Staff - Exposition Review

Masters of many genres, readers of many, many pages, the editors and readers at Exposition Review are all volunteers who dedicate their time, energy, and resources to bring this journal to life.

At the beginning of each reading period, new Editors-in-Chief and Section Editors are selected from our editorial board and associate editors to lend their voices and visions to the next issue.

Vol. XI Masthead

Editors-in-Chief:
Rebecca Luxton & Laura Rensing

Section Editors:
Fiction Editor: Dave Gregory
Associate Fiction Editor: Yuya Hattori
Flash Fiction Editor: Jessica June Rowe
Nonfiction Editor: Heather Vaughan
Poetry Editor: Kiana Shaley
Comics and Film Editor: Lauren Gorski
Stage & Screen Editor: Mellinda Hensley
Experimental Editor: Ramona Pilar
Visual Art Editor: Brianna J.L. Smyk
Editorial Board Advisor: CD Eskilson

Managing Editor:
Annlee Ellingson

Interns:
Luz Aguirre & Abigail Lanigan

Editors

Annlee Ellingson

Annlee Ellingson is editor, digital cities, for American City Business Journals and writes a column about films directed by women. She’s a mentor and managing editor for WriteGirl, as well as treasurer of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. She holds a Master of Professional Writing degree from the University of Southern California and a BA in film studies from the University of Minnesota. She tweets and instagrams about books, movies, hiking, food, travel, and nephews at @annleee.

CD Eskilson

CD Eskilson is a trans poet, editor, and translator living in Arkansas. Their work appears in The Offing, Pleiades, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and Ninth Letter, among others. They are a recipient of the C.D. Wright/Academy of American Poets Prize, as well as a Best of the Net, Best New Poets, and Pushcart Prize nominee. Their debut poetry collection, Scream / Queen, is forthcoming from Acre Books.

Lauren Gorski

Lauren Gorski is on the Editorial Board of Exposition Review, and has served as Stage & Screen Editor, Co-Editor-in-Chief, and Comics & Film Editor for the annual issue. She has a Master of Professional Writing from the University of Southern California, with emphasis in Stage & Screen. Her fiction and poetry have been featured in apt, Badlands, Jersey Devil Press, Underground Voices, and elsewhere. Her plays have been performed for The Hollywood Fringe Festival, PlayGround (including Best of Festival), PianoFight’s ShortLived series, NYC’s Spark, and more. She is a two-time playwright-in-residence with PlayGround, a writing incubator for new playwrights. She was also a finalist for Red Bull Theater’s 2023 Short Play Festival in New York City. Her full-length play The Bramford received a premiere presentation May–June 2023 in San Francisco, and was nominated for the Rella Lossy Award. Lauren serves on the National Board of Directors for Women and Youth Supporting Each Other (WYSE), a mentorship program that pairs college women with at-risk middle school girls.

Dave Gregory

Dave Gregory is a Canadian writer, a retired sailor, and an active gardener. His short fiction has been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize, longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, shortlisted for the Canadian Authors Association (Niagara) Short Story Contest, and won at the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival Read at the Fringe Literary Contest. He has been an Associate Editor at Exposition Review since 2018. In June of 2020, he judged the Flash 405 multi-genre literary competition. He’d love for you to watch this video of the piece he read at Eden Mills. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @CourtlandAvenue.

Mellinda Hensley

Mellinda Hensley is a screenwriter and director who has served as Exposition Review‘s co-Editor-in-Chief. She previously worked as a writer on CBS’ The Young and the Restless and still tells people at cocktail parties that she switched babies for a living. In 2020, she received a WGA Award, Emmy nomination, and several angry tweets for her work in daytime (follow along for yourself @MellindaK). In case of emergency, she can be used as a flotation device.

Rebecca Luxton

Rebecca Luxton is the co-Editor-in-Chief of Exposition Review. She sits on the Editorial Board and was Experimental Editor from 2020-2025. She worked on the Southern California Review while completing her Master of Professional Writing at the University of Southern California. Now she’s a marketing professional with a love for all things experimental. Favorite authors: a rotating cast that currently includes Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mary Gaitskill, Stephen King, and the late Joe Frank for his exceptional radio storytelling work. Follow her on Instagram at @what_even.jpg.

Ramona Pilar

Ramona Pilar is a story diviner from California. Her hobbies include hiking, trendspotting, (co/i)mpulsive deep-dives, and slow-roasted takes. She is the Experimental Editor at Exposition Review, an Editorial Board member, and a former Nonfiction Editor. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles, and is the lead singer & lyricist of The Raveens. Her favorite word is, “why?”

Laura Rensing

Laura Rensing is a writer and performer who occasionally has difficulty distinguishing fact from her pet fire-breathing dragon. She is Treasurer of Exposition Review and host of Expo’s podcast, Transposition. She is passionate about the value of the arts and works with independent artists to find sustainable ways of getting paid through 1099 Creative. In her free time, she performs around Los Angeles and competes (and occasionally wins) aerial competitions.

Jessica June Rowe

Jessica June Rowe is an author, playwright, editor, and perpetual daydreamer. She is on the Editorial Board of Exposition Review and has served as both Editor-in-Chief, Fiction Editor, and now Flash Fiction Editor! A Best of the Net nominee, her own fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Okay Donkey Magazine, Gigantic Sequins, Atlas and Alice, Pidgeonholes, and Timber Journal, among others, while her short plays have been featured on multiple stages in Los Angeles. One of her poems is stamped into a sidewalk in Valencia, California. She lives with her two Yorkies and also really loves chai lattes. Find her on X (formerly Twitter) at @willwrite4chai.

Kiana Shaley

Kiana Shaley is the author of Entrance, forthcoming with Futurepoem, and poems that have appeared in Fugue Journal, The Racket, and other publications. She teaches at California State University, Long Beach and at Santa Monica College, serves as the associate poetry editor for Exposition Review, and lives in Los Angeles.

Brianna J.L. Smyk

Brianna J.L. Smyk is Expo’s Visual Art Editor and Social Media Director, and an editorial board member. She was a founding co-Editor-in-Chief and has served as Comics and Experimental Narratives Editor. Brianna is an art and communication consultant who holds a Master of Professional Writing (MPW/MFA) degree from the University of Southern California and a Master of Arts in Art History from San Diego State University. Her short fiction has been published in The Human Touch Journal, Drunk Monkeys, The Same and FORTH.

Heather Vaughan

Heather Vaughan (she/her) is a writer and educator from Southern California whose work explores culture, gender, sex, and belonging. She is an alum of the Fulbright Program, the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop and the Juniper Institute. She lives in Oaxaca, Mexico.