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“The Summer Games” — Oregon Humanities

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Mary Akers — Ashland Creek Press

Patrick Hicks — Ashland Creek Press

Charlotte Malerich — Ashland Creek Press

Jean Ryan — Ashland Creek Press

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Between the Spark and the End (YA contemporary novel)

17-year-old Lily doesn’t experience pain. She creates certainty to avoid it. When her best friend, Marianna, rescues her from a brutal night at home, Lily believes the cosmos has sent her a protector. But when Marianna overdoses, the story making Lily feel safe shatters, and she has never lived without certainty long enough to know what to do next.

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Horror Vacui (poetry)

Inspired by managing type 1 diabetes and childhood trauma, my poem explores my fear of self-absence—the impulse to fill quiet moments with chaos rather than discover what remains of me in the pause.