At the heart and soul of Flying Ketchup Press ® is our managing editor, Polly Alice McCann. She received her MFA in writing from Hamline University with an emphasis in short fiction and poetry. Polly Alice has been published internationally, including the journals Naugatuck River Review, arc24, 356 days, and elsewhere. Much of her work is inspired by her research on the creative writing process which won her an Ernest Hartmann award ffrom Berkeley, CA. 

Originally from Egypt, Mary Silwance lives in Kansas City and is a mother of three daughters. She has been an English teacher, Farm to School Coordinator, environmental educator, and farmhand. Mary provides writing workshops and serves on the editorial team of Kansas City Voices. She explores ecology from an intersection of justice and spirituality in workshops and writing. While her poetry and essays appear in numerous publications, you can find her work, chapbooks, radio, zoom presentations, and workshop offerings at www.marysilwance.com. When not writing, you can find Mary gardening, hiking, thrifting or planning her off-grid village.

In addition to her work for Flying Ketchup Press, Nina Bricko is also an author and voice artist. She has an MFA in Creative Writing for Children through YA from Hamline University. Her written work has been published in journals and art subscriptions, and performed live. In another life she worked as an Associate Editor for Amazon Crossing (the translation imprint of Amazon Publishing) and as a Production Manager. She is also an English instructor for Madison College, an advocate for outdoor education, and a mom of two awesome kids.

To find more about Nina and her podcast The Story Tree, check out Ninab.org.

Twitter: Bkpokora and StoryTree2

Kēvin Callahan, author, artist, and traveler hails from Drake University, and both the Chicago and San Francisco Art Institutes. Kēvin is an “accidental poet," and the author of many published short stories, as well as a novel. His award-winning artwork hangs in collections throughout the United States, and in Canada, Europe, and Israel. Kēvin has won numerous awards for his publication designs as well as his award-winning writing, paintings photography, poems, and sculpture. His writings include the novel, Morris’ Code; two anthologies of non-fiction short stories, A Prairie Wind Blowing Through My Head, and a collection of stories about his youth on an Iowa farm, A Day Remembered, as well as a collection of stories of his years in the field pursuing upland game. His fictional Chinese Checkers Run is an exciting adventure story of flight and pursuit.  (All available on Kindle.) His most recent book,  Road Map: Poems, Paintings & Stuff is available through Flying Ketchup Press and on Amazon. Kēvin currently works and resides with his wife in Parkville, MO, and both of his sons are accomplished artists. For more info contact the designer at kevin@bsfgadv.com He maintains a studio and gallery, the Elegant Line, in Parkville, MO.

Beth Gulley lives in Kansas City and teaches writing at Johnson County Community College. She has an MA from UMKC and a PhD from the University of Kansas. She recently published a chapbook, $!*# Hole Countries: A Find and Replace Meditation. Her poems also appear in the Bards Against Hunger Anthology, From Everywhere a Little: A Migration Anthology, The Thorny Locust, and The Gasconade Review Presents: Storm A’Comin’. She loves thrift store shopping, traveling, and drinking coffee.

Samantha Malay was our first Poetry Editor in Residence, a program that was developed to empower poets to pass on their publishing and editing skills to new authors. She grew up in rural northeastern Washington State, where her family built a cabin with timbers salvaged from an abandoned homestead, hauled water from a creek, and lived without electricity. Her experiences in that time and place continue to shape her understanding of the body, memory, environment, and creativity. Read her page Seattle Resources for Writers on our site.

Her mixed-media artwork fuses found textiles, travel ephemera, and beeswax. Her poem ‘Yelm,’ titled with the Coast Salish word for mirage, was recently published in our book, The Very Edge: Poems. Her chapbook Realm is forthcoming. Samantha’s published poetry can be found at https://thistleandhasp.wordpress.com. 

Hasna is an architect by profession and has lived in Kansas since 2002. She credits her post-graduate studies from Harvard in landscape architecture for her current work in sculpture.  Her work translates her observations and study of nature into glass forms--forms which encompass casting, kiln formed glass, Fritography, and torchworking. As an artist and poet, she identifies herself as the raconteur; bringing to light stories that are overlooked, forgotten or uncomfortable. Hasna believes art must step beyond the liminalities of aesthetics and transcend into the realm of social reformation. Hasna studied fine art for four years in England and Wales, and completed a five-year professional degree program in architecture and urban design in Boston, MA. Throughout her journey as an artist, she has worked in pastels, watercolors, oils, acrylics, glass and more.  Her paintings appeared in an exhibition of watercolor renderings at the Royal Cornwall museum in 1997. Her glass sculptures are available for viewing and purchase at Glass Concepts 360 (https://glassconcepts360.com.)  

Araceli Esparza is a Latinx Poeta with strong migrant farmer roots. An MFA graduate from Hamline University in writing, she has published several books and was most recently published in The Astri(x) Journal. She was named in Brava Magazine's 2015 Women to Watch. Araceli is the founder and owner of Wisconsin Mujer a multi media social engagement company that specializes in cultivating content and connecting hearts. "We help companies and nonprofits build bridges with donors and audiences to create authentic connection strategies which have a positive impact on minority and marginalized communities." You can hear Araceli Esparza tell more stories at her new project podcast: www.midwestmujeres.com

Poet T.L. Sanders – The Language Artist, is a modern-day renaissance man who lives to build minds and loves to body build. He speaks French. He plays bass. He is a cage-fighting martial artist. He educates. Give him a stage, he articulates. Lend him an ear, and he motivates. He was Flying Ketchup Press' 2019 Poet in Residence Recipient, and is a Prairie Lands Writing Project Teacher Consultant, a Missouri Writing Project Network Teacher Consultant, a member of the National Writing Project Writers Council, a current curriculum director, and former elementary, middle, and high school English teacher.  He embraces the value of our shared stories in all the work he does. Whether he is public speaking, teaching, writing, or breathing, he has a passion for empowering people.  ​Find him on YouTube under Bethephenom, on Twitter and Instagram @PoetTLSanders, and on Facebook: facebook.com/bethephenoms.