Meet the Willow Springs Magazine Staff
Editor
Polly Buckingham
Polly Buckingham is the author of two books of fiction, The Expense of a View, winner of the Katherine and Porter Prize, and A Year of Silence, winner of the Leiby Chapbook Award, and the poetry collection The River People (Lost Horse Press). Her work appears in the sadly defunct Gettysburg Review, The Poetry Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. Polly is drawn to work with emotional and intellectual integrity and resonance and often leans toward experimentation and surrealism, though her aesthetic is far ranging. She believes experimentation works not for its own sake but when it feels like the only way to express what the writer needs to express. She is drawn to pieces where from the first sentence or line, she has complete confidence in the writer and the voice; cleverness and hooks are poor stand-ins for the quality of language that pulls you in and doesn’t let you go.
Managing Editor
Maki Thiersch
Starting out as an audiobook narrator on Audible, Maki (they/she) one day figured, “I could write something better than these bozos.” They were wrong. Their first short story sucked. But they kept at it, and three years later they somehow ended up at EWU’s Creative Writing MFA program, where they write odd, queer, and quirky sci-fi/fantasy stories. When they aren’t buried under a mountain of submissions, books, and workshop pieces, you can find them binging One Piece, sketching little doodles, all while pounding back an entire gallon of soy milk.
Fiction Editor
Brian Lynch
Brian Lynch is an MFA candidate in Fiction at Eastern Washington University. He is originally from New York. His favorite part about working with Willow Springs is finding work that jumps off the page. What he’s hoping to see more of is an attention to language, ways of saying that he hasn’t seen before.
Nonfiction Editor
Annalee Fairley
Annalee Fairley is a second year poet in the MFA Creative Writing Program at Eastern Washington University. She also enjoys writing creative nonfiction as another pathway to explore all the possibilities language and form has to offer. She is interested in nonfiction that teaches her something, contains gorgeous, vibrant prose, and prose that takes risks with content. Most days you can find her either studying or spending time with trees.
Poetry Editor
Jeff Thomas
Jeff Thomas is a poet from The Thumb. His poems center his experiences working blue collar jobs and growing up in rural southeast Michigan. Entering his second year studying in Eastern Washington University’s MFA program, Thomas is an instructor of creative writing and college composition, as well as the poetry editor for Willow Springs Magazine. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Glacier, Blue Collar Review, I-70 Review, and Gargoyle.
Triceratops Program Manager
Hannah Erickson
Hannah Erickson (she/her) is a graduate student of fiction at Eastern Washington University and is originally from the beautiful mountains of Colorado. In her own work, Hannah explores interpersonal relationships that become reflections of human interactions with nature and history. As the Triceratops Coordinator, Hannah finds joy in working with kids as they explore their own creativity and write some of the most creative poems she has ever read. If you are interested in having Triceratops come to your third-grade classroom or would like to know more, please reach out.
Social Media Editor
Sean San Pedro
Sean San Pedro (he/him) is an undergraduate double major in Creative Writing and Technical Communications. He grew up in the PNW reading and watching fantasy and sci-fi stories. Sean jumps between writing poetry and fiction, but usually writes pieces that deal with cultural and queer identity. Outside of reading and writing for school or himself, he’s probably binging Star Wars, buying a little sweet treat, or planning/getting his next tattoo.
Web Editor
David St.Clair
David St.Clair (he/they) is undergoing EWU’s Creative Writing MFA. He writes fiction, got published once in an anarcho-socialist indie zine out of Oklahoma, and now he edits the website for Willow Springs Magazine. He’s very happy to be part of the team!
