Three Minus One: Stories of Parents' Love and Loss (38 page)

Chiyuma Elliott
is an Assistant Professor of English and African American Studies at the University of Mississippi. A former Stegner and Cave Canem Fellow, her poems have appeared in the
African American Review
,
Callaloo
,
The Collagist
, the
Langston Hughes Review
,
MARGIE
, the
Notre Dame Review
, the
PN Review
, and
Torch
.

Latorial Faison
is an American military spouse, mother, poet, educator, and author whose poetry and prose have been published in
Southern Women’s Review, Kalyani, Chickenbones
,
Stars and Stripes
, and elsewhere. She is a graduate of U.V.A. and Virginia Tech and currently works as an English professor.
www.latorialfaison.com

Shannan Fleet
is a mother, artist, and home educator. She carried her second child, Mary Bernadette, from 19 weeks to stillbirth without knowing when Trisomy 18 would end their time together. Shannan is honored to have her first venture into the literary world accepted into this collection. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and children.

Carol Folsom
is a retired attorney in Jacksonville, Florida, who writes poetry, fiction, and essays and is about to complete her first novel. Her work has appeared in three anthologies and a variety of online publications.

A writer and teacher,
Adina Giannelli
lives in western Massachusetts with her young son. Her essays have appeared in publications including
Book Lovers
(Seal Press),
Babble,
and
Salon
.

Aoife Goldie
is a daughter of two, sister to five and a wife to the most
beautiful soul she’s ever met. She is a proud mother of three: two boys and a little girl due imminently. Sadly, she’ll never see them all in the same room together.

Meagan Golec
lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, living son, and two cats. She loves to learn, makes a mean cheesecake, and has a newfound sense of purpose as a self-proclaimed “grief ambassador.” She misses Anderson every day.

Carla Grossini-Concha
is a New Yorker, born and raised, transplanted to the West Coast over 10 years ago and embracing her inner hippy ever since. She is a dog-lover, yogi, and most importantly, fierce warrior mama to Luca D’oro, her first-born son. Her hope is to share Luca’s story with the world and help people in grief allow the love behind the pain, to enhance their lives and transform them. Keleigh Hadley is the author of the YA series, Preacher’s Kids and Christian fiction novels; Revenge, Inc. and Favor Ain’t Fair. She lives in the San Fernando Valley with her family.

Jennifer Hannum
is a photographer excited about capturing all of life’s moments. Her first inspiration came after she married her supportive husband Josh and documenting the growth of their 5 amazing children became her focus. She studied at Owens State Community College and is employed at Wurzell Studio and Gallery in Perrysburg, Ohio. Jen is thankful to God for the gift He has given her and Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep has given her the welcome opportunity to share her passion with the community.

Laura B. Hayden
is the author of STAYING ALIVE:A LOVE STORY, a memoir described by Readers Views as “a beautiful reminder of what really matters.” This moving, humorous, and inspiring view into the grieving process received an Honorable Mention at the 2013 New York Book Festival and a 2012 Readers Views Award naming it one of its three top memoirs of the year. It has also been recommended
by the American Institute of Health Care Professionals. Excerpts and more info at
http://laurabhayden.com/

Elizabeth Heineman
’s memoir of her stillbirth is
Ghostbelly
(Feminist Press, 2014). She teaches at the University of Iowa.

Corrine Heyeck
is a public relations professional, wife, and mother of four. Following a healthy pregnancy, her second child, Brenna, was stillborn at full-term for causes unknown. In addition to her daughter, Corrine has three sons, including rainbow twins.

Loni Huston-Eizenga
and her husband Matthew lost their firstborn daughter, Aisley, during childbirth on August 5
^th
, 2012. She has since committed herself to helping other bereaved parents both by sharing her raw emotions and experiences through her writing and in her involvement with Colorado non-profit organizations that provide resources and support to those devastated by pregnancy and infant loss.

Susan Ito
co-edited the literary anthology
A Ghost At Heart’s Edge: Stories & Poems of Adoption
(North Atlantic Books). Her work has appeared widely, including in
The Bellevue Literary Review, the Kartika Review
, and
Making More Waves
. She is a creative nonfiction editor at
Literary Mama
. She writes and teaches at the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto, and can be found at
susanito.com
.

Gabe Johns
is the father of four children, three boys and a girl. By day, he works in the financial sector of city government and by night, is a superhero dad and husband. He and his family currently live in Kingman, Arizona. His third child, Kian, was stillborn from a cord accident in July 2012.

Writing fiction since 2011,
Julie Christine Johnson
’s work has appeared in
Stories for Sendai
,
Granny Smith Magazine
,
River Poets Journal
,
Cirque
, and
Flash of Fiction
. She was short-listed for the
2011 Santa Fe Writers Project and the 2013 New Millennium Writing Fiction Awards Programs. She recently left a career as a wine buyer to work on her first novel. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Julie Christine makes her home with her husband on the tip of a peninsula where the Salish Sea meets the Puget Sound.

Tiffany Johnson
is a NICU RN in the Kansas City area. A busy mom to three living children, two of which were “rainbow” twins following her loss. She enjoys marching band, swimming, and holidays.

Jessica Killeen
is a writer, researcher, sociology professor, and mother of two living children, Molly and Duncan. Her second daughter Maggie Marin was stillborn in September 2010. Born and raised in Australia, she now lives in Missouri with her husband and children.

Ashley Kimberley
is the mother of four precious children. Her second baby was stillborn in 2009, and his death has changed her life in infinite ways. She still loves fiercely, creates art, and is in love with her husband. She works and lives with her family in Bellingham, WA.

Shoshanna Kirk
is a writer and editor who lives in San Francisco. She is currently at work on a memoir,
French Bred: How I Had a Baby in France and Lived to Tell the Tale.

Kelly Kittel
is a fish biologist by trade but a writer at heart. She is married with five living children, her best work beyond compare. She lives with her husband and two youngest children in Rhode Island but her favorite writing space is in her yurt on the coast of Oregon. She has been published in magazines and anthologies and has written many notes to teachers, but this is her first book.

Gabriela Ibarra Kotara
, 23, lives in San Antonio, TX with her husband Rob. They are hoping for another child.

Susan Miller Lawler
lives in Tacoma, Washington with her precious, wee family. She reminds herself daily to throw out the rulebook and just make it up as she goes along; it always seems to work out better that way.

Rachel Libby
lives in Sacramento, California with her husband Daniel and their son Samuel. A preschool teacher by trade, Rachel is now grateful to be spending her days caring for Sam and writing the story of his brother Oliver.

Deborah Linker
is a retired speech-language pathologist and author of
Living on the Edge
, a collection of poetry She also maintains the website
Rocky Road Adventures
at
www.deborahclinker.com
. Deborah divides her time between South Florida and Aix en Provence, France. Her motto is “May All Your Roads Lead to an Adventure.”

Barbara Mulvey Little
is a freelance writer-editor, communications professional, spiritual director, and wisdom-seeker but her favorite roles are wife, mother, grandmother, sister, daughter, and friend. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband.

Robyna May
lives in Brisbane, Australia with her husband and two living sons, Isaac and Elijah. In July 2012, Robyna’s world shattered when she lost her middle son, Xavier, to SIDS. Since that time, healing has come in many forms—writing, creating, talking, and welcoming baby Elijah into her family.

Dafna Michaelson Jenet
and her husband Michael Jenet are the parents of “Peanut.” The Jenet’s live in Colorado with their three children and run a non-profit called The Journey Institute which focuses on creating opportunity through building community. They have begun The Peanut Project in memory of their son with the mission of helping women and their families get the support they
need in the first 24 hours to 2 weeks following the devastating loss of their unborn child.

Christina Melendrez
is the only child of Ed and Betty Melendrez. She grew up in the United States Army and spent the first 16 years of her life traveling from base to base with her parents. She was born in Kentucky, and moved to Holland, Missouri, and Germany, before settling in Southern California. She attended UCLA, where she majored in History, with a minor in Political Science, and now works for a large investigations company outside of Los Angeles. Christina will soon be moving to Iowa to start a new chapter in her life. Her writing is dedicated to Maddison Marie, born November 10, 2011.

Mike Monday
is an attorney who lives in Omaha, Nebraska with his wife, Ann, and his two children, Ben and Sadie. He and Sean Hanish, the writer and director of
Return To Zero
, have been friends since their first day of first grade in 1974, when their cubbyholes were fortuitously adjacent to each other.

Karin Morea
lives in Seattle, WA with her husband Nathan and their 3 dogs. She works as a wellness program manager and volunteers as the Vice President of Parent Support of Puget Sound, a support group for parents of stillbirth, infant loss, or miscarriage.

Kerry Ann Morgan
is a lover of words and wit. She lives with her family in Florida, where she devotes her time to writing, reading too many books, and dreaming about her next adventure. Visit her website at
KerryAnnMorgan.com
.

JS Nahani
is a writer, coach, and expressive artist living in Vancouver, BC. She loves to find music in the mundane, swim in the sea, and dance with her two young children at teatime.

Stephanie Nalley
has a wonderful husband, Blake, and three children under 2--one in heaven and two living. Together, they live to bring glory & honor to God in their loss. Family means everything to her.

Maria B. Olujic
has a Ph.D. in Anthropology from U.C. Berkeley. She works in education and lives with her husband and two sons in the Bay Area.

Anne Phyfe Palmer
is a yoga teacher, studio owner, and blogger (
www.8limbsyoga.com/blog
). She lives with her husband and two daughters in Seattle, Washington. Anne Phyfe is at work on a memoir about ambition, yoga, and how loss brought the two into alignment.

A longtime magazine editor and contributor,
Jennifer Massoni Pardini
’s work has appeared in various publications, most recently
The New York Times
,
San Francisco Chronicle
, and
Literary Mama
. She earned her M.F.A. in English and Creative Writing from Mills College and blogs at
www.jennifermassoni.com
. She also collects hearts in her son’s honor with The Chain-Link Heart Project (
chainlinkheartproject.blogspot.com
).

Rebecca Patrick-Howard
is an author and lives in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with her husband and two living children. She lost her youngest son, Toby, in 2010 to SIDS.

Faith Paulsen
’s poetry and prose have appeared in journals and collections including
philly.com
,
Apiary, Wild River Review, Blast Furnace, Sprout, When Women Waken, Canoodaloodaling, Literary Mama
, three “Cup of Comfort” collections and three “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books, and “In Gilded Frame, a collection of ekphrastic writing. She lives in Norristown, PA.

Colby and Tiffany Pitts
are located in Phoenix, Arizona. They have
been married for 6 years, and are currently expecting rainbow baby boy due in June, 2014.

Jaimie Porter
is a fulltime mother, wife, and police officer. She and her husband, Tom, have been happily married since 2007.

Bobby Richmond
lives in West Virginia with his wife and our 18-month-old daughter. He works as a paramedic. Their first child, Noah, was stillborn in 2011. They founded an organization in his honor to provide awareness and support for other parents.

Jenifer Richmond
resides in West Virginia with her husband, daughter, and memory of her son. She is an emergency room nurse and paramedic primarily, but also an advocate for pregnancy loss awareness and education. She established an organization in honor of her son called Now Our Angel’s in Heaven (N.O.A.H) and works daily to give lost babies a voice.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
Jeannie E. Roberts
is the author of
Nature of it All
, a collection of poetry (Finishing Line Press). She is also the author and illustrator of
Let’s Make Faces
!, a children’s book. Her poems have appeared in several publications, including
Verse Wisconsin
. Jeannie lives in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. For more, visit
www.jrcreative.biz
.