SAM BARBEE’S newest collection is Apertures of Voluptuous Force (2022, Redhawk Publishing). He served as President of the Winston-Salem Writers, and also NC Poetry Society; and is an originator of the Poetry In Plain Sight—now in its fourteenth year—a poetry initiative featuring NC poets on broadside posters and display them in NC towns statewide. His poems currently appear in Cave Wall, and The Christian Science Monitor.

DARYL BARBER is a poet and short story writer who lives in Greensboro, NC. In his free time he likes playing piano, hiking in the woods, and hanging out with his cat, Lizzie.

JENNY BATES, seven poetry books, published in numerous NC and international journals. Presented at the 2023 Ecopoetics and Environmental Aesthetics Conference, London. ESSENTIAL, Redhawk Publications 2023: nominee Pushcart Prize 2024. Her poem, "Virga" Honorable Mention in 2025 Pinesong Awards, was also included in Had I a Dove (Redhawk Publications 2025) this Anthology will help with hurricane and flood relief efforts. Jenny has been featured on NPR’s Dante’s Old South with Clifford Brooks, 2025.

GLENDA BEALL now lives in Roswell, GA, but her heart remains in the mountains. She teaches memoir writing on Zoom for adults who want to tell their life stories. She co-authored Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins and published Now Might as Well be Then, a poetry book. Her poetry and her creative non-fiction are widely published in magazines. Her interviews with writers and poets are available online. Visit her at https://www.glendacouncilbeall.com

LAURIE BENNETT has been many things: a government lawyer (State Department and DOJ) in D.C., a corporate lawyer and ACLU advocate in Denver, an education professor at the University of Denver, and a mom.  Having retired from all those things (except the mom one, that never goes away), she now lives in Ridgewood Queens, NYC and writes, acts, cooks, walks, and occasionally enjoys doing nothing at all.

KERRI HABBEN BOSMAN is a writer living in Cape Carteret, NC. She is a graduate of Peace College and North Carolina State University. Her work has been included in the News and Observer and regularly appears in publications throughout the US and Canada.

STEVE CUSHMAN is a writer living in Greensboro, NC. He has published novels and poetry collections, and his favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip!

DAUN DAEMON’S stories and poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Yellow Arrow Journal, The Atlanta Review, Amsterdam Quarterly, Salvation South, and Poetry South. Her memoir in poetry, A Prayer for Forgiving My Parents (Kelsay Books), was published in 2023. She is currently working on a collection of stories inspired by her mother’s beauty shop as well as a second book of poetry. Daemon lives in Raleigh, NC, with her husband and two orange cats. 

TOM DAVIS’ publishing credits include Poets Forum, The Carolina Runner, Triathlon Today, Georgia Athlete, The Fayetteville Observer’s Saturday Extra, A Loving Voice Vol. I and II, Special Warfare., and Winston-Salem Writers’ POETRY IN PLAIN SIGHT program for 2013 and 2021. He has authored several books. Tom, A retired Special Forces soldier, has completed his memoir, The Most Fun I ever Had With My Clothes: On A March from Private to Colonel. He lives in Sylva, NC.

SUZANNE DELANEY is a Retired RN. Born in Australia, she lived in the Hawaiian Islands for 40 yrs and now lives in NC. Her favorite hobbies, include watercolor, mixed media and collage.  A regular contributor to OMP, her poems are also  included in Poems of Nature, Enchantment and Mystery. by Carol Mays and Suzanne Delaney. PS: It’s Poetry. and PS: It’s Still Poetry. - An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry from Around the World Paperback. also Radiant Verses All are available on Amazon.com

NANCY DILLINGHAM—Big Ivy poet—is a sixth-generation Dillingham from Dillingham in the Big Ivy section of WNC. Her poetry collection Home was nominated for a SIBA.  Her latest publications include No Time Like the Present: A Memoir in Essays, Curves: Collected Stories,After Helene,On Love: Collected Poems, and On Music: Collected Poems.  She lives in Asheville, NC.

TERRI KIRBY ERICKSON of Pfafftown, North Carolina, is the author of eight full-length collections of award-winning poetry, including The Light That Follows Us Home (Press 53, Fall, 2026). Among her numerous honors are the Joy Harjo Poetry Prize, Annals of Internal Medicine Poetry Prize, and the International Book Award for Poetry. Her work has appeared in "American Life in Poetry," Rattle, Rattle Poet’s Respond, The SUN, Garrison Keillor’s The Writers Almanac, and many more.

DENA M. FERRARI is a regular contributor to OMP, Dena’s poetry are featured in Westchester Community College of NY Phoenix(1975), Writers Alliance Poets World-Wide anthologies has many of her published works. Dena's own books, Poems From the Hearth (2010) Come Closer My Dearies (2013), Charmed Times Three (2015), and her newest book Wyld Earth Magick (2018) shows diversified writing styles, leaving a Living Legacy for her grandchildren. She and her husband, Peter live in Vass, NC.

MARI FITZ-WYNN teaches online writing classes for the Muse Writers Center in Virginia and Faith Journey Publishing. She is an award-winning author of four creative non-fiction books, including a poetry collection, and has compiled four anthologies. She currently has two chapbooks in the works. Her essays and poems appear in numerous anthologies and magazines, showcasing her versatility and depth as a writer.   Mari is a United Arts Literary Grant recipient.

BOB GARRETT lives in Sylvester, GA. He is an avid outdoorsman, enjoying the outdoors at every opportunity. He is a previous contributor to the Old Mountain Press Anthology series.

MICHAEL GASPENY, who delights in living in Greensboro, NC, "The Gate City," is the author of four books of poems and the novel A Postcard from the Delta. He loves to romp in OMP.

JAMES GIBSON, a native Tennessean,   private pilot, scuba diver, and auto industry retiree , lives in Northville, Michigan. His first five novels featured Native American culture in the "Anasazi Quest" series. Searching with Pei for the Meaning of Life was published in 2016 based on his experiences living in Taiwan. His eighth novel,  To Live or Die in Taiwan was published in 2018.

LINDA M. GIFFORD has lived for five years, with her husband Dave, in a log house, on 37 acres within the Nantahala Forest, north of Murphy NC. Her poems and essays have appeared in dozens of anthologies including Old Mountain Press.   Rocky Knob Cove, My Life in the Mountains of Western North Carolina Told in Poetry was published in 2025. She is writing a mystery novel, Mysteries At Moonglade, with its setting partially inspired by their property.

MARIAN GOWAN is a regular contributor to Old Mountain Press anthologies.  During her sixteen years living in western NC, her work appeared in several southern publications.  She returned to western NY in 2017 to be near family.

ANNE GRUNER’S is a Pushcart nominee. Her poetry has appeared in over twenty publications, including Amsterdam Quarterly Review, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Wayfarer Magazine, The Raven Review, New Verse News, Humans of the World, Spillwords, and Written Tales." Her stories can be found in Dogwood Journal, Third Flatiron’s Rhapsody of the Spheres, Persimmon Tree, Constellations Journal, Hippocampus Magazine, and others. A former CIA analyst, Anne lives in McLean, VA with her husband and two golden retrievers. https://www.annegruner.com 

TOBY IVES is a retired Food Bank executive who lives in Black Mountain, NC.

NITA HALLFORD KILLEBREW has become a rabid bird watcher in her teacher retirement years and now hopes to see a thousand species before she dies. Her poetry often recounts birds and their omniscient personalities. Her prose entry here is the result of having seven grandchildren who ask for stories before bedtime.

BRENDA KAY LEDFORD resides in Hayesville, NC.  Her work has appeared in all of the Old Mountain Press anthologies and many other journals.  She received the Lighthouse Award from North Carolina Society of Historians for her writing.  Ledford’s poetry collection, The Rain Crow’s Calling, is forthcoming with Kelsay Books.

K. A. LEWIS writes poetry, micro prose, fantasy, and SF. Since 2014, her work has been published in numerous anthologies, most recently Great Blue Heron, Fall for You, In the Yard II, Bards Poetica, The Eagle & the Maple, Mountain Lakes, NoVA Bards 2025, Dawn Horizons, and Gathering 2025. Katy and her husband live with four overindulged cats in a small book-stuffed house in Falls Church, VA. Learn more at: KA-Lewis.com

VALERIE MACON finds poetry and prose woven into the fabric of everyday life. She has six poetry collections (Shelf Life, Sleeping Rough, A String of Black Pearls, The Shape of Today, Page Turner, and Chasing After the Wind). Her work has found expression in a variety of forms from print to podcasts. She runs a garden to feed the hungry, sings in the  Fuquay-Varina Chorale, and is a writer for Suburban Living Magazine.

PRESTON MARTIN’S poems have appeared or are forthcoming in New Ohio Review, Tar River Poetry, Chaffin Journal, Kakalak, Broad River Review, Main Street Rag, Appalachian Review, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, Every River on Earth: writings from Appalachian Ohio (Ohio University Press), and other anthologies and journals He facilitates classes in poetry and literature at Duke Continuing Education. He lives in Chapel Hill, NC.

NANCY MARTIN-YOUNG worked as an educator, editor, reporter, poet, and a novelist. Nancy’s work has appeared in San Pedro Review, Literary Mama,  Poetry in Plain Sight, Flying South, and MoonShine Review, among others. Her books include Seeing Things, Hearing Things, Sensing Things, Wit and Prattles, Southern Edge, and The Last Girl Standing. Awards include a Pushcart nomination and awards from Pinesong, Kakalak, Flyleaf Books, the Randall Jarrell competition, and Romance Writers of America. Plus she loves cats.

CINDY MERNIN, by profession a registered nurse, spent her first twenty-five years on the east coast, middle fifty years out west, and returned to Asheville, NC. An avid reader, she edited and assisted in the publication of her husband’s memoir, Yellowstone Ranger.

CELIA MILES, a Jackson County native, retired from the community college system and lives and writes in Asheville. She is the author of several novels, women and Appalachia-oriented (plus Scotland), some poetry and short stories. Her latest novel is Eight Nights at the Harris Hotel, set in Scotland's Outer Hebrides.

BEV OHLER is an artist/theater designer/teacher and mother who loves to write. When she left the North she came with her husband to work at Warren Wilson College. She has published eight books and written for publications in many forms including this one. She lives in Black Mountain, NC  with her dog, Callie.

MICHAEL POTTS is Professor of Philosophy at Methodist University in Coats, North Carolina. His most recent book is a Christian fantasy novel, The End of the Before. He lives with his wife, Karen, and a multitude of cats in Coats, North Carolina.

MARY RICKETSON, Murphy NC, loves nature, growing food and flowers, and her long career helping people as a mental health counselor.  She is a mother, grandmother, and poet with nine published collections including Lira, Precious the Mule, Stutters, and Tall Flowers and Living Long.  Her newest, Tara, The Healing Power of Nature, is forthcoming from Seed Bed Press. Her poetry has won awards and has been set to music by a London-based composer.

DWIGHT ROTH is a retired elementary school teacher of 29 years. His work appears in several Old Mountain Press anthologies. He has self-published four memoirs and several books of poetry, as well as children’s books. Some of his books are published on Amazon Kindle. Dwight and his wife Ruth live near Monroe, NC. He writes regularly on his poetry blog: https://rothpoetry.wordpress.com/

MARIA ROUPHAIL is the author of the This Is How I Will Save My Life, her fifth poetry collection. It is forthcoming from Redhawk in 2027. She lives in Raleigh, NC.

ELAINA STONE has published works included in Shemom, Building Blocks, and The Jewish Press. She is a lover of all things poetry and nature. She has a Master’s Degree and works as a reading specialist for children with special needs.  She currently resides in Rochester, NY.

LOIS GREENE STONE, writer and poet, syndicated worldwide, had a novel published summer 2026. Poetry and personal essays have been included in hard & softcover book anthologies. Collections of her personal items/ photos/ memorabilia are in major museums including twelve different divisions of The Smithsonian. The Smithsonian selected only her photo to represent all teens from the 1950's; a large showcase in its National Museum of American History featured her photo. hand-designed clothing, and her costume sketches. ‘Girlhood’ exhibit opened 10-2020 and then toured from Jan. 2023 to 2025.

CARROLL TAYLOR is a writer, poet, and playwright. The author of two young adult novels, her three children’s books were illustrated by Doreyl Ammons Cain. Her poems have been published in anthologies and online. In 2024, she published her first poetry collection, Facing Toward the East. Her three one-act plays were performed at The Peacock Theatre, Hayesville, NC. Her writing conveys her love for critters. She and her husband live in Hiawassee, GA.

REBEKAH TIMMS resides in Greenwood, SC with her cat Princess Taffy. She has been a regular contributor to OMP Anthologies for ten years. She recently celebrated her 90th birthday.

WAYNE A. VANDER BYL lives in Williamson, NY. His work has been published in previous Old Mountain Press anthologies, The Bond Street Review, and Bluff & Vine: A Literary Review. Wayne’s two pages/two voices plays have won in community play writing competitions sponsored by Writers & Books and Wayne Writers Guild.

ELIZABETH B. WATSON—AKA Betty—is a frequent contributor to OMP and other small anthologies for years. She and her third daughter are preparing a second collection of her short stories and poetry for publication in 2026. Included are photos of Doug Watson’s paintings. Originally from Massachusetts , the olde married folks experience community living at The Woodlands (CCRC)—  Greenville, SC.  They are the proud  parents of four successful daughters, six grands and four great grandchildren.

WILLIAM WEHUNT, a peripatetic Appalachian-born Zen Buddhist edits, writes copy, news and for poetry journals (thank you, OMP). He wants to thank: Buddha, Hui Neng and Rinzai; his sweetheart Denise, his cat Yuki, his parents; Nam Vets; Yeats, Frost, Snyder, Guy Lail and more; Jefferson, Uecker, Dave Bowman, Rabelais, Mencken, HS Thompson, Kerouac, Emerson, PK Dick, RD Laing, Diogenes, the Greeks, Yes, Metheny and the I Ching: all of whom inspire. Find at decemberfan.wordpress.com

TANYA K YOUNG received first prize in the 2025 Malovrh-Fenlon Poetry Contest, sponsored by Orchard Street Press, LTD. She is a member of Wildacres Writers of Asheville, NC; Fla. Writers and Poets Association and published in Kakalak, Swwim, Persimmon Tree, Fla. Poets Cadence, Fla. Bards Anthology, Old Mountain Press Anthology, Mobius, Magazine1, and Yellow Arrow Publishing. She lives in Sarasota, Fla.