Textual Healing with Mallory Smart

Krystle Ratticus was born in Denver, Colorado, and raised on the rural border of Iowa and Missouri before running away to Chicago as a teenager. There, she found her voice in the raw pulse of local zine culture and DIY publishing. Her writing channels the dramatic undercurrents of the working class, shaped by years spent in kitchens, funeral parlors, and outsider circles. With a dark sense of humor and sharp eye for detail, Krystle...

Krystle Ratticus was born in Denver, Colorado, and raised on the rural border of Iowa and Missouri before running away to Chicago as a teenager. There, she found her voice in the raw pulse of local zine culture and DIY publishing. Her writing channels the dramatic undercurrents of the working class, shaped by years spent in kitchens, funeral parlors, and outsider circles. With a dark sense of humor and sharp eye for detail, Krystle...

Alex Moreno's work explores emotional processes through surrealism, visceral interiority, and synesthetic play. Sticky Time (Sunflower Station Press) is her debut poetry book. You can also find her writing in Spectra Poets, Lit Angels, and Dream Boy Book Club. She earned a BA from Bowdoin College, eats 1-2 apples a day, and really likes it. 

Website: alexalexherehere.com

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Alex Moreno's work explores emotional processes through surrealism, visceral interiority, and synesthetic play. Sticky Time (Sunflower Station Press) is her debut poetry book. You can also find her writing in Spectra Poets, Lit Angels, and Dream Boy Book Club. She earned a BA from Bowdoin College, eats 1-2 apples a day, and really likes it. 

Website: alexalexherehere.com

🎧 Like what you hear? Rate and review Textual Healing on  Sp...

Daniel W. Wright is a poet, editor, and fiction writer. Wright is the author of poetry chapbook Gods of a Former World (Crying Heart Press, 2025), the full-length poetry collection The Unheard Music (Kung Fu Treachery, 2025), and the novel Call Center (Back of the Class, 2024). He is also the author of four other full-length collections of poetry, five poetry chapbooks, a novella, a short story collection, and co-author of four poe...

Daniel W. Wright is a poet, editor, and fiction writer. Wright is the author of poetry chapbook Gods of a Former World (Crying Heart Press, 2025), the full-length poetry collection The Unheard Music (Kung Fu Treachery, 2025), and the novel Call Center (Back of the Class, 2024). He is also the author of four other full-length collections of poetry, five poetry chapbooks, a novella, a short story collection, and co-author of four poe...

Josh Dale is from Pennsylvania and recommends playing metal music to your cat. He’s the founder of Thirty West Publishing House, cohost of the Bring a Blanket reading series, and the author of The Light to Never Be Snuffed _and _Duality Lies Beneath. Drop a line at www.joshdale.co or on most social media @jdalewrites

🎧 Like what you hear? Rate and review Textual Healing on  Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It seriously helps us reach mo...

Josh Dale is from Pennsylvania and recommends playing metal music to your cat. He’s the founder of Thirty West Publishing House, cohost of the Bring a Blanket reading series, and the author of The Light to Never Be Snuffed _and _Duality Lies Beneath. Drop a line at www.joshdale.co or on most social media @jdalewrites

🎧 Like what you hear? Rate and review Textual Healing on  Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It seriously helps us reach mo...

Juliet Escoria is the author of You Are the Snake (Soft Skull, 2024), Witch Hunt & Black Cloud: New and Collected Works (CLASH Books, 2023), and Juliet the Maniac (Melville House, 2019). She is an Editor-in-Chief at Zona Motel, and lives in West Virginia.

(author photo taken by Saja Montague)

Mesha Maren is the author of the novels Sugar Run, Perpetual West, and Shae (May 2024, Algonquin Books). Her short stories and essays can...

Recorded live at Gallery Cabaret in Chicago during the 40th anniversary of Printer’s Row, this Maudlin House musical reading was chaos, community, and noise. Writers read their pieces with live backing from Movie Club, turning the night into something between a show and a gathering.

Playlist:

1. Snake Charmer / Ben Niespodziany
2. Reef / Westley Heine
3. Dusk / Michael J. Seidlinger
4. Kitefin / Caro Macon Fleisher
5. Underwater Highway / B...

Benjamin Niespodziany is a Chicago-based writer, editor, curator, and folklorist. The author of two books, his writing has appeared in HAD, Fence, Bennington Review, Wigleaf Top 50, X-R-A-Y, and elsewhere. Along with hosting the Neon Night Mic reading series, he recently launched Piżama Press. You can find more at neonpajamas.com.

https://asterismbooks.com/publisher/pizama-press https://www.neonpajamas.com/

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Benjamin Niespodziany is a Chicago-based writer, editor, curator, and folklorist. The author of two books, his writing has appeared in HAD, Fence, Bennington Review, Wigleaf Top 50, X-R-A-Y, and elsewhere. Along with hosting the Neon Night Mic reading series, he recently launched Piżama Press. You can find more at neonpajamas.com.

https://asterismbooks.com/publisher/pizama-press https://www.neonpajamas.com/

🎧 Like what you hear? R...

Josh Denslow is the author of the collectionNot Everyone Is Special (7.13 Books), the novel Super Normal (Stillhouse Press), and the collection Magic Can't Save Us (UNO Press). His most recent short stories have appeared in Electric Literature's The Commuter, The Rumpus, and Short Story, Long, among others. He is the Email Marketing Manager for Bookshop.org, and he has read and edited for SmokeLong Quarterly for over a decade. He c...

Josh Denslow is the author of the collectionNot Everyone Is Special (7.13 Books), the novel Super Normal (Stillhouse Press), and the collection Magic Can't Save Us (UNO Press). His most recent short stories have appeared in Electric Literature's The Commuter, The Rumpus, and Short Story, Long, among others. He is the Email Marketing Manager for Bookshop.org, and he has read and edited for SmokeLong Quarterly for over a decade. He c...

John Patrick Higgins is a writer, illustrator, and filmmaker.

His short fiction has appeared in The Black Dreams, The BHF Book of Horror Stories, Fears: An Anthology of Psychological Terror, and Weird Horror. He is working on a short story collection titled No Light in the Trees.

He is the author of Fine, a tragicomic novel published by Sagging Meniscus Press in November 2024, and Teeth: An Oral History, a memoir released in April ...

John Patrick Higgins is a writer, illustrator, and filmmaker.

His short fiction has appeared in The Black Dreams, The BHF Book of Horror Stories, Fears: An Anthology of Psychological Terror, and Weird Horror. He is working on a short story collection titled No Light in the Trees.

He is the author of Fine, a tragicomic novel published by Sagging Meniscus Press in November 2024, and Teeth: An Oral History, a memoir released in April ...

Kurt Baumeister’s writing has appeared in Salon, Guernica, Electric Literature, Rain Taxi, The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Nervous Breakdown, The Weeklings, and other outlets. An acquisitions editor with 7.13 Books, Baumeister holds an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College, and is a member of The National Book Critics Circle and The Authors Guild. Twilight of the Gods is his second novel.

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Kurt Baumeister’s writing has appeared in Salon, Guernica, Electric Literature, Rain Taxi, The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Nervous Breakdown, The Weeklings, and other outlets. An acquisitions editor with 7.13 Books, Baumeister holds an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College, and is a member of The National Book Critics Circle and The Authors Guild. Twilight of the Gods is his second novel.

🎧 Like what you...