Stacey Ake's areas of research in philosophy are semiotics (Peirce, Percy), existentialism (Kierkegaard), existential ethics (Bonhoeffer), and theology (Chesterton, Derrida, MacDonald, Zizek). Her interests in biology include population genetics, evolutionary theory, and the co-evolution of bacterial pathogenicity and human immune response. Dr. Ake holds doctorates in Philosophy and Biology from the Pennsylvania State University. She enjoys writing fiction and poetry.

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 Rebecca Brown

Writing as Rebecca Ore, Rebecca Brown's science fiction novels include Gaia's Toys, Human to Human, The Illegal Rebirth of Billy the Kid, Outlaw School, Slow Funeral, and the Becoming Alien series. Her short fiction, reviews, and articles have appeared in numerous publications.

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Paula Marantz Cohen

Paula Marantz Cohen is bestselling author of the novels Jane Austen in Boca (Literary Guild/Book of the Month Club Featured Alternate and a Page-Turner of the Week in People magazine); Much Ado About Jessie Kaplan; and Jane Austen in Scarsdale or Love, Death and the SATs. She is also the author of the nonfiction books The Daughter as Reader; The Daughter's Dilemma; Silent Film and the Triumph of the American Myth; and Alfred Hitchcock: The Legacy of Victorianism. She has published articles and stories in many journals, including Yale Review, Boulevard, Iowa Review, Raritan, The American Scholar, and The Hudson Review. She is the co-editor of the Journal of Modern Literature and a regular reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement. Distinguished Professor of English, Dr. Cohen teaches several courses in the Department of English and Philosophy, including Shakespeare, American Literature, Victorian Literature, Film and Literature, and Writing Fiction. Her Ph.D. is from Columbia University.

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Kevin Cooney is currently teaching introductory composition and literature classes at Drexel while completing his Ph. D. at UCLA.  He has written very little poetry in the last few years, but he enjoys writing about himself in the third person and looks forward to the Week of Writing festivities.

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Thomas Devaney

Thomas Devaney is the author of A Series of Small Boxes (Fish Drum Press, May 2007) and The American Pragmatist Fell in Love (Banshee Press, 1999). Devaney is poet, essayist, and Penn Senior Writing Fellow in the English Department for the Critical Writing Program at the University of Pennsylvania.
 

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Nomi Eve is the author of The Family Orchard (Knopf 2000). She received her M.F.A. from Brown, and was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. Eve is the mother of three small children. She lives in Elkins Park, and is currently working on her second novel.

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Valerie Fox

Valerie Fox's most recent book, The Rorschach Factory, was published by Straw Gate Press in 2006. Amnesia, or, Ideas for Movies, was published by Texture Press (1993). Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, including The World, Hanging Loose, West Branch, Phoebe, Printed Matter, No Roses Review, Poems Niederngasse, 5 Trope, Feminist Studies, and The Painted Bride Quarterly. More of her work can be found at The Quick Brown Fox. She teaches in the English and Philosophy Department at Drexel University. Her doctorate is from Binghamton University.

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Dr. Maurice Henderson

Dr. Maurice Henderson is a spoken word poet and is Producing Artistic Director of the National Black Arts Spoken Word Tour.  He is an outstanding media personality whose award-winning books, critically acclaimed and Off-Broadway produced plays, nationally syndicated columns, and appearances on the lecture and media circuits have attracted a wide audience.

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Gabriella Ibieta

Gabriella Ibieta has been the Director of the English Major and Programs in the Department of English and Philosophy since 2001. She is the author of Tradition and Renewal in La gloria de don Ramiro, editor of Latin American Writers: 30 stories, and co-editor of Inventing America: Readings in Identity and Culture. Her essays have been published in the books Literature and Exile and Remembering Cuba: The Legacy of a Diaspora, and in numerous academic journals. Her Ph.D., in Comparative Literature, is from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Dr. Ibieta is the recipient of two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and an award from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). Some of the many courses she has taught at Drexel are: Latin American Literature, French Literature, American Ethnic Literature, Women and Literature, Subversive Fictions, and Memoir and Documentary Film. She is the proud recipient of the Drexel Student Government’s Student Choice Award for "Most Passionate Professor."

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Henry Israeli

Henry Israeli’s books include New Messiahs (Four Way Books 2002) and Fresco: The Selected Poetry of Luljeta Lleshanaku (New Directions 2002), which he edited and co-translated. He has been awarded fellowship grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Canada Council on the Arts, and elsewhere. His poetry and translations have appeared in numerous journals, including Grand Street, The Iowa Review, Quarterly West, Tin House, Fence, and Verse, as well as several anthologies. Henry Israeli is also the founder of Saturnalia Books (www.saturnaliabooks.com).

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Miriam N. Kotzin

Miriam N. Kotzin is the director of the Certificate Program in Writing and Publishing in the Department of English and Philosophy and a founding co-editor of Per Contra: The International Journal of the Arts, Literature and Ideas. She is a contributing editor of Boulevard, has been nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize for Poetry, and has published more than 120 poems and 60 stories in more than 100 publications, including Southern Humanities Review, Carve Magazine, The Pedestal Magazine, Small Spiral Notebook, and Three Candles. Dr. Kotzin is also the author of A History of Drexel University. She teaches Creative Writing, Writing Poetry, Readings in Poetry, Readings in Drama, and Readings in Fiction. Her Ph.D. is from New York University.

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Lynn Levin

Lynn Levin, adjunct assistant professor of English at Drexel University, is the author of two collections of poems, Imaginarium (2005) and A Few Questions about Paradise (2000). Her poems have appeared in Boulevard, The Poetry Miscellany, Nebraska Review, Margie, Hunger Mountain, The North American Review, The Comstock Review, Mad Poets Review,  Paterson Literary Review, One Trick Pony, Schuylkill Valley Journal of the Arts, and other places. She has received seven Pushcart Prize nominations. A Bucks County, Pennsylvania Poet Laureate and a winner of the Robert Fraser Award, Lynn Levin has also received a Leeway Window of Opportunity grant and in 2005 won Second Prize in the St. Louis Poetry Center's Best Poem Contest. In addition to teaching, she produces the DUTV show, The Drexel InterView. Her M.F.A. is from Vermont College.

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Jen A. Miller is a freelance writer and editor who contributes articles about culture, books, music, fashion, and travel for the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Psychology Today, Poets & Writers, Pages, Wired.com, and New Jersey Monthly. She also writes about health, nutrition, fitness and relationships for Men’s Fitness, Spa, Muscle & Fitness Hers, and Maximum Health.

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Post Midnight, from the Trenton Slam Artists Performing Poets Extraordinaire, has performed in the National Poetry Slam competition, and is included on many Spoken Word CDs.

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Don Riggs

Don Riggs has published poetry and articles in many publications, including 16th Century Journal, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, Painted Bride Quarterly, xib, and ixnay. He is the co-editor of and featured poet in the book Uncommonplaces: Poems of the Fantastic. He is the editor of Lamont B. Steptoe's A Long Movie of Shadows and he co-translated Chinese Poetic Writing by Francois Cheng. He currently writes a column for ASK called “My Life in Poetry.” Dr. Riggs teaches several courses for the Department of English and Philosophy, including Science Fiction Literature, Philosophy in Literature, Renaissance and Enlightenment Literature, Creative Writing, Visions in Writing, and Freshman Writing. His Ph.D. is from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
 

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Fred Siegel

Fred Siegel is the Director of Freshman Writing in the Department of English and Philosophy. He wrote an autobiographical column for the Drexel Online Journal called “Fred's Dreams.” His articles have been published in Drama Review. Dr. Siegel teaches such courses as Creative Nonfiction, Horror in American Culture, Readings in Drama, and Freshman Writing. He received his Ph.D. from New York University.

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As chief obituary writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Gayle Ronan Sims writes the life stories of interesting people. She believes that some of the most ordinary people have lived the most extraordinary lives.

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Gary Allen Sledge

Linda Ching Sledge

Scott Stein

In its review of his recently published second novel, Mean Martin Manning (ENC Press 2007), the Philadelphia City Paper said, If Franz Kafka were funny, if, while down at his local pub in Prague, he had fired off one witty, sarcastic rejoinder after another about the absurdity of the world, then he would have written a novel like Scott Stein’s Mean Martin Manning … [a] gem of a book.” The Web sites associated with Mean Martin Manning were featured in an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. In 2001, that paper called Stein’s first novel Lost “wonderfully comic” and “a page-turner” and BookSense.com selected it as a Daily Pick. His short fiction has been published in The G.W. Review, Art Times, Liberty, and the Drexel Online Journal. He currently writes essays for Liberty and blogs at the Scott Stein. Stein is associate director of the Certificate Program in Writing and Publishing in the Department of English and Philosophy. The book Drexel University Off the Record (the unauthorized guide for prospective students) lists “Scott Stein’s Humor & Comedy Writing class” as one of the “Ten Best Things About Drexel.” He teaches Writing Fiction, Writing Humor and Comedy, Creative Writing, and Freshman Writing. His M.F.A. is from the University of Miami.

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Elizabeth Thorpe

Eva Thury

Eva Thury is an associate professor in the Department of English and Philosophy at Drexel. She wrote a column for the Drexel Online Journal called “with a small c.” Her work has also appeared in ASK, the journal of the College of Arts and Sciences at Drexel. She is the co-author of Introduction to Mythology Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths (Oxford 2005) with Margaret K. Devinney. Dr. Thury teaches such courses as Mythology, the Mystery Story, Classical Literature in Translation, and Freshman Writing. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Kathleen Volk Miller

Kathleen Volk Miller is the editor of Painted Bride Quarterly, one of the nation's most prestigious literary journals. PBQ publishes poetry and prose that best represents the individual voice. She has published fiction, personal essays, and articles in numerous publications, including Red Booth Review and the Philadelphia Inquirer. She teaches in the Department of English and Philosophy and has spoken at various conferences on marketing, publishing online, working with student interns, and teaching with technology. Her M.A. is from Rutgers University.
 

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Jason Wilson

Jason Wilson is the series editor of the bestselling anthology The Best American Travel Writing, now in its 7th edition. The last three editions have been named New York Times Notable Books. Wilson is a columnist for the Washington Post food section and has been a frequent contributor to the Post's Sunday Magazine. His essays have appeared in Salon, Boston Globe, New York Times, National Geographic Traveler, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, Town & Country Travel, McSweeney's, Maxim, Philadelphia Magazine, North American Review, New England Review, Passages North, Post Road, and many other magazines, journals, and newspapers. He has published short stories in Pindeldyboz and Northeast Corridor. He has twice won a Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism award, and has had four essays chosen as "Notable" in Best American Essays. Wilson is currently creating a new, independent online journal called The Smart Set, housed at Drexel University, which will launch later this summer.

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Results of the 2007 Writing Contest: