About Mission & Staff

Editor in Chief: Matthew Limpede

Matthew has attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and he graduated from UT Dallas. He currently lives in Dallas, Texas. He loves traveling and hates cold weather. His favorite authors are David Benioff, Aimee Bender, Amy Hempel, and of course, Raymond Carver. You can learn more about him and his passion for fiction at matthewlimpede.com. He has been the Editor since 2007.

Managing Editor: Kristin S. vanNamen, PhD

Kristin is a writer, scholar, and teacher from Austin, Texas. She enjoys fiction that contains flawed characters and strong aesthetic patterns. She began as a reader for Carve in 2007 and has been Managing Editor since 2011.

Copy Editor: Meghan Rennie

Meghan is a writer, designer, and student of many things. During the day, she designs online experiences and writes copy for Agency.com. A wife and mother, she is also a grad student in Creative Writing at the University of Texas at Dallas. She began as a reader for Carve in 2007 and has been Copy Editor since 2011.

Submissions Coordinator: Kristi DeFord

Kristi is a singer-musician mom and storyteller living in a dot-on-the-map town in Northeast Texas with her husband, three kids, four horses, eight chickens, three useless yapping puppies, and a ninja cat named Sophie. She’s currently in the advanced stages of early preparation to contemplate finishing her first piece of fiction. She has been a reader for Carve since 2011 and became Submissions Coordinator in July 2012.

Graphic Designer: Justin Burks

Justin is a graduate of the Art Institute of Dallas and is currently a Graphic Design Coordinator for Neiman Marcus. His favorite books are I Am Not Myself These Days, a memoir by Josh Kilmer-Purcell, and The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. He enjoys fiction that has a healthy mix of humor and depression.

Blogger: Rio Liang

Rio Liang received his MFA from Saint Mary’s College of California. He is a frequent contributor of literary, film, music, and video game reviews on the arts and culture blog Ruelle Electrique. He blogs at rioliang.wordpress.com. He contributes to Carve’s From the Editor blog, penning the bimonthly Story Spotlights among other posts.

Reader: Leah Pearl Saffian

Leah lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas where she inspires environmental stewardship within the schools of Washington and Madison counties. Leah enjoys stories that permeate the senses and blur the limits of perception. She has been a reader for Carve since 2007.

Reader: Desirée Ward

Desirée lives and writes in Austin, Texas. In her graduate studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, her areas of focus were Literature and Creative Writing. She’s working on a collection of short stories and a novel. She has been a reader for Carve since 2010.

Reader: Rita Juster

Rita received an MFA in Fiction from Queens University of Charlotte in January 2010. Her short stories have appeared in her friends’ mailboxes and can be found in desk drawers and file cabinets throughout her home in Dallas. She also has an MBA from the University of Dallas. She has been a reader for Carve since 2010.

Reader: Michele Burford

Michele lives, loves, works, and writes in Dallas, but not always in this order. She is currently working on a novel. She has been a reader for Carve since 2010.

Reader: Audra Croft

Audra is a life-long lit-lover and blossoming memoirist. She earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work and switched careers from Non-Profit grant writing to raising (or being raised by) her five children. She has been a reader for Carve since 2011.

Reader: Shaun Hamill

Shaun Hamill received a BA from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2008, and is currently at work on his first novel. He’s drawn to fiction with a strong, unique narrative voice, and stories that subvert or exceed reader expectations. His story “Unpracticed Altitudes” won 2nd place in the 2010 Raymond Carver Short Story Contest in Carve, and he became a reader in 2011.

Reader: Gillian King

Gillian King lives in DeKalb, Illinois, where barbed wire was invented. Her work has appeared in River Styx, The Pacific Northwest Inlander, and other publications. She has a BA in film production and an MFA in creative writing from Southern Illinois University. She enjoys quirky characters, magical realism, and coming-of-age stories. Her story “The Dead Kid” was published in Carve in Winter 2008 and is being adapted into a short film. She became a reader in 2011.

Reader: Cynthia Litz, MD

Cynthia Litz is a physician living in Dallas. Her short fiction has been published in Narrative and The Annals of Internal Medicine. She is drawn to stories in which there is no answer. She has been a reader for Carve since 2012.

Reader: Beatriz Terrazas

Beatriz is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist who has worked in North Texas for more years than she cares to count. Though she still occasionally writes and photographs for blogs, newspapers and magazines, and publishes a couple of personal narratives a year, she’s currently indulging her passion for fiction by writing a novel. She loves fiction that challenges her beliefs and stretches her imagination, and believes wholeheartedly in literature’s power to change hearts and lives. She has been a reader for Carve since 2012.

Reader: Mason Hickman

Mason earned his B.A. in German Studies at University of North Texas and his M.A. in German Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He’s a fan of dystopian themes and magical realism. He likes stories that challenge form, genre, and identity. He has been a reader for Carve since 2012.

Reader: Dana Gerard

Dana indulges in reading and cooking with her husband in Dallas, Texas. She earned a BA in English and French Literature from Tulane University and most recently became a chef. She loves stories that take her on a journey, real or imagined. Most days she is working on a collection of short stories infused with recipes or baking banana bread in the kitchen.

Founder: Dr. Melvin Sterne

Melvin Sterne founded Carve in 2000 with the aid of a grant from the Mary Gates Foundation. Though he is no longer involved with operations of the magazine, we wanted to include him as a tribute to his work as Editor from 2000-2006. He served as guest judge for the 10th annual Raymond Carver Short Story Contest in 2009. He is the author of Zara, a novel that tells the story of an Indian prostitute who enlists the help of a stranger to earn her freedom. Available for purchase on Amazon or your local bookstore.

Jr. Graphic Design Extern: Christina Trester

Christina Trester is a senior Magazine Design student at the University of Missouri. She will graduate in May and move back to Dallas. She has had a passion for literary work her whole life.

As our Jr. Graphic Designer, she’s going to help keep Carve looking pretty! She’ll be designing various graphics for promotions, including contests, and she’ll help us design new features for our Premium Edition.

Blogging/Social Media Extern: Jocelyn Sears

Jocelyn Sears is a northern California native currently residing in Charlottesville, Virginia. She is pursuing her MFA in poetry at the University of Virginia, where she teaches writing to undergraduates and edits Meridian.

As a Guest Blogger, she’ll become a regular fixture over the next few months right here on the blog, writing about literature, publishing, poetry, and more.

Marketing Manager Extern: Michael Smith

Michael is a true cosmopolite, having studied or worked in England, France, South Korea and China. These days he works in B2C & B2B sales in Hartford, CT. He holds a BA in psychology from the University of Connecticut and an MA in international business with a focus in marketing from Hult International Business School.

As Marketing Manager, he’ll be helping build Carve’s literary brand, with a focus on helping the magazine gain greater recognition and build stronger ties with our fans, followers, and Premium Edition subscribers.

Blogging/Social Media Extern: Ryan James

Ryan James is a recent graduate of Ohio University’s College of Arts and Sciences, where he studied English and literary history. His work has appeared in Sphere Magazine, the university’s undergraduate journal of fiction and poetry. Franz Kafka, Haruki Murakami, and James Salter are amongst his favorite authors. In his spare time, he plays guitar in a loud rock band, and enjoys walks with his Brittany Spaniel, Jack.

As a Guest Blogger, he’ll become a regular fixture over the next few months right here on the blog, writing about literature, publishing, poetry, and more.

Jr. Anthology Editor: Suzanne Barnecut

Suzanne is a freelance writer living in San Francisco with her husband and daughter. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from California College of the Arts and is at work on a collection of short stories and a novel.

As our Jr. Anthology Editor, Suzanne is working with us on our top-secret project to launch in 2014. Shhhh!

Education Programs Extern: T.M. De Vos

T.M. De Vos is the author of The Dimestore World, a poetry collection from Patasola Press, and co-editor-in-chief of Gloom Cupboard. She is the recipient of a Summer Literary Seminars fellowship for the 2012 session in Vilnius, Lithuania, and a Cullman Center fellowship at the New York Public Library and was a semifinalist for both the 2012 Sozopol Fiction Seminars and the Paumanok Poetry Award. She is huge in Transnistria.

As Education Programs Coordinator, T.M. will be instrumental in developing lesson plans for our Carve in the Classroom series and helping spread the word about the new program.