’s essays chronicle the heinous crimes of her youth and her subsequent cruel banishment to the suburbs. This ability to see high drama in the most mundane circumstances has led to a reporting job for her local newspaper. |
| Pamela Ryckman essays |
Pamela Ryckman is a freelance writer based in Manhattan. Her work has appeared in The Financial Times, The New York Observer and The New York Sun, among other publications. A selection of her clips is available at www.pamelaryckman.com. |
| Gabrielle Selz essays |
Gabrielle is a freelance writer who has previously published in Fiction Magazine, Oktoberfest and The Easthampton Star and MORE Magazine. She is presently working on a memoir about her mother’s decline from Alzheimer’s disease. |
| Wendy Spero humor |
Wendy is an actress, comedian, and writer who has performed on NPR, Comedy Central, VH1, NBC, FOX and the Food Network. Her most recent one woman show, “Who’s Your Daddy?” was produced at Edinburgh Fringe Festival after a year-long run at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in NYC. Wendy has been featured in the New York Post, New York Magazine, the New Yorker, and the New York Times. Back Stage Magazine listed her as one of the “Top Ten Standout Stand-ups Worth Watching” and she has been named “Best Female Comic of The Year” by Timeout NY. Wendy has contributed to the New York Times Op-Ed page, the New York Times Magazine’s Funny Pages, Esquire, and the best-selling anthology, “Bar Mitzvah Disco.” She recently co-wrote a pilot for HBO, and her book, “Microthrills: True Stories from a life of Small Highs” (Aug, 2006, Hudson Street Press/Penguin) became an LA Times Bestseller. |
| Sunsh Stein memoir |
Sunsh lives in New York City, but has one foot out the door. She’s a freelance writer with a master’s degree in journalism and a day job as a patient advocate. She was recently called an “advanced hippie.” |
| Lee Upton essays |
Lee’s fifth book of poems, Undid in the Land of Undone, appeared this fall from New Issues Press. Her fourth book of literary criticism is Defensive Measures. Her poems have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, the New Republic, American Poetry Review, Poetry, and many other journals. Her fiction has been published in Antioch Review, Ascent, Glimmer Train, Shenandoah, Northwest Review, and elsewhere. She is a professor of English and the writer-in-residence at Lafayette College. |
| Linda C. Wisniewski memoir |
Linda is a librarian in Bucks County, PA, where she also teaches adult education classes in memoir writing and writes features for a weekly newspaper. She has written for the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Christian Science Monitor, the Rose and Thorn and other publications. In 2003, she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Linda’s memoir, “Off Kilter,” is forthcoming in April 2008 from Pearlsong Press. |
| Will Yakowicz fiction |
Will, a native of New Jersey, lives in Manhattan studying Journalism and English at New York University. He is a staff writer for the Washington Square News covering NYU’s wrestling team. He walks around the city with a steno note pad and tape recorder for creative inspiration. One of his goals is to never be a journalist. He likes to fish, camp and write. |
| Rebecca Zadeh essays |
Rebecca is a Jesuit Volunteer in Tacoma, Washington. Jesuit Volunteers are like AmeriCorps volunteers, only they get a smaller stipend and the opportunity to watch people’s eyes glaze over with the mention of “Jesuit” (the joy of which doesn’t quite make up for the pay differential). She works for Habitat for Humanity while, appropriately, renting an old, substandard house that should be condemned. |
| Helen Zelon memoirs |
Helen’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Family Circle, Brooklyn Bridge and Scientific American: Explorations. A proud booster of her adopted hometown (New York), she is a nonfiction contributor to Totally Brooklyn. |
| STAFF | |
| Jonathan Kravetz editor-in-chief |
Jonathan is best known for his ability to scratch his forehead and squint his eyes simultaneously . He is a writer, editor and some time trumpet player who spends too much time reading long feature stories on the world wide web. He is a co-founder of ducts and founder of the New York based reading series, Trumpet Fiction, held each month at KGB Bar in the east village. He has studied writing with a number of teachers in New York, including Alice Eliot Dark (fiction), the late Fred Hudson (screenwriting) and Alison Estes (children’s fiction) and has held a number of odd jobs, including news reporter, taxi cab driver, projectionist and ducts installer (hmmmm). He currently works as a computer consultant. He has recently taken up improv comedy classes with the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater of NYC as a way to discover finer and more glorious ways of embarrassing himself on a weekly basis. www.jonathankravetz.com. |
| Philip Shane designer emeritus |
Philip is a freelance film editor and co-founder of ducts.org. His programs have appeared on PBS, ABC, Cinemax, Lifetime Television, The Learning Channel, and in theaters and film festivals around the world. He lives in New York with his wife Julie. |
| Gail Eisenberg humor editor/contributor |
Gail is a delightful combination of comedy and tragedy. A former writer/producer in Comedy Central’s on-air promotions department, she’s a freelance copywriter, journalist, and co-author of A Mother Loss Workbook (HarperCollins). Her work has appeared in Time Out New York, The Daily News, and Newsday, as well as on-air on Comedy Central and HBO. She has also written copy for theatrical entertainment companies. For the last decade, she has contributed concept and copy to ad agency SJI, for clients like HBO, A&E, IFC, PBS, and CBS. She is co-writer and co-star of Cat Eisenberg, Dog Eisenberg, launching soon on LOGO. www.gaileisenberg.com |
| Sharon Gurwitz treasurer |
Sharon’s careers as psychology professor, banker, and management consultant all come in handy for managing the business side of ducts. When she’s not working on a consulting project or writing her novel, she enjoys going to the theater, ballet, and classical music concerts. |
| Val Kacik assistant fiction editor |
Born in Laredo, Texas, shipped almost immediately to the isle of Trinidad and Tobago, only to be dropped – most say on his head – in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania three years later, and all this before reading James Tate and Charles Bukowski. Not to mention, which he does his best not to, studying with Tim Tomlinson. The truth has no choice but to turn to fiction. |
| Anne Mironchik assistant |
Anne, although a fine treasurer, is much more renowned for her songwriting, which reaches back to capture the classic brilliance of favorite hits by Carole King and Laura Nyro. She blurs the lines between jazz, country, rock and R&B, weaving melody and rhythm together in masterful ways. Her rich alto voice leads listeners from one genre to another as she explores the struggles, loves, fears and joys of everyday heroes. When she’s not writing great music, Anne is busy crunching numbers for ducts! Anne’s new CD “Find Me” is now available and can be found at www.annemironchik.com.4newsongs@earthlink.net |
| Cindy Stockton Moore art gallery editor |
Cindy is a Brooklyn-based painter in a constant state of optimistic upheaval. Outside of the studio, she spends her time shuffling from college to college as an adjunct art professor. Her work was most recently exhibited at A.I.R Gallery in Chelsea and at Kunsfort in Vijfhuizen, The Netherlands. Her writing on art has appeared in New York Arts Magazine, NY Sun, in addition to on-line publications. www.cindystocktonmoore.com. |
| Jennifer Lauren Pelley illustrator |
Jennifer is a recent graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She is an actress and director. |
| Kat Rodies managing editor |
Kat Rodies is neither managing nor an editor. Discuss. |
| Elizabeth Rosen essays and profiles editor |
Elizabeth is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Lafayette College. In previous incarnations, she has also been a writer for Nickelodeon, an associate producer for the news, and the editor of two academic journals. She has published her nonfiction and fiction in various publications. |
| Charles Salzberg memoir editor |
Charles is a New York based freelance writer and teacher. He has published a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction books. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Arts & Leisure section, Redbook, New York Magazine, Travel & Leisure and many others. |
| Tim Tomlinson fiction editor |
Tim’s fiction has appeared in The Missouri Review, North American Review, Libido, and elsewhere. He’s published haiku in Modern Haiku, Time Haiku, and Black Bough. He’s an occasional journalist, and a full time teacher, working at both NYU and the New York Writers Workshop. |
| Ryan Van Winkle poetry editor |
Ryan Van Winkle has had poems published in a bunch of small magazines you have never heard of including: Small Fry, Submit, and CIA Nights. His journalism has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Sunday Herald and Black and White Magazine. He burns himself a lot and is the founder of a popular cinema-going club. |