Irena Praitis is currently an assistant professor of literature and creative writing at California State University, Fullerton. She earned PhD and MFA degrees from Arizona State University. She was recently awarded a Fulbright and will be teaching courses to students in Vilnius, Lithuania in the Spring of 2005. Her chapbook, Touch, was published this past spring and is available from Finishing Line Press. Her reviews, essays, and poems have appeared or are forthcoming in such publications as Slant; Cold Mountain Review; Cultura, Lenguaje y Representación; The Iconoclast; Mid-America Poetry Review; Connecticut River Review; and Rattle.
 

Aire Celeste Norell

Aire Celeste Norell, whose given name means "wind in the heavens," was
raised by creatively frustrated parents in a series of suburban towns
and urban neighborhoods on both coasts. She started writing poetry at
age twelve, when she was allowed--at the last minute--to work with the
local poet-in-the-school. To escape (and explain) the culture shock from
moving to Los Angeles halfway through high school, she studied sociology
at the University of California at Santa Cruz. The perpetual
girl-without-a-clique, she ran off to Oregon after graduation.
Nevertheless, Los Angeles welcomed her back with open arms in 1995 and
Aire has only cheated on Los Angeles once since then: living for a year
in Oakland in 2000. She currently tutors "low-income, at risk" L.A.
youth and has gotten many of them to read and write poems.

Aire Norell featured previously at the Ugly Mug as part of the Redondo
Poets exchange. She also participated in a group reading at Santa
Monica's Unurban Coffeeshop, celebrating the launch of
poeticdiversity.com. She performed at Worldfest 2003 as a featured poet
and MC. Her work has appeared in the on-line poetry magazines
"poeticdiversity" and "Blue House." She reads irregularly at the Redondo
Poets and the RAPP Saloon. Upcoming projects include organizing a poetry
festival for Worldfest 2005. A chapbook, "Heavenly Livestock & Other
Poems," will be available at the reading. Aire's poetry can be savored
24/7 at www.aireceleste.com.