Kelp Journal Team
David M. Olsen (he/him) is a writer, photographer, filmmaker, and poet. He is a graduate of Stanford’s OWC program in novel writing and holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside Palm Desert. He has published books of poetry, a novel, multiple anthologies, and various work in literary journals and magazines. He is at work on a crime novel series and a linked collection of short stories. He resides on California's central coast where he surfs regularly.
Connect: editor (at) kelpjournal.com
Editor-In-Chief
A.E. Santana (she/her) is a Southern California native who grew up in a farming community surrounded by the Sonoran Desert. A lover of horror and fantasy, her works can be found in Latinx Screams, Demonic Carnival III, and other horror anthologies. She is the managing editor for Kelp Books, the true horror editor for Kelp Journal, and the co-editor for The Coachella Review's Voice to Books. She is also the moderator for The Thing in the Labyrinth, a horror book club. A.E. Santana is a member of the Horror Writers Association, a board member of Full Circle Players in Riverside, California, and a founding playwright for East Valley Repertory Theatre in Indio, California. She has participated in several horror panels, including "No Longer the Scream Queen: Women’s Roles in Horror." She received her MFA in fiction from the University of California, Riverside's low-residency program. Her perfect day consists of a cup of black tea and her cat, Flynn Kermit.
Connect: www.aesantana.com, Twitter and Instagram @foxflur
Managing Editor
Assistant Managing Editor & The Wave Editor
AM Larks (she/her) writes fiction, nonfiction, children's literature, and drama. Her writing has appeared in Scoundrel Time, Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies, Five on the Fifth, Charge Magazine, and the Zyzzyva and Ploughshares blogs. She has performed her stories at Lit Up at Town Hall Theatre in Lafayette, California. She is the current photo/visual arts editor at Kelp Journal, a multimedia literary revue, and the former fiction editor at Please See Me literary magazine as well as the former multimedia editor of The Coachella Review.
AM Larks earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, a Juris Doctorate, and most recently a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts from the University California Riverside Palm Desert's low residency program. She is a longtime patron of the arts and enjoys stories that capture the complexities of life on the page or screen.
Connect: www.amlarks.com, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
Chih Wang graduated from the University of California, Riverside in Palm Desert with a Masters Degree of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. She also holds a certificate in Copyediting from the University of California, San Diego Extension. She served as Fiction Editor and Copyeditor at The Coachella Review and currently copyedits for Kelp Journal. She runs her own freelance copyediting business, CYW Editing, specializing in fiction. A San Diego native, she spends her free time working on her novel, a contemporary fantasy, or hanging in the air, practicing aerial silks and hammock.
Copy Editor
Maria Duarte is a poet and writer who received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California, Riverside—Palm Desert. She has published poems in Verdad Magazine from Long Beach City College and in the anthology The Good Grief Journal: A Journey Toward Healing. She is currently the poetry editor for Kelp Journal.
Connect: @AngieDuarte
Poetry Editor
Cymelle Leah Edwards (she/her) is a Pushcart Prize nominee from Flagstaff, AZ. She is the author of Coordinates (forthcoming from Dancing Girl Press). Her work has been published in Elm Leaves Journal, Contra Viento, and Ghost City Review and has been honored with the Diana Gabaldon Creative Writing Award. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Northern Arizona University. Edwards also serves as a board member for the Northern Arizona Book Festival.
Non-Fiction Editor
Leanne Phillips (she/her) is an award-winning writer, a certified book coach, and an editor. She is Kelp Journal’s fiction editor. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts from the University of California at Riverside, Palm Desert. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Rumpus, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Kelp Journal, The Coachella Review, the New American Studies Journal, Persimmon Tree, and GXRL. Leanne is a lifelong Californian. She makes her home on the Central Coast where she spends her days reading, writing, and beachcombing.
Connect: leannephillips.com