Ammiel Alcalay is a writer, translator & poet living in New York City. He has published one book of poetry, the cairo notebooks (Singing Horse Press, 1993). He has also published a critical work from Minnesota Press titled After Jews and Arabs: Remaking Levantine Culture, a work which looks at the cross-influences of Herbraic and Arabic literature.

Dennis Aufiery is represented by Rabb Gallery in Philadelphia, where he had a solo show in August. His paintings have been featured in numerous group shows, including at Marion Locks, The Art Alliance, and The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and at Leo Castelli in New York. Visit Aufiery's Web site for more of his Cuban paintings.

Lisa Baker just completed an MFA in fiction writing at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. She is currently writing and working in documentary video and radio in the Boston area. She has forthcoming short fiction in The Malahat Review, The Denver Quarterly, and Confrontation, as well as non-fiction in Ms. Magazine.

Deborah Correnti is an economic analyst for Amoco. She recently received her MBA from the University of Chicago. Her stories have appeared in AIM and Struggle Magazines. She lives in Western Springs, Illinois with her husband and son.

Linh Dinh is the author of a chapbook of poems, Drunkard Boxing (Singing Horse Press 1998) and a collection of short stories, Fake House (Seven Stories Press 1999). His stories, poems and translations have appeared in recent issues of New American Writing, Chicago Review, Sulfur, Denver Quarterly, American Poetry Review, New York Stories and VOLT.

Gregory Djanikian directs the creative writing program at the University of Pennsylvania. His fourth collection of poetry, Years Later will be published by Carnegie-Mellon next year.

Sharon Dolin's collection of poems, Heart Work, was published by The Sheep Meadow Press in 1995 and her letterpress chapbook, Climbing Mount Sinai, was published by Dim Gray Bar Press in 1996. Poems from a new booklength manuscript of ekphrastic poems have appeared or are forthcoming in American Literary Review, American Letters & Commentary, Poetry New York, Lingo, Cimarron Review, Ekphrasis, The Iowa Review, Poetry Flash, Salonika, and The Yalobusha Review. "Mistakes," one poetic sequence based on Richard Diebenkorn's paintings, will be published in Poetry New York's pamphlet series in 1999.

Annette Earling is managing editor of CrossConnect and publishes an occasional column in the Philadelphia City Paper.

Rebekah Grossman has published poems in the Antioch Review, Boulevard, Beloit Poetry Journal, and Confrontation among others. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Pennsylvania where she is a Phd. student in Folklore and Folklife.

Mark Halliday taught at the University of Pennsylvania from 1983-1990. His books of poetry are Little Star (1987) and Tasker Street (1992). He directs the Creative Writing Program at Ohio University.

Matt Hart was born in Manchester, England, in 1974. He attended Edinburgh University where he was the recipient of the Lewis Edwards Memorial Prize for Poetry and co-founder of ibid magazine and the ibid press. His work has recently been published in Combo and First Pressings, a new poetry annual published by Faber & Faber. He is a PhD student in English at the University of Pennsylvania.

Ray Heinrich lives and writes in Washington D.C., his work appeared in the first print volume of CrossConnect.

Zbigniew Herbert (1924-1998) was one of the great poets of post-WWII Polish literature. His work has been translated by Nobelist Czeslaw Milosz (Ecco Press 1999) and others.

Sharon Glassman is a writer/performer and journalist who creates monologues on subjects ranging from quantum physics to "true" love. She has presented her work at New York City performance spaces including The Kitchen, La MaMa, Dixon Place, Soho Rep and HERE; at the Women´s Theatre Festival in Philadelphia; at universities across the country, and on radio.

Walter Keady is the author of two recent books, Celibates and Other Lovers and Mary McGreevy, both published by MacMurray and Beck Inc.

Teresa Leo is an electronic publications specialist at the University of Pennsylvania. Her work has appeared in the American Poetry Review, Philadelphia Inquirer, Painted Bride Quarterly, among other places. She is an advisor to CrossConnect, and a regular contributor to the magazine.

Andrew Levy is the author of seven books of poetry, most recently Continuous Discontinuous -- Curve 2 (Potes & Poets Press, 1997), and Elephant Surveillance To Thought (Meow Press, 1998). He is editor, with Bob Harrison, of the poetry & arts journal Crayon.

Marek Lugowski is a contributing editor for CrossConnect. He is the editor of A Small Garlic Press and co-edits Agnieszka's Dowry.

John McCalla is a freelance writer who lives and works in Philadelphia. His work has been published in many sources, including the New York Times and the Philadelphia City Paper. He authors a weekly column in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Michael Magee is a contributing editor for CrossConnect and founding editor of COMBO. He is finishing a dissertation "Emancipating Pragmatism: Emerson, Jazz and Experimental Writing," at Penn, and has new poems out or due to appear in Cafe Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, Ixnay, The East Village Poetry Web and 6ix.

Michael McNeilley's book, Situational Reality, is upcoming from Dream Horse Press, San Jose, CA. He is the editor of the poetry magazine, Zero City and a regular contributor of CrossConnect.

Peter Munro is a biologist/mathematician with the U.S. National Marine Service. He has had poems published in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand.

John Parras is an Assistant Professor of Critical and Creative Writing at William Paterson University. He's the recipient of a Columbia University President's Fellowship, the Pauline B. Adamson Award for Fiction and the Maurice Robinson Award for Professional Writing. His work has appeared in The Dominion Review, RiverSedge, Hanging Loose, Fuel, Exuisite Corpse, Yellow Silk, Gulf Stream and other literary journals.

Jon Poblador recently received his MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. He lives and works in Philadelphia.

Mirsad Sijaric was born in Sarejevo in 1970 and studied at the Philosophy Faculty at Sarajevo University. He was mobilized at the beginning of the attack on Bosnia and remained on duty throughout the war. He is presently finishing examinations for a degree in History at the University. Some of his poems were published in Phantom of Liberty, the journal edited by Semezdin Mehmedinovic; his first book, ORAO [Eagle], was published in Sarejevo by the Obala Art Center.

Ron Silliman's most recent collection is MultiPlex, a chapbook that contains his work and that of Karen Mac Cormack, published by Wild Honey Press in Ireland. Quarry West 34 is a special 200 pp. issue devoted to his work and life. Copies are available via SPD or c/o Porter College, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064. Silliman is currently a Pew Fellow in the Arts and lives with his wife and children in Paoli, PA.

Brian Kim Stefans is the author of Free Space Comix (Roof, 1998) and the forthcoming Angry Penguins (Object). His collaboration with Sianne Ngai, "The Cosmopolitans," was featured as the second issue of the zine Interlope published out of Iowa City. His works have also appeared in many magazines, including the web journals Ubu and Yellow Jacket, under a pseudonym. Stefans published three issues of the journal Arras before taking it to the web in 1998. His critical writings have been published in Korean Culture and The Poetry Project Newsletter, and a long essay on alternative Asian American poetry will appear in Talisman.

Amber Dorko Stopper has been a Fiction Fellow of the PA Council on the Arts, and nominated for three Pushcart Prizes. Her fiction has appeared in American Writing, Northwest Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and many other journals. She lives in South Philadelphia.

Fred Wah's books include Tree (Vancouver Community Press, 1972), Earth (Canton: Institute of Further Studies, 1974), Pictograms from the Interior BC, (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1975), Loki is Buried at Smoky Creek: Selected Poetry (Talonbooks, 1980), Grasp The Sparrow's Tail (Kyoto 1982) Music at the Heart of Thinking (Alberta: Red Deer College Press. 1987) Limestone Lakes Utaniki (Alberta: Red Deer College Press, 1989) , So Far ( Talonbooks, 1991), and Alley Alley Home Free (Red Deer College Press, 1992). He is a contributing editor to Open Letter and has written many critical essays on contemporary Canadian and American literature. Wah's presently working on a verse biotext about racial anger titled Seasons Greetings.

Jamie Wasserman's poems appear (or are forthcoming) in Perihelion, Kimera, The Astrophysicist's Tango Partner Speaks, Snakeskin, Poetry Cafe, and The Alsop Review. He is co-editor of the Melic Review and editor of Octavo.

Linda Zisquit is a poet and translator from Israel. Her latest book of poetry, Unopened Letters, came out from Sheep Meadow Press last spring, and her book of translations of the Hebrew poet Yona Wollach was just published, also by Sheep Meadow Press .