Stonecoast Review
The Official Literary Journal of University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast MFA
OUR MISSION
The Stonecoast Review celebrates inclusive and ethical storytelling. The diversity of voices amplified here intend to represent all races, ethnicities, cultures, gender and sexual identities, and abilities. We seek and promote the work of emerging writers from underrepresented groups. By doing so, we celebrate the principles of the Stonecoast MFA Program’s “Writing for Inclusivity and Social Equity” (WISE) initiative.
We work with our contributors to:
- Amplify their stories with respect, authenticity, and editorial integrity.
- Share their work with as wide of an audience as possible.
- Mitigate the longstanding power dynamics and biases inherent in Western storytelling.
- Create a collaborative atmosphere of trust and mutual respect.
Stonecoast Review is edited by students and alumni from Stonecoast’s low-residency MFA Program in Creative Writing through the University of Southern Maine.
About the Stonecoast MFA Program
Established in 2000, the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing promotes a progressive, multi-genre literary education. Many award-winning novelists, essayists, playwrights and poets, faculty and alumni alike, claim Stonecoast as their artistic home. As a low-residency program, Stonecoast balances academic rigor with a flexible approach to graduate learning.
leah scott-kirby
Editor in Chief
Most of Leah’s childhood memories are set in scathing heat or torrential rainfall, most likely due to her wild imagination. She has always dreamt of adventure: the kind that transports you into entirely different worlds or at least different time zones. Leah currently lives in South Lake Tahoe with her fiancé, their 8‑yr-old human, 6‑yr-old dog, 6‑mo-old pup, and 9‑yr-old chinchilla. She enjoys running through the mountains with her dogs, paddling out in her kayak to sun-bathe in silence, and relinquishing her sanity to creative projects she may never finish. Many call her quirky or even awkward, but she prefers the word ‘peculiar.’
ron bel bruno
Assistant Editor in Chief
Ron Bel Bruno has written about relationships, technology, and LBGT topics for Newsweek, Newsday, Yahoo Internet Life, and A.M. New York. After many years in magazine publishing and marketing, he’s now writing a collection of stories about Manhattan in the 1990s. Joys include burnt toast and going down YouTube rabbit holes of vintage talk-show clips. He and his husband reside in Manhattan and the Hudson Valley.
lea camille smith
Fiction Editor
Lea is a writer, editor, and student at The University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast MFA program in fiction writing. She has been a gardener for over ten years and finds inspiration for her stories in the natural world. When she’s not writing or playing in the dirt, she can be found on skis, rollerblades, or a mountain bike somewhere in the Mount Washington Valley of New Hampshire.
amelia kerns
Pop Fiction Editor
Amelia Kerns loves the fantastical. Growing up, she dug her hands into books with dragons, spaceships, or smart detectives—anything she could find on the multi-rowed shelves of the local library. She wrote her own stories too, starting with mysteries and thrillers before diving into sci fi and fantasy. The experience of transforming an idea into a rich story was so exciting that she decided to pursue her master’s degree at the Stonecast MFA Program in Maine. As the Genre Editor for the Stonecoast Review Journal, she’s excited to work with authors to bring readers the same thrill she felt pulling a book off of the library shelf.
JULIE GUERRA
Creative Non-Fiction EditoR
Julie Guerra is currently studying creative nonfiction in the Stonecoast MFA program. She received a Bachelors of Fine Art in Creative Writing and English from the University of Maine at Farmington. When not reading or writing, they can be found trying out new recipes, working on a cross stitch, or skating at the local ice arena.
adam rodriQuez-dunn
Dramatic Works Editor
Adam Rodriquez-Dunn (he/him/his) still plays pretend when no one is watching, confronting loopholes in the fantastical and speculative stories penned in his notebook or drafted using his very loud typewriter. He is as much influenced by the language of Tolkien and the drama of Miller as he is by the magic and structure found in mythology, anime, video games, comic books, and fairy tales. His daydreams from his home in New England involve thoughts of starting an indie press, snow-covered forests, and words that sound beautiful.
angela williamson emmert
Poetry Editor
A 2022 graduate, Angela Williamson Emmert is serving for a third time as the Stonecoast Review poetry editor. Her work has appeared in About Place Journal, Atticus Review, Prime Number Magazine, Sky Island Journal, Ekphrastic Review as well as other venues. She has received the Wisconsin Writers Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award and the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature’s Gwendolyn Brooks Prize. She lives in rural Wisconsin with her husband and sons.
eben thomas
Assistant Fiction Editor
Eben is a short fiction & poetry writer in Stonecoast’s MFA program. He mostly writes about animals, sometimes human ones. He and his wife Sara live in Maine with their two cats.
brenda radchik
Assistant Pop Fiction Editor
Brenda Radchik is a Mexican horror writer whose stories have found a home in different places such as Pyre Magazine, the Voices from the Mausoleum anthology, the Collective Visions anthology, and more. She majored in International Relations but secretly pursued creative writing until she decided to keep it no longer a secret. She has a Creative Writing Certificate from UCSD and is currently a student in the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine.
nychelle schneider
Assistant Non-Fiction Editor
Nychelle Schneider engages within various spheres in and outside the analog games space using her indigenous voice to create community, representation. Lending her voice to projects created by BIPOCs and others, while crafting writing pieces to best elevate and highlight representation in community. She wishes to foster a precedence in which minorities and those with disabilities are acknowledged and treated as equals in these spheres.
Bonnie Golliher
Assistant Dramatic Works Editor
Bonnie Golliher crafts her analysis of stage, screen, and creative non- fiction (CNF) through the lens of many decades. A recent MFA graduate from Stonecoast, her graduate work was centered in CNF and Scriptwriting. It’s not surprising therefore that she prizes manuscripts where dialogue enjoys the starring role; the storyline is easily followed its cadence moves smartly through the manuscript; and the work is within reasonable budget parameters of producers. Her favorite stage work is in comedy: Sylvia, by Albert Ramsdell Gurney, 1995.
heather jones
Digital EditoR
Heather Jones is a digital editor who would rather use a typewriter. In her past lives, she has been a sailor, a dogmatist, an expatriate and a behavior analyst. She has a passion for literature, a love of writing and a personal library of hundreds of books. She lives in Maine where she is a student in the Stonecoast MFA Program at USM.
STONECOAST REVIEW READERS
The Stonecoast Review readers are vital to our creative editorial process. Readers will go on to take editorial positions within Stonecoast Review and guide the publication’s vision and style into the future. The magazine could not function without them and we are incredibly grateful for the time and effort they spend surfacing amazing stories.
Alumni advisors
Fran Cronin — Caite McNeil — Mary White
