Issue 11 Runestone Editors

Halee Kirkwood

Faculty Editor

HALEE KIRKWOOD is a genre-fluid writer living in Minneapolis. They were an inaugural and returning Indigenous Nations Poets (IN-NA-PO) fellow, a Tin House Summer Workshop alum, a 2023-2025 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, and a 2022 Minnesota State Arts Board grant recipient. Kirkwood is the winner of the 2022 James Welch Poetry Prize, published with Poetry Northwest. Their poetry and prose can be found in Prairie Schooner, Poetry Magazine, Poem-A-Day, Ecotone, and others. They are a first generation direct descendant of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. Their debut poetry collection, To Think Of A Match, will be published in winter 2027 with Northwestern University Press.

Elizabeth Carls

Associate Editor

ELIZABETH CARLS (she/her) is an essayist and poet whose work has most recently appeared or is forthcoming in River Teeth, Great River Review, Under the Sun Literary Magazine, Water~Stone Review, St. Paul Almanac Anthology, and The Split Rock Review. She is the 2024 recipient of the Deborah Keenan Poetry Prize. In the editorial space, she serves as the assistant editor of creative nonfiction for Water~Stone Review, the associate editor of Runestone Review, and as a reader for CRAFT Literary. She reads and writes in St. Paul, MN.

Student Editors:

JAMAL AWIL

JAMAL AWIL is a literary enthusiast who loves reading literature without discrimination. He is now a member of the Runestone editorial committee on the upcoming issue and an undergraduate student at Hamline University. Passionate about words and their power, he runs a new literary journal, Polymath Review, from his basement.

ALEXANDER BAILEY

ALEXANDER BAILEY sits as an editor at Runestone, Hamline University’s premier literary journal. They enjoy writing fiction and examining systematic issues within the arts. They are currently pursuing degrees in theatre arts and English at Hamline University, and are slated to graduate in 2026.

SHANI CASPER

SHANI CASPER is double majoring in English and communication studies with a concentration in writing, editing and publishing with creative writing at Hamline University. She is always carrying a book and writing supplies with her to enjoy whenever she has the opportunity (makes waiting a lot easier). When she isn’t holed up reading or writing you can find her outside or crafting something with art supplies.

RAE CLARK

AVA FRENCH

AVA FRENCH is a junior pursuing a creative writing BFA at Hamline University, and mainly writes fiction. When she isn’t busy deleting and rewriting the same sentences over and over again in hopes that a miracle will happen, she enjoys aimless walks and sleeping in with her kitty cats.

ANNE FRYDENLUND

ANNE FRYDENLUND is a senior at Hamline University where she is majoring in creative writing. In her free time, she talks through movies as she critiques them, annoying everyone around her.

SHACHEYANNA JOHNSON

SHACHEYANNA JOHNSON is a reader who enjoys all things spooky and go bump in the night and likes things that make you leap and shriek in fright.

RAYMOND KALLEMEYEN

RAYMOND KALLEMEYEN is a creative writing student at Hamline University and the Chief of Design for Untold Magazine. They are passionate about illustration, houseplants, bartending, and fantasy worldbuilding. When they’re not writing, they’re probably thinking about writing, watching The Thing (1982), playing RPGS, or waiting for the newest Lego Botanical Collection set to come out.

BRIANNA LANGE

BRIANNA LANGE is a junior at Hamline University studying English and communications with a focus on writing, editing, and publishing. When she’s not stressing over her latest first draft, she’s obsessing over her bookshelf, reading romance novels, and avoiding awkward interactions with others–but hey, she’s working on it.

KORISSA LANGE

KORISSA LANGE is majoring in English and Communication Studies–with a concentration in writing, editing, and publishing–at Hamline University. When she’s not tackling perfectionism in her writing, she can be found bingeing anime, baking with mixed success, and reading fanfics of a TV show that shall not be named.

ELENA LASKOWSKI

ELENA LASKOWSKI is studying creative writing and English at Hamline University. She writes fiction and poetry and sometimes combines the two. Find her work in Hamline’s Fulcrum Journal and Untold Magazine, University of Minnesota’s The Tower (2023), and horror webzine Dark Recesses (2022). She enjoys biking, breakfast foods, and porch-sitting.

EMILY MILES

EMILY MILES (she/ her) is a senior at Hamline University studying English and communication studies with a concentration in professional communication and cultural rhetoric. Emily is a devoted cat mom to her kitty son Remy (yes, like the rat from Ratatouille). When she has a few spare moments from taking care of her son, Emily loves to read, write letters she will never send, and scream sings her favorite Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams songs in the car.

JAKE NICHOLSON

JAKE NICHOLSON is an amateur writer and history major attending Hamline University. He’s been telling stories since he could talk and reading stories since he could read.

DEREK RIVARD

DEREK RIVARD is a full-time student at Hamline University where he is studying to complete his creative writing degree. In his spare time, he can be found at your local gym snorting pre-workout and failing on his one-rep bench press but swears he’s “got it.”

BENJAMIN SCHMIDT

BENJAMIN SCHMIDT is an undergraduate student at Hamline University. He is currently pursuing a degree in creative writing and a minor in anthropology. Ben spends his time indulging in the

arts.