Erin is a writer, editor, and proofreader with a BA in Professional Writing. She will proofread anything. Her proofreading and copy editing experience spans both corporate and literary settings. She also has a passion for creative writing and is currently writing educational short stories for a K–8 language curriculum for her Day Job.
Jessica Khoury
Jessica Khoury is the author of the Corpus trilogy, The Forbidden Wish, Last of Her Name, and The Mystwick School of Musicraft, and the Skyborn trilogy. Her books have been published through Penguin Random House, Scholastic, Audible, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and have been translated into over a dozen languages.
In addition to writing, Jess is also a fantasy cartographer, and spends far too much time scribbling tiny trees and mountains in fictional worlds. She is very passionate about orcas, Spanish soccer, and choosing the perfect font.
Jess currently lives in Greenville, South Carolina.
Aidan Forster
Aidan Forster is a queer poet and writer from Greenville, South Carolina. He is the author of the chapbooks Exit Pastoral (YesYes Books, 2019) and Wrong June (Honeysuckle Press, 2020). His work appears in or is forthcoming from The Adroit Journal, Best New Poets 2017, BOAAT, Columbia Poetry Review, Copper Nickel, DIAGRAM, Ninth Letter, Teen Vogue, and Tin House, among others. He reads poetry for Muzzle and serves as an Associate Editor at Sibling Rivalry Press. A graduate of the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities’ creative writing program, he studies Literary Arts and Public Health at Brown University.
Vicki Vass
Vicki Vass traded in her reporter's notebook to write the near-real adventures of her two best friends in the Antique Hunters Mystery series. The first book in the series, Murder for Sale, was a finalist in the Mystery and Mayhem contest.
As a journalist, Vicki wrote more than 1,500 articles for the Chicago Tribune and has contributed regularly to business trade publications, healthcare and university websites. She developed the entertainment and telecommunications channel for the two-time Webby-award winning website, HowStuffWorks.com. Two years ago, she fled the snow to move to Greenville. Her first screenplay, Christmas at the Grey Horse Inn, is currently in production, scheduled for a November 2021 release.
When not writing, she can be found reading on her back porch which overlooks Glassy Mountain in the beautiful Upstate.
Juliet Peay
Juliet is a freelance writer and Greenville native. From journaling as a kid to getting her degree in Journalism, she's always found a story to write about. For her corporate clients she writes websites, sales pages, emails, blogs, and articles - some that landed in Forbes. When she isn't writing, you can find her networking in Greenville, enjoying the outdoors, and going to book club. Juliet can be found at yeahthatwriter.com.
Maddie Norris
Maddie Norris, the recipient of Ninth Letter’s Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction, was the Thomas Wolfe Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill and earned her MFA at the University of Arizona. Her work can be found in Territory, Essay Daily, and Opossum, among other places.
Evan P. Smith
Evan Peter Smith is a reporter and writer from Ohio specializing in longform narrative nonfiction. He currently works as a staff writer for Greenville Journal and Upstate Business Journal. His writing has appeared in Forbes, the Claremont Review of Books, USA Today, and is upcoming in TOWN Magazine. He has just completed his first nonfiction book, I Buried My Love in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Brett Barest
Brett Barest is a freelance writer covering beer, music, food, and entertainment for a number of publications including USA Today, iOnGreenville, Fete Magazine, and Southern Brew News. He most enjoys writing self-deprecating (and hopefully humorous) personal essays on his website, brettbarest.com.
Laura L. Mariani
Laura L. Mariani worked as a writer, editor and corporate communications professional at three top companies in the San Francisco Bay Area: Intel, Visa, and Intuit. With nearly 20 years of experience writing and editing corporate, technical and marketing content, Laura has crafted materials ranging from leader messaging, press releases and employee communications to white papers, e-books, blogs and other marketing documents. Her specialties include transforming existing content into fresh, new collateral; reviving stale content to reflect current corporate goals and branding; communicating complex concepts in plain and understandable language. Now a part-time freelancer in Greenville, SC, Laura earned a bachelor's degree in English from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California.
Margot Cox
A professional copyeditor, Margot Cox has proofread and copyedited projects as diverse as medical journal articles, short stories for children, a romance novel, and website copy. Her training includes proofreading and copyediting for all types of written material; the use of multiple style guides including CMOS, APA, and AMA; and membership in ACES: The Society for Editing.
Lee Matalone
Lee Matalone is the author of the novel HOME MAKING (Harper Perennial 2020). Her fiction has been featured in the The Offing, Denver Quarterly, Hobart, Joyland, Nat. Brut, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, and Bat City Review, among other places. Her essays and reporting have appeared in LitHub, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the National, and Flavorwire, among others. She has been a contributor to the Tin House, Bread Loaf, and Sewanee writers conferences, and has been awarded residencies at Pocoapoco and Art Farm. Home Making is her first novel. She is a lecturer at Clemson University.
Angie Thompson
Angie Toole Thompson writes copy, poems, and all manner of other things from her home in the South. With clients ranging from tech start-ups to local businesses, her copywriting aims to shoot straight and clear. She is a contributing writer for TOWN Magazine, Barista Magazine Online, and published her first book of poems, Where Heaven Was, in 2019. You can find her work online here >> www.heythereangie.com
Lynn Seldon
After graduating from the Virginia Military Institute, Lynn got his start while stationed in Germany as a young Army officer looking for some excitement and a creative outlet. During his weekend jaunts throughout Europe, he decided to start writing about his travel experiences. On a lark, he sent a few articles to Stars & Stripes, the daily newspaper for the Armed Forces. From that, a successful full-time career in travel writing and photography developed. Lynn has spent the past 25+ years covering all aspects of travel writing and photography. He focuses on travel within the Southeast US and the Caribbean, cruise ship travel, soft adventure (including scuba diving, hiking, mountain biking, and boating), spa travel and culinary travel. Whether an exotic cruise ship port in South America or a charming little cooking school in Tennessee, Lynn covers the world and his own backyard. Lynn’s work has appeared in more than 500 publications, including: Southern Living; Cruise Travel; Outside; Wine Enthusiast; Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel; Scuba Diving; Dayspa; Porthole; Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Charlotte Observer; USA Today; various in-flight publications; and many AAA magazines. Virginia’s Ring is his first novel.
Abby Moore Keith
Abby Moore Keith is an editor and writer based in Greenville, South Carolina. Though she’s occupied a wide variety of spaces, Abby was raised in the American South, where she finds creative inspiration. She holds a bachelor’s in journalism and global studies from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and her work has appeared in TOWN magazine, Darling Magazine, and Greenville, SC, Visitor’s Guide. Abby currently works as a managing editor for TOWN, and is a recent Hub City Press & Emrys Journal first place winner for her nonfiction essay “Resurrection Plant.”
Lauren Maxwell
Lauren Maxwell is a writer and communications consultant with a decade of experience helping others refine and amplify their voices. She has been praised for her ability to create clear, compelling storylines around personal experiences, products, and services. Lauren's zine, how to uncover SELF in chaotic times, is available for sale in shops across the world. She also writes WE'RE ALL FRIENDS HERE, a weekly newsletter celebrating writing for writing’s sake and reading for reading’s sake, while asking what it means to be alive.
[Newsletter URL: https://laurenmaxwell.substack.com]
John Jeter
Journalist, novelist, playwright, academic and entrepreneur, John Jeter is best known in the Upstate as co-owner of The Handlebar, a now-legendary concert venue in Greenville, S.C. Most recently, he signed with a literary agent to represent his latest novel, SPENT: THE LAST DAYS OF SEX & ROCK ‘N’ ROLL. For 20 years, he and his wife, Kathy Laughlin, ran the live-music club where he bought talent for some 2,500 shows, presenting the likes of John Mayer, Sugarland, Zac Brown Band, Joan Baez, John Hiatt, Jason Isbell and many more. He leveraged his experience to create a position as adjunct professor in the Music Business & Technology Certificate program at Converse College, where he won the Above & Beyond Award in 2017. He’s a nationally published author: ROCKIN’ A HARD PLACE, a Hub City Press memoir based on his experience as the Greenville club’s talent buyer; THE PLUNDER ROOM, his debut novel from St. Martin’s Press; and THE LUCIFER GENOME, a co-authored thriller from Brigid’s Fire Press. While currently at work on a musical, he’s also a contract stringer for The New York Times. His work has also appeared in USA Today. In 2019, he won a writing residency in Italy to work on his stage play, THE LAST LYNCHING. He has traveled to Europe, China, Vietnam, Cuba, Central America, Mexico and Canada, the Caribbean, southern Africa, the Middle East and throughout the United States. He has appeared on Oprah! and on TV, in newspapers and radio, as a contributor and a subject.
Ruta Fox
Freelance writer/editor/PR professional. Seasoned professional with an extensive career in branding, advertising, copywriting, publishing, marketing and public relations in the fashion, beauty and luxury goods arena. Successful two time entrepreneur. Editor of the award winning book, “Happy Woman, Happy World” (NYC Big Book Award 2017 and National Indie Excellence Book Award 2016). Contributing Editor at award-winning TOWN magazine. Website: www.rutafox.com
Lindsey DeLoach Jones
Lindsey DeLoach Jones is a professional writer, editor, and teacher in Greenville. She earned a BA and an MA in English and an MFA in nonfiction from Seattle Pacific University. She has taught literature and fiction writing at Clemson University and served as Editor-in-Chief of Emrys Journal and Edible Upcountry. Her essays have been published in Paste, South Carolina Review, Literary Mama, Relief, and Ruminate. She was awarded the VanderMey Nonfiction Prize and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. The prize-winning essay has since become her first memoir-in-progress.
Karin Pendley Koser
Karin Pendley Koser has been a writer the majority of her life and all of her professional life, writing everything from journalistic TV features and articles to every form of public relations and marketing material. From speech backgrounders for Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter to Georgia governors and hanging out with travel writers from around the world, the diversity of her work has kept her from ever getting bored. Currently, she teaches Social Media, Media Studies and PR classes at University of North Georgia while also keeping a hand in creative work at her company KPKinteractive and personally finalizing a screenplay and memoir. Karin, fresh from getting her MFA at Queens University of Charlotte this year, has taught courses for writers at the Decatur Writers Studio and at SCAD Atlanta. She looks forward to helping writers reach an audience through social media and smart marketing strategies or to getting their work edited and shaped for the marketplace.
Kathleen Nalley
Kathleen Nalley is a poet, teacher, freelance writer, and bookseller. She’s the author of the poetry collections Written in Dirt, Gutterflower, American Sycamore, and Nesting Doll, and has published poetry, essays, and book reviews in literary journals across the country. She holds an MFA from Converse College, teaches literature and writing at Clemson University, finds books their forever homes at M. Judson Booksellers, is a frequent contributor to several regional magazines, and serves on the Emrys Foundation Board. www.kathleennalley.com