get to know us

Editor-In-Chief / Co-Founder

Bailey Andrea

… is a writer (you’d sure hope), yet a slow reader. she’s pursuing a degree in english and comparative literature — who would’ve guessed? she is a self-proclaimed dinner table comedian and old soul, though very specific regarding just-how-old-we’re-talking. lover of pasta and hater of cynics, she is a huge fan of the semicolon and strong proponent of the oxford comma. though a ‘grammar cop’ since grammar school, she is willing to back down on proper capitalisation and indefinite articles; and believes the word ‘and’ should be allowed to start sentences... and above all, she is a romantic.

favourite books:

  • Just Kids by Patti Smith

  • Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux

  • Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

  • On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

  • By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart

favourite writers:

  • Oscar Wilde

  • Fyodor Dostoevsky

  • Marguerite Duras

  • Virginia Woolf

  • D.H. Lawrence

hot take: crack your books’ spines! annotate the hell out of them, too!

bookish pet peeve: when there’s more dialogue than prose / extremely long chapters.

english pet peeve: contrived tropes or character arcs.

poetry fancies: juxtaposition of extreme detail and simple clauses / the use of mundane sentences to describe deep feelings.

insta: bat_nyc

goodreads: Bailey Tolentino

Editor / Co-Founder

Ava Elise

…is a poet who is obsessed with poetry, like all poets should be. she’s pursuing a degree in English literature and wants you to ask her about Ernest Hemingway. She loves the color green, sad folk songs, french films, and wearing skirts over jeans (it works). The way to her heart is to talk about something you are passionate about; she’ll listen for hours. An overly sensitive soul, she cries at anything: movies, books, and, of course, poetry. the most important thing to know is that no one rocks short hair and bangs like she does.

favourite books:

  • For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

  • Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

  • The Lover by Marguerite Duras

  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

  • The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

favourite poets:

  • Etheridge Knight

  • Anne Sexton

  • Alice Notley

  • Bernadette Mayer

  • John Keats

  • Sylvia Plath

hot take: americans write the best novels

bookish pet peeve: when romance is the main plot, too many references to contemporary pop culture

english pet peeve: exams.

poetry fancies: short poems that pack a punch, internal rhymes, when the form contributes to the meaning

insta: gomez.ava

goodreads: Ava Elise