Vision Statement:
Open: Journal of Arts & Letters is a privately-owned publication that offers a range of contemporary aesthetic experiences made available through several media platforms.
Open: Journal of Arts & Letters has as its primary ambition to gather, publish, and popularize notable contemporary writing and other fine arts and to promote the work of its contributors to a varied and discerning audience in the English-speaking world and beyond.
Open: Journal of Arts & Letters offers its audience the opportunity to sample an array of artistic expressions presented by both emerging and established contemporary artists, writers, musicians, and videographers from around the world.
History:
Open: Journal of Arts & Letters was founded in 2017 in support of a personal aesthetic.
Publisher:
Open: Journal of Arts & Letters, LLC
Registered in Montana, USA.
Buttonhole Press is the imprint of O:JA&L.
Executive Editor:
Cutter Streeby earned a BA in English with Honors at University of California, Riverside, a Master of Arts in English Literature from Kings’ College, London, and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University of East Anglia, in Norwich, Norfolk, UK. He is an independent Social Media Marketing Specialist.
Executive Assistant:
B.J. Streeby, MA-Ed.S, is a retired National Board (NBPTS) certified teacher, among the first six so certified in the state of Montana. She received her BA in English from Hillsdale College and her MA-Ed. S in Reading Education from Michigan State University.
Associate Editor, Poetry & Prose:
Jeff Streeby, a Pushcart Prize nominee and a nominee for Sundress Press’ Best of the Net Anthology, earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry from New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire. He is a frequently published mainstream poet whose work has appeared in over 40 literary journals in the US, the UK, Ireland, and Asia, including Contemporary Haibun Online, Haibun Today, Naugatuck River Review, Rattle, and Whiskey Island. His haibun “El Paso: July” was selected by Robert Olen Butler for inclusion in The Best Small Fictions 2015 from Queen’s Ferry Press. He is a writing consultant for second-language academic writers working in English. He has over 30 years experience as a teacher of English language and literature at secondary and university levels.
Art Director:
TBA
Managing Editor:
Kalireyna Streeby is an active-duty Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy at NRS Poway and a Bachelor’s Degree candidate in Business Administration at Redlands University (San Diego campus).
Contributing Editor, Flash Fiction:
Pamelyn Casto, a Pushcart Prize nominee, has published feature-length articles on flash fiction in Writer’s Digest (and in their other publications), in Fiction Southeast, in Abstract Magazine, and in OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters. Her essay on flash fiction and myth appears in Rose Metal Press’s Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips From Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field and her 8,000-word essay on flash fiction is included in Books and Beyond: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of New American Reading (4 volumes). She also has a 5,000-word article on flash fiction as the lead article in the new book Critical Insights: Flash Fiction (2017).
Contributing Editor, Haibun, Zuihitsu, and related forms:
Christine Taylor resides in her hometown Plainfield, New Jersey, and serves as the English Department Chair at The Pingry School, an independent country day school. She identifies as multiracial and works in support of bringing underrepresented voices into the mainstream. Her work appears in notable haiku journals such as Modern Haiku and Presence and in literary journals such as Glass: A Journal of Poetry and The Paterson Literary Review.
Contributing Editor, Theater Arts:
Brad Crager earned his BA in Theater Arts from the University of California, San Diego through its highly regarded Performing Arts Program. As an undergraduate, he acted in a number of college plays and after completing his degree, he acted in a several local community productions. To explore dramatic techniques necessary for motion picture performance, he trained for film acting with the Cynthia Thornell Acting Workshop where he became a student of the Meisner Technique. Currently, he studies with the Will Warren Acting Company in classes that require improvisation, scene study and character development. His recent film credits include the series pilot Tell Me How Much I Love You, the movie Enemy Within, and more recently, the movie Trafficked.
Contributing Editor, Literary Tourism (Western Pacific):
Jim Weitz has lived in East and Southeast Asia for most of the previous 12 years. During that time he has worked as a technical academic editor and taught ESL at universities in China and Taiwan. His fiction has appeared in the journal Red Savina Review. He has an MA in Applied Linguistics with a focus on Narratology, and a J.D.
Contributing Editor, Literary Tourism (Southeast Asia):
Brandon Lowry is a former research scientist with a background in Molecular and Cellular Biology. Understanding he wasn’t living his ideal life, he left science to pursue a career in creative writing. He is a freelance science writer, travel writer and editor for The Places We Live. He also publishes creative work on Medium. While traveling the world, Dr. Lowry takes cues from the environment to inspire characters and locations for his first novel.
Contributing Editor, Experimental Discourse:
W.J.P. Newnham hitchhiked around Australia working as barman, bum and waiter, slaughter hand, deckhand and master, spending 25 years working in the Northern Prawn Fishery. He has travelled extensively in Southeast Asia, the Americas, and Japan and speaks marketplace Indonesian with some fluency. He is the winner of the 2016 The Lifted Brow’s Experimental Non-fiction Prize. His numerous short stories have been published in Nocturnal Submissions, Overland, The Lifted Brow, Meanjin, Westerly and Horror Sleaze Trash [to name but a few].
Contributing Editor, Interview Specialist:
Marchelle Bryant is a Detroit educator who has been teaching children for 20 years. Bryant holds a Bachelor's Degree in English and a Master's in Education with a Minor in Political Science awarded by Marygrove College. She is a member of Sigma Tu Delta,International English Honor Society. During the early years of her career, Marchelle Bryant became a social activist. She established a nonprofit organization called Living Empowered Inc.and a local television show called Empowered Living featured on WHPRTV33,com, 91 Comcast Cable to find solutions to problems in her community and to promote a positive image on its behalf.
Editorial Intern, Interviews:
Gabrielle Willis is from Battle Creek, Michigan. She holds a Bachelors of English with a minor in Communication/ Journalism from Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan. She is also working on her Masters in Creative Writing from Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Currently Gabrielle works as a Paraprofessional for a charter school. She is also writing for a High Soaring Millennials Magazine. In her spare time, Gabrielle volunteers for a faith-based sports program called New Level Sports.
Editorial Intern, Interviews:
Adekunle Adewunmi earned a Higher National Diploma (HND) with a concentration in Mass Communication from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) in Abeokuta, Nigeria. He's a blogger at Pulse NG, an award-winning youth-focused online media outlet. While at MAPOLY, he was the Sub Editor for MAPECHO (newspaper) and Omega Magazine, yearly publications of the school's Mass Communication Department. Immediately after his graduation, he began work as a correspondent with Church Times, a specialised newspaper company. During Adekunle's one year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme at Kogi State Broadcasting Corporation, he worked as a Corps On-Air Personality (OAP) while submitting his poems and articles to the State's newspaper for publication. He was recognized in 2018 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo as an Outstanding State Youth Ambassador for his efforts towards Curbing Youth Irregular Migration in Nigeria. Adekunle is also a poet. He has been published on Pulse NG, YNaija, The Novita, Akewiartshouse, and many other platforms.
Contributing Editor, Arts and Letters of Spain:
Jorge Sarabia Martinez is from Granada, Spain. Martinez, a translator, tour host, teacher, actor, playwright, and on-air radio personality, speaks four languages.
Contributing Editor, Prose Discourse/Long Fiction Specialist:
Joe Russo has been published in Metaphor Magazine, Nowhere Journal, Event Horizon, Typehouse Magazine, Door is A Jar Magazine, Spillwords, Degenerate Literature and Centum Press’s anthology ONE HUNDRED VOICES. When he isn’t writing he is the Social Media Manager for Event Horizon Press.
Contributing Performance Artist, Oral Interpretations:
Nishi Munshi has been an actor, singer, musician and choreographer/dancer in the entertainment industry for fifteen years. Her acting credits include working with NBC, CBS, USA Network, FOX, Warner Bros., Lifetime and other networks on shows such as “Jane the Virgin,” “The Originals,” “Bones,” “Pretty Little Liars,” “Switched at Birth,” “Days of Our Lives,” and many more. Being a skilled Classical (Kathak, Bharatnatiyam) and Bollywood dancer, she has choreographed for and danced with prominent artists Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber, Jason Derulo and with Michael Jackson’s Cirque ONE show. She is an advocate for human rights and has served as a board member for Valley Family Center (victims of domestic violence) volunteered many hours of her time at the Braille Institute and as a tutor and mentor for at-risk youth in Los Angeles. Her Webisodes, Youtube videos, a book of poetry and the novel that she is currently working on are aimed to raise funds for the people of Puerto Rico, human rights activism and for educating our at-risk youth both in America and abroad.
Consulting Editor, Arts and Letters of Greece:
Eftychia Panayiotou, poet/poetry translator.
Web Designer:
TBA
Promotions Management:
The Grayling Agency
Open: Journal of Arts & Letters is a privately-owned publication that offers a range of contemporary aesthetic experiences made available through several media platforms.
Open: Journal of Arts & Letters has as its primary ambition to gather, publish, and popularize notable contemporary writing and other fine arts and to promote the work of its contributors to a varied and discerning audience in the English-speaking world and beyond.
Open: Journal of Arts & Letters offers its audience the opportunity to sample an array of artistic expressions presented by both emerging and established contemporary artists, writers, musicians, and videographers from around the world.
History:
Open: Journal of Arts & Letters was founded in 2017 in support of a personal aesthetic.
Publisher:
Open: Journal of Arts & Letters, LLC
Registered in Montana, USA.
Buttonhole Press is the imprint of O:JA&L.
Executive Editor:
Cutter Streeby earned a BA in English with Honors at University of California, Riverside, a Master of Arts in English Literature from Kings’ College, London, and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University of East Anglia, in Norwich, Norfolk, UK. He is an independent Social Media Marketing Specialist.
Executive Assistant:
B.J. Streeby, MA-Ed.S, is a retired National Board (NBPTS) certified teacher, among the first six so certified in the state of Montana. She received her BA in English from Hillsdale College and her MA-Ed. S in Reading Education from Michigan State University.
Associate Editor, Poetry & Prose:
Jeff Streeby, a Pushcart Prize nominee and a nominee for Sundress Press’ Best of the Net Anthology, earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry from New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire. He is a frequently published mainstream poet whose work has appeared in over 40 literary journals in the US, the UK, Ireland, and Asia, including Contemporary Haibun Online, Haibun Today, Naugatuck River Review, Rattle, and Whiskey Island. His haibun “El Paso: July” was selected by Robert Olen Butler for inclusion in The Best Small Fictions 2015 from Queen’s Ferry Press. He is a writing consultant for second-language academic writers working in English. He has over 30 years experience as a teacher of English language and literature at secondary and university levels.
Art Director:
TBA
Managing Editor:
Kalireyna Streeby is an active-duty Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy at NRS Poway and a Bachelor’s Degree candidate in Business Administration at Redlands University (San Diego campus).
Contributing Editor, Flash Fiction:
Pamelyn Casto, a Pushcart Prize nominee, has published feature-length articles on flash fiction in Writer’s Digest (and in their other publications), in Fiction Southeast, in Abstract Magazine, and in OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters. Her essay on flash fiction and myth appears in Rose Metal Press’s Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips From Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field and her 8,000-word essay on flash fiction is included in Books and Beyond: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of New American Reading (4 volumes). She also has a 5,000-word article on flash fiction as the lead article in the new book Critical Insights: Flash Fiction (2017).
Contributing Editor, Haibun, Zuihitsu, and related forms:
Christine Taylor resides in her hometown Plainfield, New Jersey, and serves as the English Department Chair at The Pingry School, an independent country day school. She identifies as multiracial and works in support of bringing underrepresented voices into the mainstream. Her work appears in notable haiku journals such as Modern Haiku and Presence and in literary journals such as Glass: A Journal of Poetry and The Paterson Literary Review.
Contributing Editor, Theater Arts:
Brad Crager earned his BA in Theater Arts from the University of California, San Diego through its highly regarded Performing Arts Program. As an undergraduate, he acted in a number of college plays and after completing his degree, he acted in a several local community productions. To explore dramatic techniques necessary for motion picture performance, he trained for film acting with the Cynthia Thornell Acting Workshop where he became a student of the Meisner Technique. Currently, he studies with the Will Warren Acting Company in classes that require improvisation, scene study and character development. His recent film credits include the series pilot Tell Me How Much I Love You, the movie Enemy Within, and more recently, the movie Trafficked.
Contributing Editor, Literary Tourism (Western Pacific):
Jim Weitz has lived in East and Southeast Asia for most of the previous 12 years. During that time he has worked as a technical academic editor and taught ESL at universities in China and Taiwan. His fiction has appeared in the journal Red Savina Review. He has an MA in Applied Linguistics with a focus on Narratology, and a J.D.
Contributing Editor, Literary Tourism (Southeast Asia):
Brandon Lowry is a former research scientist with a background in Molecular and Cellular Biology. Understanding he wasn’t living his ideal life, he left science to pursue a career in creative writing. He is a freelance science writer, travel writer and editor for The Places We Live. He also publishes creative work on Medium. While traveling the world, Dr. Lowry takes cues from the environment to inspire characters and locations for his first novel.
Contributing Editor, Experimental Discourse:
W.J.P. Newnham hitchhiked around Australia working as barman, bum and waiter, slaughter hand, deckhand and master, spending 25 years working in the Northern Prawn Fishery. He has travelled extensively in Southeast Asia, the Americas, and Japan and speaks marketplace Indonesian with some fluency. He is the winner of the 2016 The Lifted Brow’s Experimental Non-fiction Prize. His numerous short stories have been published in Nocturnal Submissions, Overland, The Lifted Brow, Meanjin, Westerly and Horror Sleaze Trash [to name but a few].
Contributing Editor, Interview Specialist:
Marchelle Bryant is a Detroit educator who has been teaching children for 20 years. Bryant holds a Bachelor's Degree in English and a Master's in Education with a Minor in Political Science awarded by Marygrove College. She is a member of Sigma Tu Delta,International English Honor Society. During the early years of her career, Marchelle Bryant became a social activist. She established a nonprofit organization called Living Empowered Inc.and a local television show called Empowered Living featured on WHPRTV33,com, 91 Comcast Cable to find solutions to problems in her community and to promote a positive image on its behalf.
Editorial Intern, Interviews:
Gabrielle Willis is from Battle Creek, Michigan. She holds a Bachelors of English with a minor in Communication/ Journalism from Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan. She is also working on her Masters in Creative Writing from Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Currently Gabrielle works as a Paraprofessional for a charter school. She is also writing for a High Soaring Millennials Magazine. In her spare time, Gabrielle volunteers for a faith-based sports program called New Level Sports.
Editorial Intern, Interviews:
Adekunle Adewunmi earned a Higher National Diploma (HND) with a concentration in Mass Communication from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) in Abeokuta, Nigeria. He's a blogger at Pulse NG, an award-winning youth-focused online media outlet. While at MAPOLY, he was the Sub Editor for MAPECHO (newspaper) and Omega Magazine, yearly publications of the school's Mass Communication Department. Immediately after his graduation, he began work as a correspondent with Church Times, a specialised newspaper company. During Adekunle's one year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme at Kogi State Broadcasting Corporation, he worked as a Corps On-Air Personality (OAP) while submitting his poems and articles to the State's newspaper for publication. He was recognized in 2018 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo as an Outstanding State Youth Ambassador for his efforts towards Curbing Youth Irregular Migration in Nigeria. Adekunle is also a poet. He has been published on Pulse NG, YNaija, The Novita, Akewiartshouse, and many other platforms.
Contributing Editor, Arts and Letters of Spain:
Jorge Sarabia Martinez is from Granada, Spain. Martinez, a translator, tour host, teacher, actor, playwright, and on-air radio personality, speaks four languages.
Contributing Editor, Prose Discourse/Long Fiction Specialist:
Joe Russo has been published in Metaphor Magazine, Nowhere Journal, Event Horizon, Typehouse Magazine, Door is A Jar Magazine, Spillwords, Degenerate Literature and Centum Press’s anthology ONE HUNDRED VOICES. When he isn’t writing he is the Social Media Manager for Event Horizon Press.
Contributing Performance Artist, Oral Interpretations:
Nishi Munshi has been an actor, singer, musician and choreographer/dancer in the entertainment industry for fifteen years. Her acting credits include working with NBC, CBS, USA Network, FOX, Warner Bros., Lifetime and other networks on shows such as “Jane the Virgin,” “The Originals,” “Bones,” “Pretty Little Liars,” “Switched at Birth,” “Days of Our Lives,” and many more. Being a skilled Classical (Kathak, Bharatnatiyam) and Bollywood dancer, she has choreographed for and danced with prominent artists Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber, Jason Derulo and with Michael Jackson’s Cirque ONE show. She is an advocate for human rights and has served as a board member for Valley Family Center (victims of domestic violence) volunteered many hours of her time at the Braille Institute and as a tutor and mentor for at-risk youth in Los Angeles. Her Webisodes, Youtube videos, a book of poetry and the novel that she is currently working on are aimed to raise funds for the people of Puerto Rico, human rights activism and for educating our at-risk youth both in America and abroad.
Consulting Editor, Arts and Letters of Greece:
Eftychia Panayiotou, poet/poetry translator.
Web Designer:
TBA
Promotions Management:
The Grayling Agency
