Ammiel Alcalay is a writer, translator & poet living in New YorkCity. 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 andArabic literature.

DennisAufiery is represented by Rabb Gallery in Philadelphia, where hehad a solo show in August. His paintings have been featured in numerousgroup shows, including at Marion Locks, The Art Alliance, and ThePennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and at Leo Castelli inNew York. Visit Aufiery's Web site for more of his Cuban paintings.

Lisa Baker just completed an MFA in fiction writing at theUniversity of Massachusetts/Amherst. She is currently writing andworking in documentary video and radio in the Boston area. She hasforthcoming short fiction in The Malahat Review, The DenverQuarterly, and Confrontation, as well as non-fiction in Ms.Magazine.

Deborah Correnti is an economic analyst for Amoco. She recentlyreceived herMBA from the University of Chicago. Her stories have appeared inAIM andStruggle Magazines. She lives in Western Springs, Illinois withher husbandand son.

Linh Dinh is the author of a chapbook of poems, DrunkardBoxing (SingingHorse Press 1998) and a collection of short stories, Fake House(SevenStories Press 1999). His stories, poems and translations have appearedinrecent issues of New American Writing, Chicago Review, Sulfur,DenverQuarterly, American Poetry Review, New York Stories andVOLT.

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

Sharon Dolin's collection of poems, Heart Work, was published byThe Sheep Meadow Press in 1995 and her letterpress chapbook, ClimbingMount Sinai, was published by Dim Gray Bar Press in 1996. Poems from anew booklength manuscript of ekphrastic poems have appeared or areforthcoming 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 bepublished in Poetry New York's pamphlet series in 1999.

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

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

Mark Halliday taught at the University of Pennsylvania from1983-1990. His books of poetry are Little Star (1987) andTasker Street (1992). He directs the Creative Writing Program atOhio University.

Matt Hart was born in Manchester, England, in 1974. He attendedEdinburghUniversity where he was the recipient of the Lewis Edwards Memorial Prizefor Poetry and co-founder of ibid magazine and the ibidpress. Hiswork has recently been published in Combo and FirstPressings, a newpoetry annual published by Faber & Faber. He is a PhD student in Englishat the University of Pennsylvania.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marek Lugowski is acontributing editor for CrossConnect. He is the editor of A Small Garlic Press and co-edits Agnieszka'sDowry.

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

Michael Magee is a contributing editor for CrossConnect andfounding editor of COMBO. He is finishing a dissertation"EmancipatingPragmatism: Emerson, Jazz and Experimental Writing," at Penn, and has newpoems 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, isupcoming from Dream Horse Press, San Jose, CA. He is the editor of thepoetry magazine, Zero City and a regular contributor ofCrossConnect.

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

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

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

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

RonSilliman's most recent collection is MultiPlex, a chapbookthat contains his work and that of Karen Mac Cormack, published by WildHoney Press in Ireland. Quarry West 34 is a special 200 pp. issuedevoted to his work and life. Copies are available via SPD or c/o PorterCollege, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064. Silliman is currently a PewFellow 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). Hiscollaboration with Sianne Ngai, "The Cosmopolitans," was featured as thesecond issue of the zine Interlope published out of Iowa City. Hisworks have also appeared in many magazines, including the web journalsUbu and Yellow Jacket, under a pseudonym. Stefans publishedthree issues of the journal Arras before taking it to the web in1998. His critical writings have been published in Korean Cultureand The Poetry Project Newsletter, and a long essay on alternativeAsian American poetry will appear in Talisman.

Amber Dorko Stopper has been a Fiction Fellow of the PA Council onthe Arts, and nominated for three Pushcart Prizes. Her fiction hasappeared in American Writing, Northwest Review, Alaska QuarterlyReview, 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 ofThinking (Alberta: Red Deer College Press. 1987) Limestone LakesUtaniki (Alberta: Red Deer College Press, 1989) , So Far (Talonbooks, 1991), and Alley Alley Home Free (Red Deer CollegePress, 1992). He is a contributing editor to Open Letter and haswritten many critical essays on contemporary Canadian and Americanliterature. Wah's presently working on a verse biotext about racial angertitled Seasons Greetings.

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

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