Contributors
Emma Corby
Emma attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks and graduated with her Master of Arts in English in 2023. She published her thesis, Slack in Education: A Voice Platform for Quiet Students, in May 2023. Emma lives in Eagle River, Alaska, working full-time in Marketing & Communications for Matanuska Telecom Association. She runs, fishes, skis, paints, reads, and spends time outside hiking with her partner, Ben, and their husky mix, Nali, in her spare time. Alaska quickly stole Emma’s heart and has been her home for almost four years!
Mike Degen
Mike Degen is pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing at UAF and hails from the East Coast. He loves well-plotted stories and is interested in film production.
Rachel Heimke
Rachel Heimke is a senior pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Fisheries and Marine Sciences. After graduation, she plans to attend grad school for Science Communication. Born and raised in Alaska, she loves the ocean and everything in it. When not doing homework or writing, she can be found curled up on the couch reading, snacking, and watching Parks and Recreation.
Dr. Kathy Kitts
Dr. Kathy Kitts is a retired planetary geologist who has served as a science team member on the NASA Discovery Mission Genesis among others. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at UAF. Born and raised in the desert Southwest, she moved to Fairbanks to see whether she can survive the other temperature extreme.
Nóra McIntyre
Nóra came to UAF to study fiction and ended up falling in love with many genres and forms. Anyone who has ever spoken to her for more than five minutes knows that she is obsessed with horror. When she is not watching horror movies or writing weird stuff, she can be found fencing, eating little treats, and roaming the woods.
Autumn McPherson
Autumn was a Digital Journalism Student at UAF who strove for sports photography. She came from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2023. She specialized in sports photography and portraits and enjoyed digital design and advertising. Autumn was a photographer for The Sun Star, and spends her free time on art and learning about classic cars, specifically, her 1969 Buick Skylark.
Manuel A. Melendez
Manny Melendez is a poet born and partially raised in Camagüey, Cuba, part of the Taíno peoples’ indigenous lands. He graduated from Otterbein University (née College) with a Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in poetry. He remains very proud of his bachelor’s thesis: the first completed screenplay adaptation of André Aciman’s Call Me by Your Name, and a one-act play titled A Light Rain. He is excited by this foray into journalism and dreams to one day live in a world where poetry and other forms of writing can take permanent physical shape in the world. In the meantime, he settled for a fresh issue of the newspaper without any grammatical errors.
Sarah Olson
Sarah earned her degree from UAF in aviation, art, and ceramics. Originally from Minnesota, she came to Fairbanks and quickly found a welcoming community. She is a passionate skier, writer, chainsaw expert, and life-long learner. She is currently exploring and working in Antarctica.
Zeke Shomler
Zeke Shomler was a graduate student in the combined MA/MFA English and Creative Writing program, focusing on poetry. He graduated from Portland State University with a BA in English and a BFA in Creative Writing in 2022. He lives with his spouse, Kieran, and their chihuahua, Oscar, and he used his time with The Sun Star to help strengthen the campus community!