In 2004, the members of Professor Corinne Demas’s Advanced Short Story Writing seminar founded The Blackstick Review. The journal’s namesake was a literary organization, which was created by nine Mount Holyoke seniors in 1909 and continued until 1961. They brought guest speakers to campus, including T.S. Eliot in 1963. This issue of The Blackstick Review features short fiction from a diverse group of students advised by Professor Corinne Demas.
Staff of the Blackstick Review
From left to right, standing: Professor Corinne Demas– Class Instructor; Kira Yates– Print Layout Director; Hallie Twiss– Print Editor; Carrie Clowers– Visual Art Director; Mary Kate McTeigue– Visual Art Director
From left to right, sitting: Tyler Hagen– Print Editor; Hannah Gernshone– Print Editor; Alheri Egor-Egbe– Web Designer; Ellen Chilemba– Publicity Coordinator
Not pictured: Camille Gladieux– Print Editor
Author Biographies
Alheri Egor-Egbe was born and raised in Kaduna, Nigeria. She is a graduating senior in English and International Relations, and has been writing short stories and poems since secondary school in Nigeria. Her favorite book is Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, closely contested with Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. Alheri enjoys reading, writing, and taking random naps during the day, whenever she can. She hopes to write in some form in the future.
Camille Gladieux is a short fiction and nonfiction writer. In need of a change of scenery, she left sunny Miami, Florida to the gloomy New England area. She is a Junior at Mount Holyoke College and studies Sociology and English, with a focus on Asian American Studies. Some of her favorite authors include: Margaret Atwood, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Franz Kafka.
Carrie Clowers is a junior at Mount Holyoke College; she has an English major and a minor in Journalism, Media, and Public Discourse. Carrie works as a graphic designer for the Mount Holyoke News and serves as publicist for “Moneta” Literary Magazine. In her free time, she loves to dance and draw portraits. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in news and media.
Ellen Chilemba is a serial social entrepreneur. She is the founder and director at Tiwale, a community based organization that supports women in Malawi through providing economic and education opportunities. She is a Global Changemaker, a Forbes’ Africa 30 Under 30, a Glamour College Woman of the Year, a Mount Holyoke College senior, a DJ, an artist, and a gardener with a big, fat, green thumb. She recently started writing and can’t stop.
Hallie Twiss is a writer of short fiction with an interest in critical theory. She is from Washington State and transferred to Mount Holyoke College in 2015. She will be graduating in May 2017 with a BA in English. Her favorite authors include Daniel Handler, Ernest Hemingway, and Kathy Acker.
Hannah Gershone is a fiction writer from Minnetonka, Minnesota. She is an Environmental Studies major and English minor at Mount Holyoke College. Hannah has been published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery and has coauthored another article recently sent to the Journal of Cell Science. As a distance runner, she loves running the 5K. In the near future, she hopes to be involved in radio production. Her favorite authors include: Haruki Murakami, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Ruth Ozeki.
Kira Yates is a short fiction writer and is currently working on her first novel. Her stories have been previously published in Rapid River Magazine and Potluck Magazine. She is an English and Religion double major at Mount Holyoke College, where she focuses on 20th Century Jewish fiction and Early Christianity. She hopes to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing.
Mary Kate McTeigue writes short stories about the darker side of family, couched in a matter of fact and often humorous style. She is a Frances Perkins Scholar at Mount Holyoke College. Mary Kate is a mother of four grown children, registered nurse, and the oldest of five siblings. She has experience in navigating the minefields of dysfunctional families and loves hiking with her dogs.
Tyler Hagen is a student at The University of Massachusetts Amherst and has come to Mount Holyoke through use of the Five College Consortium, and the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority.
The writers and editors of the Blackstick wish to acknowledge the help of Professor Corinne Demas, Mary Stettner, Cynthia Meehan, and the English Department at Mount Holyoke College.