In our excitement to get Purple Passion Press’s first anthology underway, we neglected to introduce you to everyone. The anthology editorial team was assembled and the editors have been very busy reading submissions since they began arriving.  We thought we’d take a moment from reading to announce who the guest editors are and to give you a bit of their background.

Editor Renee M. Schell

Editor Renée M. Schell’s poetry has appeared in Catamaran Literary Reader, On the Dark Path: An Anthology of Fairy Tale Poetry, Perfume River Poetry Review, Caesura and other journals. Her work also appears online at literarymama.com, in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, String Poet, and MonkeyBicycle. Her poem “Beyond Vienna” won Third Prize in the 2014 String Poet competition. Her chapbook Overtones won Second Place in the 2014 Palettes & Quills Chapbook Contest. She holds a Ph.D. in German Studies from Stanford University.

Assistant editor Marta Svea Wallien is currently working on a novel and is an editorial assistant at DMQ Review.  She received her MFA from San Jose State University.  In the past, she has been a poetry editor for DASH Literary Journal, and was nominated for an AWP Intro Award for her poetry.  Marta has written flash fiction and poetry on the fly for the San Jose State University’s Poets and Writers Coalition’s “Lit. Factory Booth,” ferociously giving away words typed on a classic blue Olivetti.  In her spare time she enjoys making trash poetry.  Marta is a Purple Passion Press Advisory Board member.

Editorial assistant Barbara Froman began her early studies of music at the Juilliard School’s Preparatory Division. She received degrees in Music Composition from Ithaca College and Northwestern University, became the Director of Mundelein College’s Creative Writing Program, taught Literature and Creative Writing at National-Louis University, and acted as a consultant to National’s graduate program in Written Communication. She is the author of published essays and poetry, has placed in screenwriting competitions, and was nominated for a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Fringe. In addition, her novel, Shadows and Ghosts, won the 2011 Fairleigh Dickinson University/Serving House Books Prose prize, and was subsequently published by Serving House Books.  Barbara is a Purple Passion Press Advisory Board member.

As you can see, your work is in good hands!