Bistra Velichkov is a Bulgarian author who came of age during Bulgaria's difficult transition period. Her first book, Small, Dirty and Sad, about the transition has received multiple awards, including first place in the Southern Spring National Contest for Debut Literature in 2015, and a nomination for the 2016 Vanya Konstantinova literary award. Individual stories have appeared in English in Drunken Boat, Catamaran Literary Reader, and Fiction Writers Review. In Bulgarian, Velichkova's poetry and prose has appeared Granta Bulgaria, Starshel, Trud, Stranitsa, LIK, More, NO poezia, LiterNet, and Crosspoint, among other places.
Diana Blackwell is a Berkeley, CA, artist best known for realistic portraits and nudes. Her favorite media include conte, acrylics, watercolor, and collage. Blackwell studied art briefly in college but received most of her artistic instruction indirectly during two decades of employment as a figurative art model. Blackwell lives in Berkeley with her husband, five friends and three cats.