Wilton Manors Launch

Contributor Info & Reading Order

 

Tyler Gillespie, pg 7, "Dolly Parton Argues A Theory Of Linguistics. Posits" 
Tyler (he/him) is the author of the nonfiction book The Thing about Florida: Exploring a Misunderstood State (UPF, 2021) and two poetry collections Florida Man: Poems (Red Flag Poetry, 2018) and the nature machine! (Autofocus Books, forthcoming, spring 2023). He teaches writing at Ringling College of Art + Design in Sarasota, FL. tylergillespie.com

​

Beth Gylys, pg 13, "Breakup" 
Beth  (she/her) is a Distinguished Professor at Georgia State University in its Department of English and an award-winning poet whose fifth book of poems (a collaboration with the poets Cathy Carlisi and Jennifer Wheelock), The Conversation Turns to Wide-Mouth Jars, was published in August 2022. Her fourth collection of poetry, Body Braille (Iris Books 2020), was named a Book All Georgians Should Read in 2021. Her work has appeared in many journals and anthologies—most recently on the Best American Poetry blog and in West Branch—and her chapbook, After My Father, is forthcoming.

​

Julie E. Bloemeke, pg 17, "Dolly Would"
Julie (she/her) is the 2021 Georgia Author of the Year Finalist for Poetry. Her debut full-length collection Slide to Unlock (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2020) was also chosen as a 2021 Book All Georgians Should Read. Winner of the 2022 Third Coast Poetry Prize and a finalist for the 2020 Fischer Poetry Prize, her work has appeared in numerous anthologies and publications including Writer’s Chronicle, Prairie Schooner, Nimrod, Gulf Coast, EcoTheo Review, and others. Co-editor for the Dolly Parton tribute issue of Limp Wrist, an associate editor for South Carolina Review, and a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts fellow, she is also a freelance writer and editor. She holds her MA in American Literature from the University of South Carolina and her MFA in poetry from the Bennington Writing Seminars. A proud native of Toledo, she currently lives in Atlanta. jebloemeke.com.

​

Gregg Shapiro, pg 21, "Spirit Of '76"
Gregg  (he/him) is the author of six books of poetry and two short story collections, including Fear of Muses (Souvenir Spoon Books, 2022) and How to Whistle (Rattling Good Yarns Press, 2021). An entertainment journalist whose interviews and reviews run in a variety of regional LGBTQ+ outlets, Shapiro lives in South Florida with his husband, writer Rick Karlin, and their diva dog Coco.

​

Stephen Roger Powers, pg 35, "Cleoparton"
For Stephen  (he/him), all it took was one trip to Dollywood in the summer of 1987 when he was thirteen. Dolly’s variety show aired on ABC that fall, and his family’s VCR was set to record it every week. Stephen has been a Dolly devotee ever since, and nothing makes him happier now than the current Dolly renaissance. He has published three poetry collections with Salmon Poetry, and his short fiction has appeared in several journals. He was an extra in Joyful Noise, and he can be seen if you know just where to look. stephenrogerpowers.com

​

Nicole Tallman, pg 36, "Dolly Style" 
Nicole  (she/her) is a poet, ghostwriter, and editor living in Miami. She is the author of three collections: Something Kindred (The Southern Collective Experience Press, 2022), Poems for the People (The Southern Collective Experience Press, 2023) and Fersace (Redacted Books, 2023). She also serves as the Poetry Ambassador for Miami- Dade County, Poetry and Interviews Editor for The Blue Mountain Review, and Associate Editor for South Florida Poetry Journal. nicoletallman.com

​

Dustin Brookshire, pg 41, "Dolly At The Fox Theater (2008)" 
Dustin (he/him), a finalist for the 2021 Scotti Merrill Award, is the curator of the Wild & Precious Life Series, editor of Limp Wrist, and program director for Reading Queer. He is the author of three chapbooks—Never Picked First For Playtime (Harbor Editions, March 2023), Love Most Of You Too (Harbor Editions, 2021) and To The One Who Raped Me (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2012). His work has earned him both a Pushcart and Best of the Net nomination and been anthologized and published in numerous journals. dustinbrookshire.com

​

Caridad Moro-Gronlier, pg 43, "Never Did Say So" 
Caridad  (she/her) is the author of Tortillera, winner of the TRP Southern Poetry Breakthrough Prize published by Texas Review Press (2021) and the chapbook Visionware (Finishing Line Press, 2009). She is a Contributing Editor for Grabbed: Poets and Writers Respond to Sexual Assault (Beacon Press, 2020) and Associate Editor for “SWWIM Every Day,” an online daily poetry journal for women identified poets. Recent work can be found in The Best American Poetry Blog, Verse Daily, Home in Florida: Latinx Writers and the Literature of Uprootedness (UF Press, 2021), and Limp Wrist. She resides in Miami, Florida with her family. caridadmoro.com

​

Kerry Trautman, pg 62, "Sweet Cravings"
Kerry  (she/her) is a lifelong Ohioan whose work has appeared in dozens of anthologies and journals. Her first Dolly memory was a dance recital where teenage girls performed to “A Lil’ Ole Bitty Pissant Country Place,” and backstage, age seven, she sensed it was delightfully naughty, but didn’t know why. Kerry’s books are, Things That Come in Boxes (Kingcraft Press 2012), To Have Hoped (Finishing Line Press 2015), Artifacts (NightBallet Press 2017), To be Nonchalantly Alive (Kelsay Books 2020), and Marilyn: Self-Portrait, Oil on Canvas (Gutter Snob Books 2022). Her next full-length collection is forthcoming from Roadside Press. linktr.ee/OhioKerry

​

Julie Marie Wade, pg 74, "In The Dream, Dolly Offers To Officiate"
Julie  (she/her) teaches in the creative writing program at Florida International University in Miami. She is the author of many collections of poetry, prose, and hybrid forms, including, most recently Skirted: Poems (The Word Works, 2021) and Just an Ordinary Woman Breathing (The Ohio State University Press, 2020). juliemariewade.com

​

Steven Regins, pg 78, "One Year Before His Death, Peter Hujar Sees Dolly Parton"
As a boy, Steven  (he/him), with his sister Cindy, would play the VHS of 9-to-5 repeatedly. Holidays were never silent with Dolly Parton’s Christmas songs playing in the background. He now lives in Los Angeles and was appointed the first Poet Laureate of West Hollywood. Reigns has lectured and taught writing workshops around the country to LGBT youth and people living with HIV. Currently he is touring The Gay Rub, an exhibition of rubbings from LGBT landmarks. His newest collection A Quilt for David (City Lights, 2021) is the product of ten years of research regarding dentist David Acer’s life. stevenreigns.com