ARI BERGER is the managing editor of Public, a journal that explores the intersection of cultural issues and contemporary art. She loves avocados, proofreading, her dog, and her new nephew (not in that particular order).

TAMARA FAITH BERGER is working on a new book.

MATTHEW BLACKETT will sing like a canary if you so much as think about pulling out his fingernails.

ALAINA BURRI-STONE is an experimental photographer living in rural Ontario. Her collected work and more information can be found online.

CAROLL likes computers and woods. She manages www.plasticmoon.org

K. CRAB is a Kingston, Ontario-born artist presently living in sunny Southern California. She creates a monthly postcard zine titled “Songs of the Lefties,� compiled from her non-dominant left-handed drawings and Polaroids of people in her community having a blast posing as leftie cartoons. www.SongsoftheLefties.com

While she still uses the black-and-white darkroom to make “photograms,� SIU LOONG LAW ENGLANDER has otherwise gone digital. She is currently bothering her mother to start compiling “Nefarious Doings in Revisionist Tourist Attractions,� a zine series of her hundreds of photos (and maybe a few of her mom’s) of her recent trip to Hong Kong.

MIKE FREEMAN writes fiction, poetry and screenplays. His first collection of poems, Cigarette Salad, will appear late in the summer of 2006. He currently lives in Toronto.

SHANNON GERARD draws and writes a comic book series called “Hung� and makes little books and multiples about loss and other melancholy things. An almost-completed Master of Arts degree will make Shannon thoroughly unemployable. She finds the exercise of defining herself in three sentences (or less) most irresistible and kind of sick.

JESSE HIRSH is a revolutionary, an entrepreneur, and a broadcaster, in addition to being the lovely Emily Pohl-Weary’s chauffeur.

CORINA HITCHCOCK lives near a really good ice cream place. She enjoys photography, cooking, the colour green, and shooting/editing weird videos at work. She watches reality TV and pours over celebrity gossip rags, despite the taunts of her peers.

HAROLD HOEFLE has published short fiction in journals and anthologies, most recently in The Windsor Review and Vehicule Press’ Lust for Life: Tales of Sex & Love. He has work forthcoming in Grain.

PAUL HONG’s non-fiction has been described as “mostly adequate� and “vague.� A book of fiction is forthcoming from Tightrope Books this spring.

PAUL HOSEK and his partner live in Kitchener, Ontario. They’re expecting their first child and can’t decide on a name if it’s a boy. Suggestions are welcome. Sometimes deer hang out in their backyard. He works as a physician in an I.C.U. and Emergency Department.

Instead of putting together the first issue of “Nefarious Doings in Revisionist Tourist Attractions,� VICTORIA LAW is creating an interactive zine project called “Tell Me the First Time You Came to ABC No Rio,� working on a book about women prisoners’ resistance and getting distracted by the zines that arrive in her P.O. Box.

MADELAINE LYONS does not eat babies. She does, however, craft, write, and occasionally play with fire. She promises not to burn down Kiss Machine if it can possibly be avoided.

CARIN MAKUZ writes in a medium-sized Ontario town. Her fiction and essays have appeared in various publications and been broadcast on CBC radio. She likes to paint in primary colours, and has recently mastered the hula hoop.

SALLY MCKAY’s bark is worse than her bite. More information at www.sallymckay.ca

JAMES PAPOUTSIS is a doctoral candidate in English at York University. He is co-creator of the comic-zine Everything’s Fine. His play “Ditching Mackenzie� premiered in Toronto this March. James is very excited to be included in Kiss Machine.

EMILY POHL-WEARY is acting very mysterious these days. She recently invested in a magnifying glass the size of her head and unearthed her Nancy Drew Sleuthing Guide.

KASHFIA RAHMAN is taking her first baby steps into life. When something significant has been accomplished by her, you will be the first to know.

SHAUN RANDOL’s most recent publication was a poem in the anthology A Surrender to the Moon (2005). He’s a hopeless romantic still trying to figure out what to do with his life. Currently, he splits his time between central Illinois and the lofty thoughts in his head.

ALAN REED is, at the moment, an M.A. student at Dartington College of Arts. His written work has appeared in Four Corners, Kiss Machine and Grimm Magazine, and his first book, For Love of the City, will be released in the fall of 2006 by Buschek Books. He was once described as being more clever than kind by someone he didn't think would say that.

LISA RUNDLE edits KM’s review section. A dream come true, she can now, with honesty, refer to herself as the kiss and tell editor.

JIM RUSHTON studies Chinese in Nanjing, China.

ABI SLONE is an editor and writer who will one day turn the world on with her smile. Until then she will avoid sugar and dairy, which make her cranky.

JORDAN SOMERS is Valentino the Robot, but he is not Richard Widmark, and for some reason that presents a problem. He will shortly be Ninjoetry, the suburban ninja poet tackling suburban ninja poetry.

STRO1 aka Greg Majster at the dawn of his creative career is a multifaceted artist. More of his work can be seen at www.stro1.com

MARIKO TAMAKI is a Toronto writer and performer, recently appearing as one half of The Blue Mo Group. Mariko’s fourth book, Skim, a graphic novel illustrated by her cousin Jillian Tamaki, will be released by Groundswell Books in the spring of 2008. Check out other news online.

RUTH TAYLOR recently returned to Canada after working for a decade as a journalist in Guatemala. She now lives in London, Ontario, with her partner and three kids, but sometimes she thinks part of her heart or brain refused to make the trip north.

JANET THORNING’s short stories have been published in a handful of literary magazines. She is currently working on her first novel.

TERI VLASSOPOULOS is officially working on her first book. She is also officially ready for the summer.

MYNA WALLIN is a poet, prose writer, small press publisher and radio host. She is co-publisher of Believe Your Own Press and hosts “In Other Words� on CKLN 88.1 FM interviewing authors from across Canada. Myna’s first collection of poetry, A Thousand Profane Pieces, is forthcoming from Tightrope Books in June, 2006.

ADRIENNE WEISS is a writer living in Parkdale. Her book, Awful Gestures, was published by Insomniac Press in 2001.

CAROL WHITTOME lives in Vancouver and dreams about building a home with a hidden bunker.

HEATHER WOOD is a freelance copywriter and creative prose writer. She lives in Toronto’s Annex area with her poet husband and semi-feral cats. Her stories have appeared in Moosecall #1 and Moosecall #2 and on-line at Artistryoflife.org and Litbits.ca.

CARLYN ZWARENSTEIN is a Toronto writer who spends a lot of time in Mexico City.

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