About Us

“Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold,” is the thought that comes to Martha Highers when she reflects on her life with literature. She is grateful to the many writers who have contributed to Under the Sun for giving her new, uncharted territories to explore. She is equally grateful to her sister/fellow readers for helping guide the craft on these adventures. She writes mostly in the genres of poetry, creative nonfiction, and the response letter. She reads, writes, and edits from a small farm in Tennessee

Cindy Bradley is an essayist/memoirist who received an MFA in creative writing, nonfiction, from Fresno State University. Her writing has appeared in 45th Parallel, Aquifer: The Florida Review Online, Empty Mirror, among others, and she is a three-time contributor to Under the Sun, where her essay “Death, Driveways, and Dreams” was a Best American Essays Notable 2017, and “July, Exhaling” was a 2020 Pushcart nominee. She currently runs the Summer Writing Contest held in July. Cindy is seeking publication on her essay collection exploring desire and discontent, family, nostalgia in California during the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s and beyond. Her website is CindyBradleyWriter.com, and she can be found on Twitter @cindysea429.

Miriam Mandel Levi is a writer and editor living in Israel. Her work has appeared in CreativeNonfiction’s anthology, Same Time Next Week, Brain,Child, Literary Mama, Under the Sun, Poetica, bioStories, Sleet, Tablet, Blue Lyra, Chautauqua, Random Sample, Sky Island, JMWW, MoonPark, the Sunlight Press, and Persimmon Tree.

Jere Mitchum is Associate Professor Emeritus of English at Tennessee Technological University having taught courses in American Literature and Technical/Professional Writing during his tenure at Tennessee Tech. He has been with Under the Sun since 2014. His interests include computer graphics, vocal music, and travel. He has sung in choirs, Barbershop quartets and community choruses for more than thirty years. His travel destinations include Europe, Australia and the Far East.

A retired Anthropology Professor and author of seven academic books, Elizabeth Bird turned to personal writing in 2022. Her first publication was in Under the Sun; that essay, “Interlude: 1941,” became a Notable in Best American Essays 2023. Since then, her work has appeared in Consequence, Streetlight, Biostories, Cleaver, Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, 3Elements Review, Summerset Review, and elsewhere. Her website is: www.lizbirdwrites.com.

Born and raised in Georgia, Monic Ductan now lives in Tennessee, where she teaches creative writing and literature at Tennessee Tech University. Monic’s work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Southeast Review, Shenandoah, Oxford American, South Carolina Review, Water~Stone Review, The Fourth River, and Arkansas Review. She received the 2019 Denny C. Plattner Award in nonfiction from Appalachian Review for her essay “Fantasy Worlds,” which was also listed as notable in Best American Essays 2019. Her short story collection Daughters of Muscadine came out in the fall of 2023, and has won numerous awards, including the Tennessee Book Award for fiction (judged by Edwidge Danticat), and she is at work on a novel.

Mark Liebenow writes about nature, grief, and the wisdom of fools. The author of four books, his essays, poems, and critical reviews have been published in numerous literary journals. His work has been named a notable by Best American Essays and nominated for three Pushcart Prizes. Mark has won the River Teeth Nonfiction Book Award, and the Chautuqua and Literal Latte’s essay prizes. He studied English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and creative nonfiction at Bradley University. markliebenow.com

A six-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Anthony J. Mohr’s work has appeared in, among other places, Commonweal, DIAGRAM, Hippocampus Magazine, Los Angeles Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Soundings East, The MacGuffin, The Main Street Rag, War, Literature & the Arts, and ZYZZYVA. His debut memoir Every Other Weekend—Coming of Age With Two Different Dads was published in 2023. From 1994 to 2021, Mohr served as a judge on the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, and still sits on a part-time basis. He is a 2021 fellow of Harvard’s Advanced Leadership initiative and currently is co-managing editor of the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative’s Social Impact Review. He is honored and proud to be a reader for Under the Sun.

Mari Ramler is an associate professor in English at Tennessee Technological University.  She has published creatively in Chiron Review, Taco Bell Quarterly, Levitate Magazine, Capacious, Survive and Thrive, and The Iris Review—with new work coming out soon in Image, Hypertext, and Screen Door Review.  

Terri Sutton holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College and has taught writing courses and workshops in the Milwaukee area and written critical reviews for Next Act Theatre and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Her essays have appeared in Solstice Magazine, The Best of Milwaukee Writer’s Circle Anthology, and Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number: Black Women Explore Midlife. Currently she is working on a collection of essays about family and politics.

Terry Yanulavich’s work has appeared in The Sun, Under the Sun and other publications. Her essay “Baby Steps” appeared in the 2024 issue of Under the Sun and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She’s currently working on her memoir. At its heart, “The Deep End,” is a portrait of what happens to an American family living in a post-war industrial mining town with no hope of resurrection. Terry has also written and performed political satire and sketch comedy in Boston. She’s a mother of two twenty-something daughters and lives with her husband, Peter and dog Willis outside Boston.

Dave Larsen graduated from the University of Washington with degrees in English Literature and Business Administration. After serving two years in the Marine Corps, he began a 28-year career in the Finance Department of The Boeing Company. Dave began writing memoirs almost twenty years ago as therapy and has been published in a few literary journals, most proudly in Under the Sun. He continues to run the winery that he founded 36 years ago and is married with three children.

Cate Touryan writes under her pen name–derived from her middle name and mother’s maiden name–to distinguish herself from a well-known NY Times bestselling author Ann Neumann, whose emails regularly appear in her inbox. Sadly, Cate had to decline the Pulitzer Center’s request to republish her Harper’s Magazine article on the small matter of the article not being hers. Her recent essay was, however, nominated for both the Pushcart Prize and Best American Essays, so perhaps there is some hope she will live up to her actual name. Cate has recently returned to writing fiction and creative nonfiction after a rewarding career as a university writing instructor, copy editor, and professional writing consultant. Her debut coming-of-age novel Turning Toward Eden released in May 2025. Although mostly retired, under her better known name she continues to teach courses in technical writing for forensic scientists and criminalists, taking surreptitious notes for future novels. Cate lives on California’s wildflower-dotted central coast with her husband, a charm of hummingbirds, a lounge of lizards, and a rafter of turkeys—as in both a whole bunch of them and in the rafters.

Anu Kumar lives in New Jersey with her family. She has lived in various places in India before moving to Singapore and then to the US. She has an MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and other degrees in history and management.Anu’s essays and fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in the The Missouri Review, Catamaran Literary Reader, The Common, On the Seawall, Litro Magazine, The Dalhousie Review, Blood Orange Review, River Styx Journal, and elsewhere. One of her essays received ‘notable mention’ in The Best American Essays, 2023, edited by Vivian Gornick.  
Her first novel, Letters for Paul, appeared in 2006 and was published by Mapinlit, India. She has since then written ten novels, including three works of historical fiction, under the pseudonym of Adity Kay and published by Hachette India. Her most recent novel, The Kidnapping of Mark Twain: A Bombay Mystery, is a historical mystery set in nineteenth century Bombay and was published by Speaking Tiger Books earlier this year. Anu has also written for younger readers. Her most recent books are Kings and Queens of India and Her Name was Freedom: 35 Fearless Women who Fought for India’s Independence (both published by Hachette India). She also writes regularly for Scroll.in. Her nonfiction work The Sound of Lost Memories will be published in 2027 by Cornerstone Press. An essay she published in Under the Sun in 2024, “Vanishing Acts,” is included in that volume.

Heather Richmond is currently studying creative writing and theatre at Tennessee Tech University. She is a writer who hopes to inspire her children as often as she makes them laugh. She has published poems, and her current works include short stories, screenplays, and a novel.  In her free time, she likes to read, binge-watch series, or host an online radio show. She enjoys anime, fantasy, and baking cookies. 

Richard Doran is a consulting engineer in the British construction industry, an admittedly somewhat unconventional career path after earning his BA in English. He has worked with some of the world’s premier architects and been involved in the design of many notable buildings in London, the UK, Europe, the Middle East and the US. Despite all that, he has managed to fit in stints of Formula Ford racing and playing guitar in rock bands on the London circuit. Aside from literature and music, his interests are travel, history, art, motor racing (regular at the Le Mans 24 Hours), photography and flamenco. He also possesses an as yet unfulfilled aspiration to lower his golf handicap. He writes occasional poems and reviews for his own (and very close friends’) amusement. He lives in southwest London.

Olivia Ferro is a 23- year-old author and athlete from Massachusetts. She is primarily a poet, and released her first poetry book, The Goddess of Luck Turns Her Cheek in April of 2025. She loves reading, writing, horses, music, and photography. 

Originally from Colorado, Krista Beucler received a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia. She was the Editor-in-Chief for Issue 7.2 of the Rappahannock Review, the literary journal published by the University of Mary Washington. She is currently a contributing editor for the Community Cats Podcast blog. Krista is a winner of the Julia Peterkin award, and her creative work has been published in From Whispers To Roars and South 85 Journal. She recently received an MFA from Drexel University where she edited Paper Dragon. You can find her online at her website (kristabeucler.com) or on Instagram (@authorkrista

Phyllis Brotherton, a retired CPA and financial executive, received her MA and MFA in Creative Writing from California State University, Fresno, the latter at the age of sixty-six. Her lyrical essays and experimental/hybrid work is published in numerous literary journals, including Under the Gum Tree, Entropy, Essay Daily, ANMLY, After the Art, Pithead Chapel, Your Impossible Voice, Spry, Under the Sun, Persimmon Tree, Brevity Blog and elsewhere, as well as Op Ed articles for the Fresno Bee. Her essays have received two Best of the Net nominations and won Honorable Mention in Streetlight Magazine’s 2023 Essay/Memoir Contest. Most recently, her essay, “My Brother’s Heart,” was published in the anthology, Daring to Breathe. In addition to reading for Under the Sun, she has read for literary journal, The Normal School. She lives in Madera, California.

Reba Condiotti has worked as a research scientist for thirty years, initially in the field of bone marrow transplantation and then in the field of gene therapy. She currently manages a breast cancer research laboratory at the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School. To date, she has co-authored twenty-nine peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and reviews. Reba received a BA in biology from the University of California, San Diego, and continued her studies in Jerusalem where, in 2011, she was granted a PhD in human genetics from the Hebrew University. She also has certification in editing and editorial analysis for the David Yellin Academic College in Jerusalem. She is a freelance scientific editor who helps other scientists prepare their manuscripts for publication and edits their grant applications. In addition, she assists graduate students in preparing their theses for submission.         Reba is a voracious and diligent reader who has participated in a book club for the past fifteen years (helped choose the books for the past five) in her hometown of Beit Shemesh, Israel. The group is still going strong. She was also a member of a local writers’ workshop and has edited works of CNF. Originally from California, she has lived in Israel since 1984.

Hye-Kyung Stella Kang, PhD, is Professor of Social Work at Seattle University. Her most recent co-authored book, Racism in the United States: Implications for the Helping Professions (3^rd Ed), was published by Springer Publishing in 2022. She lives near the Salish Sea and is currently working on a memoir essay collection about love as an act of resistance and liberation.

Ann Lewald was a founding member of the nonprofit board and worked as a reader for the journal for nearly 20 years.  Formerly an English and Developmental English instructor at Tennessee Tech, Ann is a valued and active member of the Upper Cumberland poetry scene and a dedicated supporter of other writers.  She is a poet and has been published in numerous journals.

Jeff Johnson is an Associate Professor specializing in American Literature at National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan. He has undergaduate and Master’s degrees in English from Tennessee Tech University and a PhD in English from Harvard University.  His research specialty is Appalachian revenge literature.  Born and raised in Livingston, Tennessee, he maintains a home there and a summer presence in that community.