David C. Kopaska-Merkel won the 2006 Rhysling award for best long poem (for a collaboration with Kendall Evans), and edits Dreams & Nightmares magazine (since 1986). He has edited Star*line and several Rhysling anthologies, co-edited the 2023 Dwarf Stars anthology, and is an SFPA Grandmaster. His poems have been published in Asimov’s, Analog, Strange Horizons, and elsewhere. His latest collection, Some Disassembly Required, winner of the 2023 Elgin award, was published by Diminuendo Press in 2022. Blog: https://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/


Avra Margariti is a queer author and Pushcart-nominated poet with a fondness for the dark and the darling. Avra’s work haunts publications such as Vastarien, Asimov's, Liminality, Arsenika, The Future Fire, and Reckoning. Avra lives and studies in Athens, Greece. You can find Avra on twitter (@avramargariti).


Tiffany Morris is an L'nu'skw (Mi'kmaw) writer from Nova Scotia. She is the author of the swampcore horror novella Green Fuse Burning (Stelliform Books, 2023) and the Elgin Award-winning horror poetry collection Elegies of Rotting Stars (Nictitating Books, 2022). Her work has appeared in the Indigenous horror anthology Never Whistle At Night, as well as in Nightmare Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, and Apex Magazine, among others. She has an MA in English with a focus on Indigenous Futurisms and apocalyptic literature. She can be found at https://www.tiffmorris.com or on twitter/bluesky @tiffmorris.


Rebecca Buchanan is the editor of the Pagan literary ezine Eternal Haunted Summer and is a regular contributor to ev0ke: witchcraft*paganism*lifestyle. She has published short stories, novelettes, and poems in a wide variety of venues, most speculative in nature. When she is not writing, she is baking chocolate chip cookies and avoiding yard work. A complete list of her publications can be found at Eternal Haunted Summer.

Chapbook Award Winners:

Jane Yolen's 439th book has just come out ("Eyes on the prize," she says, meaning 500. She has already sold 30 more.) The Elgin is not her first poetry prize but is very special to her for two reasons. One is that it was published in Scotland--her second home--and the second is that her editor--Russell Jones--gave her a box of baklava in celebration at the Edinburgh Book Fair this fall. A past president of SFWA and a past winner of two Nebulas and many other awards, Jane Yolen at 84 is not slowing down. Her website is at www.janeyolen.com. Her web designer is horror and fantasy writer Adam Stemple, who is also her son.

Bruce Boston is the author of sixty books and chapbooks, including the psychedelic coming-of-age novel Stained Glass Rain and the dystopian sf novel The Guardener’s Tale. His poetry and fiction have appeared in hundreds of publications, most visibly in Amazing, Analog, Asimov’s SF, Daily SF, Strange Horizons, Weird Tales, The Nebula Awars Anthology (St. Martins), Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror (St. Martin’s) and Year’s Best Horror (DAW), and have received numerous awards, most notably, a Pushcart Prize, the Bram Stoker Award, the Asimov’s Readers’ Award, and the Rhysling and Grand Master Awards of the SFPA.

Denise Dumars is a widely published author of short stories, poetry, occult nonfiction, essays, articles, and reviews. She has been nominated for numerous awards for her poetry including the Rhysling Award, the Dwarf Stars Award, the Elgin Award, and the Pushcart Prize. She has garnered the 2020 Dwarf Stars Third Place, the 1997 Rhysling third place for short poem, and the 1996 Rhysling Honorable Mention for short poem. Her book Paranormal Romance: Poems Romancing the Paranormal was twice nominated for the Elgin Award for Full-Length book of poetry. After many years of caring for elderly relatives while working fulltime, she is now retired and can devote time to her writing, something she hasn't had time to do in a very long time. She lives in L.A.'s beautiful South Bay area, but her heart is in New Orleans. Find her at DeniseDDumars.com and DyanaAset.com.