DANIEL NAAWENKANGUA ABUKURI

Daniel Naawenkangua Abukuri is a Ghanaian writer, poet, and researcher whose work explores themes of gender, identity, memory, and heritage. He was a finalist for the 2025 Adinkra Poetry Prize and has twice been shortlisted for the Goethe-Institut's Creative Writing Workshop. His writing has appeared in Lolwe, Kalahari Review, Eunoia Review, Brittle Paper, and elsewhere. Daniel studied Psychology at the University of Ghana, Legon. Instagram @niel.dna.



Our second winner, Maliyah Simone’s The Words We Don’t Say is more than a love story — it’s a raw portrait of intimacy, survival, and the unspoken weight two souls carry together. Through Zirah and Paris, she captures the fragile balance between tenderness and trauma, the way scars can become both a burden and a bond. Every detail, from the scent of cocoa butter to the quiet act of arranging flowers, builds a world where love doesn’t erase pain but dares to hold it gently. It’s haunting, it’s vulnerable, and it lingers long after the last line.

Truly a work of art. Breathtaking and vulnerable.


MALIYAH SIMONE

Maliyah Simone is a 28 year-old proud & queer writer originally from New Mexico, who now resides in New Jersey. She has been writing since she was 4 years old. Maliyah writes under the pen name of M.Sim and has been published in multiple publications including Sunday Mornings at the River 2025 Anthology. Though she primarily writes poetry she does dabble in flash fiction experimentation. Maliyah’s works aim to bring humanity into the complexity of emotion/experience & show that we can walk with each one, yet still come out whole in the end. If you would like to read more of her work feel free to follow her insta: @m.sim_poetry & Facebook: M. Sim Poetry.



Anna Zilbermints’ Repetition strikes like a warning bell, relentless in its urgency. By evoking the erasures of the past and holding them against the rising tides of the present, her poem refuses comfort and demands remembrance. Each refrain presses the weight of history closer, reminding us that silence is complicity, that forgetting is dangerous, and that the echoes we hear are not distant—they are happening now. Stark, powerful, and necessary, Repetition lingers in the bones long after the page is turned.

Marvelous.

ANNA ZILBERMINTS

Anna Zilbermints, a daughter of Jewish immigrants, is a graduate of the University of Iowa in English and psychology, a Russian minor, and a writing certificate. She is a poet of both the written and spoken word varieties. Find her trying to figure out Instagram: @ZMintyFresh.



Every anthology has its champions, but just beyond the spotlight stand voices that deserve equal celebration. Our runners-up brought works that stirred, unsettled, and illuminated—poems that dared to ask questions others might shy away from, and stories that carried sparks of truth in every line. These writers may not have claimed the highest place, but their words are unforgettable, their artistry undeniable. They remind us that brilliance comes in many shades, and that each voice adds its own colour to the spectrum of this collection. Claps for these torchbearers who dared to speak and put their words on the frontpage.

Cheers and kudos.



LAUREN BROWN – CELEBRATE OUR DIFFERENCES

Lauren Brown is a Senior English major with a concentration in secondary education at Stephen F. Austin State University. She writes in hopes of emphasizing and capitalizing off the awkward white noise that comes with growing up and creating/exercising boundaries. She is often told that she “has a way with words,” but argues that words have a way with her. Lauren believes that poetry is more than a hobby or an art; it is a way of appreciating and experiencing humanity. Lauren’s work has previously been published in the SFA literary journal, HUMID, #TeenWritersProject’s Quarterly Lit Zine Summer 2024 issue, and University of Texas’ literary journal Hothouse.


ALEX ANDY PHUONG – THE UNITY WITHIN COMMUNITY

Alex Andy Phuong earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from California State University—Los Angeles in 2015. He was a former Statement Magazine editor who currently writes about literature, film, and culture. He also earned an Associate of Arts in English from Pasadena City College in 2013, and tutored there. He has written hundreds of film reviews for MovieBoozer, and has contributed articles to Mindfray. His writing has appeared in The Bookends Review and The Society of Classical Poets. Emma Stone inspired Alex to submit writing actively to publications after hearing the Oscar-nominated song, “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from the “Best Picture” nominee La Land (2016). His poetry collection is An Altruistic (Cyberwit.net, 2020).

Currently residing in Alhambra, California, he now writes with the sincerest hope to inspire readers while fully supporting the ones who dare to pursue their dreams. The link to his blog is http://alexandyphuongengl492playlist.blogspot.com/



ALEXIS PETRI – WILD GINGER

Alexis Petri is a poet and educator based in Kansas City. She has been writing and publishing poetry for over 25 years and is committed to telling stories that live in the margins—quietly resilient, deeply rooted, and true.


GABRIELLA OLEY – HELD WITH PRIDE

My name is Gabriella Oley. I am a poet who often writes about the raw struggles of mental health and self-acceptance. I have previously been accepted into several poetry awards, such as the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.