KGB Bar

Mariann J. VanDevere (fiction) was born and raised in New Jersey.  She graduated magna cum laude from Temple University in Philadelphia with a BA in Communications and a minor in Spanish.

Nicole Homer (poetry) received her M.A. in English Literature at Seton Hall University.  Her work can be found in Not a Muse: The Inner Lives of Women (New Haven Press, 2009), His Rib: Poems, Stories & Essays By Her (Penmanship Books, 2007), Knocking at the Door: Approaching the Other (Birch Bench Press, 2011), and on the IndieFeed Performance Poetry Podcast (performancepoetry.indiefeed.com). She has toured nationally performing at colleges, high schools and slam venues. She was a finalist in the 2007 (Vancouver) Individual World poetry slam, the 2008 (Boston) NorthBeast Individual poetry slam, both 2008 (Detroit) and 2010 (Ohio) Women of the World poetry slams, and the 2008 (Wisconsin) National Group Piece poetry slam.  Currently, she co-curates New Jersey’s longest-running nationally competing performance poetry venue, LoserSlam, every Thursday at Long Branch’s famous Inkwell Coffee House.

Kiira Mancasola (fiction) was raised in the naturally beautiful but culturally challenged city of Redding in northern California. As a child, she was a competitive fiddler—a three-time State Champion and the National Small Fry Champion in 1991. She received her BA in English and Creative Writing from Stanford University in 2007.  Other adventures from her collegiate period include a program in Shakespeare and Classical Acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and volunteering at a street children’s shelter in Quito. She spent the past two years living in San Francisco, where she worked as Managing Editor for SOMA, a left-coast arts and culture magazine, and wrote for JustinTimberlake.com.