Raised in Santa Clara, Calif., Bekah was the Senior Editor on the fiction desk for Issue 157. They hold a BFA in Theatre Production from the University of British Columbia, where they also minored in creative writing. They are currently enrolled in SJSU’s MFA program, where they’ve rediscovered their love for fiction and poetry. This year Bekah is looking for a piece that can transcend typical clichés and common storylines. While many stories tend to follow predictable themes, Bekah is searching for something that warps into something they didn't expect with a unique style and a distinct voice to match. They like to pet dogs in their spare time.

Born and raised in Sacramento California, Michael completed his Bachelor's of Arts in English at San José State University. He has since returned to SJSU for a MFA in Creative Writing. As an avid reader and writer, he usually spends his days researching countries no longer on maps, conjugating verbs in elven languages, and searching for the library's dustiest books. He previously worked on the fiction desk of Reed Magazine 157. He is looking for stories we can dive deep into with two key elements: style and substance. What truth lies in your story that wouldn't be found in another and how is it presented in an interesting way? When not reading or writing, Michael is usually playing video games or screaming at the TV while watching football.

Noëlle is an interdisciplinary storyteller living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds BAs in Theatre & Dance from UC San Diego and is as happy as an off-leash dog to be entering her third year in the MFA in Creative Writing Program at San José State University, where she writes nonfiction, plays, and poems. Noëlle served as marketing director and poetry editor for Reed Magazine 157. She seeks creative nonfiction submissions that make her sit up, lean in, hold her breath, laugh unexpectedly, or move her body in the subtlest of ways. When not bent over a page, she can be found squeezing fresh juice, hiking in the redwoods, or strumming a ukulele.

Courtney is looking to be transfixed by language and image. She is looking for something that she can't walk away from without first understanding. Born and raised in Ventura, Calif., Courtney Caldwell is a poet based in the Bay Area.  She's worked on the poetry desk for Reed Issue 157. In her “free time” she enjoys flying her dual-line kite and tending to the garden she shares with her partner. 

Allegra is completing an MFA in Creative Writing at San José State University and holds a BA in English from California State University East Bay. She currently lives in Alviso, CA and works for a nonprofit organization that supports individuals experiencing domestic violence. Allegra served Reed Magazine for two previous issues, having worked as a Nonfiction Editor for Issue 156 and the Nonfiction Lead Editor for Issue 157. She is looking for submissions that ultimately makes one feel something, really any emotion, simple or complex, that effectively hits the viewers’ eyes and hearts. Allegra loves writing memoir essays and poems, drinking passion fruit juice and listening to Ariana Grande on repeat.

Brook is assistant professor of nonfiction in the English and Comparative Literature Department at San José State University. A Fulbright research fellow, his nonfiction, fiction, poetry and translation work has appeared in several literary journals and his essay “Geometry of Absence” was listed as a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2021. His first book, A Dictionary of Modern Consternation, won the Permafrost Prize in Nonfiction and was published in summer or ‘24. His editorial interests are informed by his own experience in the slush pile of a few literary journals while still a student. He has written for daily and monthly publications, domestic and foreign, in both print and web environments.

Carlos Leon is a poet raised in the small town of Soledad, Ca. Now living in the Bay Area, he looks to remember the trials of his life and cement them in his work with a newfound intimacy. Carlos pushes to create a specific feeling within each of his poems that the reader may grasp onto through syntax and subtleness. He is currently continuing his work as a part of SJSU’s MFA creative writing program. 

Angel was born and raised in San Jose, California. He is an undergraduate student in the Technical and Professional Writing Program at San José State University. When not mulling over visual rhetoric, Angel extends his bemusement to apostrophe in Literature. There, he attends to this device in his poetry and essays on language and spirituality. In his free time, Angel can be found Ginga-ing at the beach or scrolling through TikTok.