Current Authors

Student Driven | Nationally Recognized

A magazine of literary arts, faith and culture.

Statement of
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

The climate of literary journals has long been dominated by the white male gaze, and Belmont Story Review is committed to publishing stories, poetry, and essays that are inclusive of a diversity of opinions and represent typically underrepresented populations.

Through our editorial discernment, we seek to accept work from typically under-represented groups, whether this is BIPOC, LGTBQIA, ELL or other writers, dreamers, and thinkers.

VOLUME VIII

Elizabeth Vondrak

Elizabeth Vondrak holds an MA in Literature from Boston College and an MFA from Florida International University. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in various publications including Touchstone Magazine, untethered, and Transitions Abroad. Originally from Iowa, she lives in Boston with her husband and three children. Find her at elizabethvondrak.com.

Cindy Mu

Cindy Mu is a Chinese-American writer based in Illinois. She is currently studying Creative Writing and Molecular Biology at the University of Illinois, splitting her time between navigating medicine, working in neuroscience, and writing short stories in coffee shops. Her work is published/forthcoming in Montage Arts Journal and BrainMatters.

Megan Riann

Megan Riann is a native Michigander studying Creative Writing and Spanish. When she’s not traveling abroad, she enjoys watching witty movies and reading bittersweet books. Her work has previously been published by Owl Hollow Press and is forthcoming in 300 Days of Sun. She’s an active part of the writing community and can be found at www.authormeganriann.com.

Barbara Lawhorn

Barbara Lawhorn is an Associate Professor at Western Illinois University. She’s into community literacy work, walking her amazing dog, Banjo, running, eating pie, and finding the wild places, within herself and outside in the world. Her most recent poetry and fiction can be found at Sand Hill Literary Review, Poetry South, Dunes Review Literary Journal and White Wall Review. She has work forthcoming in Santa Clara Review, INKWELL, and Miracle Monocle. She lives joyfully in the Midwest with her favorite creative endeavors ever–sons, Mars and Jack.

Jill E. Marshall

Jill E. Marshall is a writer and ancient historian. She was born in Nashville, studied history and religion at Vanderbilt and Emory Universities, and currently lives in Atlanta. “Krokodilopolis” is her first published short story.

Jeffrey Haskey-Valerius

Jeffrey Haskey-Valerius is a queer, Best of the Net-nominated poet and writer whose work has appeared in Eastern Iowa Review, Iron Horse, Northern New England Review, Rust + Moth, Chiron Review, and elsewhere. He lives in mid-Missouri with his husband and dog. He tweets @jeffreyvalerius and is online at jeffreyhaskey-valerius.com

Sean Madden

Sean Madden holds an MFA from the University of Kentucky. The Emerson Review nominated his poem, “Note for Inspector,” for a Pushcart Prize in 2022. Other poems, stories, and essays have appeared in Copper Nickel, Slant, Waccamaw, Glassworks, The Nonconformist, Sport Literate, Small Print, The Los Angeles Review, and The John Updike Review. He lives in the Sierra Nevada foothills with his wife and sons and is currently at work on a novel and a story collection. Visit him at seanmadden.org.

Laura King

Laura King holds a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Her work has appeared in Neologism Journal, The Opiate Magazine, Modern Haiku, Ponder Review, Evening Street Review, Wrath Bearing Tree, Hollins Critic, whimperbang, Slant, The Meadow, FRiGG, Visitant, El Portal, Dash, Phoenix and The Los Angeles Times. She lives in Sacramento, California, where she is a hospital chaplain.

Melissa Ridley Elmes

Melissa Ridley Elmes is a Virginia native currently living in Missouri in an apartment that delightfully approximates a hobbit hole. Her poetry has appeared in Black Fox, Poetry South, Star*Line, Eye to the Telescope, Spectral Realms, In Parentheses, and various other print and web venues. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Dwarf Star and Rhysling awards for speculative poetry, and her first collection of poems, Arthurian Things, was published by Dark Myth Publications in 2020 and nominated for the 2022 Elgin award.

Christine Pennylegion

Christine Pennylegion has lived in and around Toronto, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Windsor. She holds a BA(Hons) in English from the University of Toronto, and an MAR from Trinity School for Ministry. Her poems have been published by Dunes Review, Humana Obscura, Understorey Magazine, and others. Read more at christinepennylegion.com.

Casey Harloe

Casey Harloe is a creative writing student at the University of Cincinnati. Her work has appeared in DIALOGIST, BRENDA, and Poets.org, and is a recipient of the Academy of American Poets Prize. She lives in Cincinnati. Find her at @caseyharloe