TalkWithME

Heather Christie, writer

Heather Christie grew up in rural Pennsylvania and, at age seventeen, took off for NYC in hopes of becoming a movie star. Flash forward several decades… a couple degrees (including a MFA in Creative Writing), a bunch of cats, two kids and one husband later, she’s back in Pennsylvania. Heather is a wife, mom, amateur cook, exercise freak, and avid reader. When she’s not doing all that, she’ selling houses, writing books and blogging at www.HeatherChristieBooks.com. Kirkus Reviews calls Heather’s debut novel, What The Valley Knows, “A taut, compelling family tale.” Her work has been published by Writer’s Digest, Scary Mommy, Elephant Journal, Mamapedia,The Good Men Project, Grown & Flown, Baltimore Child, Parent.co, Bon Bon Break, Her View From Home, the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop, Sammichs and Psych Meds, and The Lighter Side of Real Estate. Heather was a member of the 2017 Listen To Your Mother cast. Say “hello” on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Follow her at www.HeatherChristieBooks.com

The Transformational Jennie Washburn V.2018.1

Jennie Washburn & Talk With ME host Marcia Epstein share their conversation about Art & Mental Health, Life & Death, Making Decisions Wisely, with, yes, Laughter! Jennie has a wide range of expertise and experience, and is committed to ongoing learning, personal growth, kindness, and fun! She is a licensed esthetician, the co-host with Nan Loyd-Leffingwell of Soul Salon, and the host of The Goddess Within women’s circle in Lawrence, KS www.facebook.com/The-Goddess-Within-252751568549725/ Host ME is an advocate for all the arts & a mental health social worker, https://MarciaEpstein.biz

Samantha Slupski, Poet

Samantha Slupski is a poet and mental health advocate based in the heart of the Midwest. She first stepped on stage in December 2015 at Uptown Arts Bar in Kansas City, Missouri, and stage has been her home ever since. She currently serves as the Executive Director of Poetic Underground, Slam Master of Kansas City Poetry Slam, co-director of Chameleon Arts, a board member for Fountainverse, the Kansas City Small Press Poetry Fest, an ARTS KC grant recipient, and was voted the 2nd best spoken word artist in The Pitch’s Best of 2017. She has been published in multiple online publications, her poetry has been featured on Write About Now Youtube channel, and her first book, “What Sits Between my Veins” was published a year ago through EMP Press. She has been a competitor at Texas Grand Slam 2017 and 2018, attended the 2017 National Poetry Slam, and is attending the Women on the World Poetry Slam in March of 2018. Her Spring 2018 tour starts in March 2018, which spans over seven different cities. She sees the importance of poetry and the beautiful spaces it creates and has dedicated her life to making poetry important for everyone.

Follow Samantha Slupski at http://www.samanthaslupskipoetry.com/

Mish (Eileen) Murphy, Writer-VisualArtist-Professor

Mish (Eileen) Murphy lives with her husband and three dogs near Tampa, Florida. She takes photos & creates photo arts; writes poetry & book reviews; and teaches literature and English at Polk State College, Lakeland, Florida. Mish graduated with a B.A. from New College, Sarasota, in French and Russian. She has a J.D. degree summa cum laude from Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport, Florida. And her M.A. is in Fiction Writing/Teaching of Writing from Columbia College, Chicago. Her recent book reviews are published in Cultural Weekly, BLARB, Tinderbox Journal, Glass, Crab Fat, and Rain Taxi. Find her reviews for Cultural Weekly at https://www.culturalweekly.com/author/eileen_murphy/ Her poetry has been widely published in literary journals including, recently, in Rogue Agent, Tinderbox Journal (nominated for Pushcart Prize), Thirteen Myna Birds, Writing In A Woman’s Voice, Deaf Poet’s Society, The American Journal of Poetry, The Thought Erotic, Yes Poetry, The Open Mouse, and a number of others. Eileen Murphy’s photography has been published in journals such as Peacock Journal, Tiferet Journal, The Indian River Review, and Calyx Journal, and shown in galleries in Florida and New Mexico.

Follow Mish (Eileen) Murphy at https://MishMurphy.com for her blogs about her latest poems, articles, reviews, and photos.

Joseph Shields, Poet-Publisher-Musician

Joseph Shields was born outside Milwaukee, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and later from Loyola University of Chicago. He spent two and a half years in the Peace Corps in Jamaica from 1990-1992 before relocating to Austin, Texas with his wife (also a former PC volunteer). His poems have appeared in a number of different poetry magazines, including Slipstream, Sheila-Na-Gig, Pearl, Chiron Review, among others, and he has a few of chapbooks in print (Wisconsin Daze, No Escape and Other Poems, and W9GRF and the Dance that Never Ends). In spring 1996, Joseph founded Nerve Cowboy Magazine, with a kindred spirit, Jerry Hagins, and 22 years later we are getting ready to release Issue 44. He plays in a band called The Counterfactual, along with three other social scientists (as this is what we do for day jobs). Being involved in art, poetry, and music makes the day job a bit easier to manage.
Counterfactual audio can be heard on Soundcloud or Bandcamp here:
Full set of audio on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/counterfactualatx
A subset of songs are on Bandcamp: http://counterfactual.bandcamp.com

Nerve Cowboy info at: https://www.facebook.com/Nerve-Cowboy-240567569317649/

John Yamrus, Poet & More, V2018.01

Since 1970 John Yamrus has published 26 volumes of poetry, 2 novels and one volume of non-fiction. He has also had nearly 2,000 poems published in print magazines around the world. Selections of his poetry have been translated into several languages, including Spanish, Swedish, French, Japanese, Italian, Romanian, Albanian, Estonian and Bengali. His poetry is regularly taught in colleges and universities. His newest book, MEMORY LANE, a memoir looking back at his childhood growing up in a Pennsylvania coal mining community, is already a highly-praised addition to his published work. Buy MEMORY LANE and more at Epic Rites Press, www.EpicRites.org

Follow John Yamrus at www.JohnYamrus.com