Gary Geddes

Gary Geddes has been called Canada’s best political poet. His most recent books are <i>Swimming Ginger</i>, poems set in twelfth-century China, and the nonfiction book <i>Drink the Bitter Root: A search for Justice and Healing in Africa</i>. He lives on Thetis Island, British Columbia.

Donna Johnson

Donna M. Johnson escaped the holy-roller life at the age of seventeen and has spent her time since outrunning the apocalypse. “So far, so good,” she says. She is the author of <i>Holy Ghost Girl</i>, an award-winning memoir acclaimed by The New York Times, O Magazine, and The New York Review of Books. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, the poet and author Kirk Wilson.

Leanora McClellan

Introduced to Buddhism as a student at the University of Vermont, Leanora McLellan has noted a shift in her interest, from the purely academic to the deeply personal. She was especially pleased to complete her first silent meditation retreat in 2012. More recently, Buddhism’s influence has found its way into the creative nonfiction writing McLellan has undertaken as a master of fine arts student at Emerson College. She works in Boston as a writer and yoga teacher.

Margaret Roach

Margaret Roach is the author of The Backyard Parables, as well as And I Shall Have Some Peace There.

Elizabeth Guia

Elizabeth Guia is currently working on <i>Unveilings</i>, a memoir that describes a life-transforming spiritual life experience and the internal journey that it set off. This story is part of that recount. She lives in Miami.

Red Pine

Red Pine

Bill Porter assumes the pen name Red Pine for his translation work. He was born in Los Angeles in 1943, grew up in the Idaho Panhandle, served a tour of duty in the US Army, graduated from the University of California with a degree in anthropology, and attended graduate school at Columbia University before dropping out to move to a Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including two NEA translation fellowships, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a PEN Translation Prize, and the inaugural Asian Literature Award of the American Literary Translators Association. More recently, Porter received the 2018 Thornton Wilder Prize for Translation bestowed by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Sara Eckel

Sara Eckel is the author of <i>It's Not You: 27 (Wrong) Reasons You're Single</i> (Perigee, 2014). She lives in Ulster County, New York.

Friederike Boissevain

Friederike Boissevain, MD, works in medical oncology, hematology, and palliative care. A leader of the Wind and Wolken sangha in Germany, she translates the writings of Dogen and Ryokan into German.

Bonnie Ryan-Fisher

Bonnie Ryan-Fisher practices in the Theravada tradition, supported by an affiliation with Light of the Dhamma in Edmonton, Alberta, and the guidance of Ajahn Sona, abbot of Birken Forest Monastery in British Columbia.

photo of megumi yoshida

Megumi Yoshida

Megumi Yoshida is the art director of <em>Lion's Roar</em> magazine.

Alex Tzelnic

Alex Tzelnic studied Philosophy, Religion, and Asian Studies at Skidmore College. With that degree, he says, he "of course" became an Athletics Director at a small Montessori school in Cambridge, MA. In his free time he sits, reads, writes and watches sports.

Jessica Fayerman

Jessica Fayerman is a lawyer and a mom who is relatively new to Soto Zen practice. She practices with a great group in Chicago and recently spent a week as a guest student at the San Francisco Zen Center. With her crazy schedule, she credits her fledgling Zen practice and study with helping her achieve a grounded sense of well-being.

Justin Luu

Justin Luu is a consultant in the IT industry with a background in software engineering and business. He has also helped serve the Buddhist community in various ways including being one of the founding members of the Mitra Youth Buddhist Network and co-convenor of the 2007 Mitra Buddhist Conference. He also gives talks and conducts workshops as part of the Dhamma sharing group at the Buddhist Library. In his own practice, Justin attends retreats abroad and locally. He's from Sydney, and currently lives in Kenya.

Samantha Updegrave

Samantha Updegrave is a single mama extraordinaire living in Seattle, Washington with her three-year-old son Oscar. She holds a Certificate in Creative Non-Fiction Writing from the University of Washington, and works as a land use consultant and freelance writer. Read more at her <a href="https://bysamanthaclaire.wordpress.com/">blog</a>.

Marcus Seiryu Wilkinson

Marcus Seiryu Wilkinson is a horticulturist, certified permaculture designer and gardening educator who lives and works in Oberlin, OH, where he is converting his one-acre yard into a micro-farm. He teaches in Lorain County Community College’s Sustainable Agriculture Program and is a Visiting Instructor in Oberlin College’s Environmental Studies Program. He has been a sangha member of the Village Zendo in New York City since 1999. Read more at his <a href="http://earthstorehouse.blogspot.ca/">blog</a>.