Masthead
2025-2026
Caro De Robertis (they/them), Faculty Advisor
A writer of Uruguayan origins, Caro De Robertis is the author of So Many Stars: an Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color, as well as six novels, including The Palace of Eros, Cantoras, and more. Their books have been translated into seventeen languages and have received numerous honors, including two Stonewall Book Awards, a Golden Poppy Octavia E. Butler Award, and the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature, which they were the first openly nonbinary writer to receive. De Robertis is also an award-winning literary translator and a professor at San Francisco State University.
Judas Ātman (they/he), Co-Editor-in-Chief
Judas Ātman (they/he) is a butch, transgender, mixed-race, South/Southeast Asian diasporic artist born and raised in San Francisco and now based in Oakland. Their artistic practice is based in hybridity, including but not limited to creative writing, directing, performance, and queer archiving. He writes the intersections of queerness and mythology, as the two converge and diverge within archives in forming intergenerational ideologies. They graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Drama and Minor in Film Production. Currently, he is an MFA candidate for Creative Writing at SFSU with concentrations in Fiction and Creative Nonfiction.
Leo Fariash (they/them), Co-Editor-in-Chief
Leo Fariash (they/them) is a queer writer of speculative fiction, as well as a parent and Buffy the Vampire Slayer aficionado. Born in Idaho, they've lived in most regions of the US, but are glad to now be anchored in the Bay Area. They received a BA in Philosophy from Kenyon College, an MDiv from the Jesuit School of Theology and are currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University. They contributed a chapter to the anthology Creating Spaces for Women in the Catholic Church and hope to continue creating things that push the boundaries of gender, sexuality, and possible worlds.
Jenn Castro (she/her), Co-Fiction Editor
Jenn is the author of the children's book MOM*ME. She has been published in Transfer Magazine and Voices. She is a writer, artist, and educator. Whether story, play, or poetry, her characters behave irreverently and demand to be seen and heard. Jenn lives in the Bay Area with her family where she cooks, composts vegetable scraps, does some heavy lifting, and writes. She writes a lot.
Gwendolyn Maia Hicks (they/them), Co-Fiction Editor
Gwendolyn Maia Hicks writes emails by day and fiction about feelings by night. They are earning their M.F.A. in Fiction at San Francisco State University. They are a 2025 Lambda Literary Fellow in Speculative Fiction and an alumni of the 2022 Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop. Their fiction has appeared in Hearth Stories and their poetry in Small Wonders, where it is a finalist for the 2025 Rhysling Anthology. They live in San Francisco with their incredibly smart husband and their two less smart cats. They love green things, yearning, and The Mountain Goats. Find them at prioryruins.carrd.co.
Benjamin Arizmendi-Calvert (they/them), Assistant Fiction/Playwriting/Art Editor
Benjamin Arizmendi-Calvert (they/them) has taught high school English in Richmond and is currently an MFA Creative Writing student at San Francisco State University. Ben is a queer storyteller taking many forms: educator, artist, caregiver, guardian, gardener, and participant of the world and all its contradictions.
Abrahim “Bimo” El Gamal (he/him), Assistant Fiction Editor
Abrahim hails from the San Francisco Bay Area. He has written poetry for as long as he can remember. His first poem to be published appears in the spring 2025 issue of Transfer Magazine. He is an MFA candidate in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University.
McCade Hayes (he/him), Assistant Fiction Editor
McCade Hayes (he/him) is a fourth-year student from San Francisco State University. He is currently working on an undergraduate degree in creative writing with a minor in philosophy. He is a Bay Area-born and raised writer, still based in San Francisco. McCade predominantly writes science fiction and fantasy short stories and is working on some longer novel-length projects though he also often likes to venture into other genres of writing as practice. He has worked as the assistant fiction editor for the last two semesters for San Francisco State's undergraduate literary magazine Transfer, and is excited to continue to edit and publish others' work.
Photo credit : Surya Vaidy
Madison Vansco, Assistant Fiction Editor
Madison Vansco was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and went to school near Austin. Soon after receiving her bachelor’s degree in English from Texas State University she moved out to the Bay Area and is very happy to call Northern California her home. She currently works as a Creative Writing Instructor for elementary school students and is pursuing her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University.
Amy de Rouvray, Co-Poetry Editor
Born and raised in Paris, France, Amy moved to San Francisco 10 years ago. When she’s not doing mom stuff with her 3 children, you might find her plunging in cold ocean water, camping among the redwoods, or walking her 2-year old rescue mutt. Amy’s poetry is inspired by moments of stillness and her fabulous peers in the SFSU Creative Writing MFA. A recipient of the SFSU William Dickey Fellowship in Poetry, her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in North American Review, Empty House Press, and Transfer.
Alfredo Arzola-Ibarra (he/they), Assistant Poetry/Hybrid Editor, Web Editor
Alfredo Arzola-Ibarra (he/they) is most himself when he is creating. He is a dreamer at heart and reaches to tell the truth through his creative endeavors. From poetry to cooking to singing to designing to documenting to writing, Arzola-Ibarra uses what inspires him to outspire. He is currently pursuing an M.A. in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University while a graphic designer for the university’s Strategic Marketing & Communications department. Arzola-Ibarra continues to reach toward the sky dreaming of all the songs that got him here.
Celeste Colarič-Gonzales (she/her), Assistant Poetry Editor
Celeste Colarič-Gonzales (she/her) is a writer, artist, editor, educator, and mother living in Oakland, CA, on unceded Chochenyo Ohlone land. An MFA candidate and Marcus Fellow at SFSU, she’s the recipient of several awards, including the Ann Fields Poetry Prize. When not wording, she paints, does old-school analog photography, or otherwise crafts. Find her words+ in Isele Magazine, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Blood Orange Review, NELLE, Corporeal, Cosmic Daffodil, The Ana, Woodcrest, and Transfer, where she served as Poetry Editor and Editor-In-Chief.
Beck Friedman (they/them), Assistant Poetry Editor
Beck Friedman (they/them) is a queer, trans Bay Area native. They are a fiction writer, poetry reader, and linguist currently pursuing an MFA from SFSU. They are a lover of unusual imagery, and their favorite stories straddle the border between the realistic and the speculative.
Nicolau Sparer (he/him), Assistant Poetry Editor
A queer and trans poet who dabbles in fiction, Nicolau Sparer is in pursuit of an MFA in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University. He holds a BA in Creative Writing from SFSU with minors in Jewish Studies and Comparative World Literature, as well as associate degrees from CCSF in Arts and Humanities, Women’s and Gender Studies, Labor and Community Studies, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. His work has appeared in Transfer.
Jessica Smith (she/they), Creative Nonfiction Editor, Assistant Art Editor
Jessica Smith (she/they), known by the pen as Jaine, is a Black femme writer who seeks to preserve her memory and identity through fiction, poetry, and essays. When not working on her current Afro-futurist project, she can be found spending time with her beloved cat or exploring a new hairstyle. Jaine believes in celebrating culture, love, the arts, education, and rights for all humans & animals.
Nathalie Franco, Assistant Creative Nonfiction Editor
Nathalie Franco is a queer, Mexican American writer whose work aims at exploring and blurring the borders of non-fiction through hybrid and cross-genre writing. Their work primarily focuses on traversing the intersectionality of race, identity, gender, and sexual violence, specifically revolving around Mexican indigenous culture. She received her B.A. in Literature/Writing at the University of California-San Diego and is currently working on their MFA at San Francisco State University.
Marina Lee, Playwriting Editor
Marina Lee is a playwright-poet pursuing their MFA in creative writing at SFSU. their work centers blood and magic and screaming and plants. they hold a BS in Cognitive & Behavioral Neuroscience and a BA in Literature/Writing from UCSD.
James Giffin, Design Editor
James Giffin is a writer, designer, and multimedia consultant native to San Diego. He is currently finishing a memoir about his experiences coming of age on the streets of San Francisco, an excerpt of which has appeared in Heartwood Literary Magazine. He has three beautiful nieces, and is having difficulty watching his curse words.