Eckleburg No. 22

Jessica Lanay is an art writer, poet, librettist, and short fiction writer. She is a frequent contributor to BOMB Magazine and previously contributed to ArtSlant. Her poetry can be found in Poet Lore, Indiana Review, The Common, [PANK], Prairie Schooner and others. Her debut poetry collection am-phib-ian won the 2020 Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Prize, judged by Toi Derricotte, from Broadside Lotus Press. Her short fiction can be found in Tahoma Literary Review, Duende, and Black Candies. Lanay published personal and craft essays in Salt Hill Journal and The Black Warrior Review, respectively. She is a 2018 recipient of a Millay Colony Residency. Also, in 2018, Jessica Lanay was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her poem "Milk. Milk. Milk," that appeared in The Normal School. She has poetry forthcoming in When Language Broke Open: An Anthology of Queer and Trans Black Writers of Latin American Descent from Arizona University Press. Lanay is a fellow of Cave Canem and Callaloo.

Michael Martone's newest book is Table Talk & Second Thoughts, a memoir in flash. Recently retired after teaching at four universities over forty years, he lives in Tuscaloosa, below the Bug Line, where he putters in his gardens and works on his new book, Fort Fort Wayne, which includes the pieces printed here.

Rae Cline is the author of the short story collection The Indefinite State of Imaginary Morals (Patasola Press, NY). Her debut novel is forthcoming from 7.13 Books in spring 2026. Her stories, essays, and poetry have appeared in print and online at The Paris Review, The Missouri Review, McSweeney's, DIAGRAM, North American Review, Gargoyle and more. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have won prizes, scholarships and fellowships from Johns Hopkins, American University, Aspen Writers Foundation and North American Review. She earned an M.A. in Writing at Hopkins and received her M.F.A. in Fiction and Creative Nonfiction from American University, where she was the recipient of the Starr and Sartwell scholarships. She has lectured on campuses and other venues including Hopkins, American University, the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, St. Mary's College of Maryland and others. She is the founding editor of Eckleburg and is represented by Jennifer Carlson with Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency.