(2025)

Prarthana Aggarwal (she/her) is a writer from various cities in India, including New Delhi where she was born and Pune where she grew up in two boarding schools. While a poet and English major at heart, she juggles a second major in Economics and a minor in Statistics at Kenyon College. She enjoys reading, playing various video and board games, music, the sea, coffee, the color green, and badminton. Her top influences include artists like Mitski and Clairo. In her writing, she plays around with the ideas of grief, love, consumption, god, and dogs.

(2025)

Blake Ciresa (she/her) is a writer from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania who specializes in creative nonfiction and playwriting. Her writing injects humor into her idiosyncratic childhood, paying particular attention to gender and family structures. She is a sophomore at Kenyon College, where she is pursuing double majors in English and Drama. In addition to her work with Sunset Press, Blake serves as the Literary Manager for Stagefemmes and works for Kenyon College’s Writing Center. Prior to her forthcoming chapbook, she has been published with Hika Magazine, Women’s Media Center, and spoke at the Women’s March in West Chester.

(2025)

Hayden Fletcher (he/him) is a senior English major from Newtown, CT. He likes good food, like food from Costco, and recently has started to write about his culinary exploits. He particularly enjoys Costco cheesecake, and snacks on pistachios from Costco. Most of his clothing, like all great things, is from Costco.

(2025)

Julia Kang-Rosenthal (she/her) is a writer from Brooklyn, New York. She is currently writing with Sunset Press. Julia feels connected to create-fiction writing and is working with Sunset Press to release work in the spring of 2025. Her writing includes abnormal, surreal, and bizarre elements while exploring human emotions and relationships. When not writing, you may find her exploring these elements through painting and drawing. Additionally, she adores reading literature of all genres and adding cinnamon to every meal. She is always thrilled to connect with people through shared creative passions.

Babyface (2024)

Nicole Wang is an Asian-American poet, storyteller, potter, and artist from Plainsboro, New Jersey. She is always looking for something new to read. She kidly asks for others to talk about books with her at all times.

The Bear in the Château (2024)

Dawsen Mercer is a student at Kenyon College studying Medieval History and English. This is her first publication other than a poem printed in an 826Michigan anthology of poems by middle schoolers; her poem was about her love of books and libraries. If you went looking for her, you could find her at home in Michigan with her mother, brother, and two bone-headed dogs, all of whom she loves very much. She enjoys long walks on the beach, piña coladas, getting caught in the rain, and tormenting herself over her writing.

Burner Boys (2024)

Will Madden is a poet from Norman, Oklahoma who studied creative writing at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute in 2021 and 2022, where he met a community of young Oklahoma poets who made him the writer he is today. He is studying English and Sociology at Kenyon College, where he won the Propper Prize for Poetry for his poem “i can’t sing” in 2023. At Kenyon, in addition to working with the Sunset Press, Will is a Curatorial Associate at The Gund. When he’s not writing, he enjoys reading sociological theory, linoleum block printing, playing music, and spending time with his younger brother. He adores his community of fellow Oklahoman poets and trans siblings.

Overgrowth (2023)

Phoebe Houser is a writer from Pennsylvania and currently studies English with an emphasis in Creative Writing, Women and Gender Studies, and Spanish. In the past, she’s been published in HIKA magazine and is currently involved in KWC-CWT at Kenyon College. Her writing, including the piece she’s writing for Sunset Press, explores how fear functions in relationships between women, specifically the pressure women feel from the ideals of femininity, through prose. When she’s not writing or studying, she bakes cookies and other treats.

Hooligan Shit (2023)

Aaliyah Daniels, former New York Poet Youth Laureate Ambassador and winner of the No Tokens Young Poets’ Prize, hails from the Bronx and studies English with a Creative Writing emphasis and Law & Society concentration here on campus. Her work, a collection of “poetry with a hefty spoon full of creative nonfiction,”  centers on black girlhood and its overlooked aspects of race politics, misogynoir, adultification, hypersexualization, and media influence. Though not all of Daniels’ art exists in the two-dimensional space: she’s also a celebrated dancer and choreographer with an eye for fashion. When she isn’t penning poetry or dabbling with new dances, Daniels can be found surrounded by friends or arranging a home-cooked meal. She’s been inspired by the likes of Ethridge Knight, Crystal Valentine, and Hanif Abdurraqib, and recommends Son of Achilles by Nabila Lovelace to anyone who’ll listen. Aside from Sunset Press, you can find her works in Columbia Journal, 92nd Street Y, Seventh Wave and more.

The Tomato Woman (2023)

Bea Bolongaita is a Filipina American poet from Dublin, OH. Her poetry appears in Whale Road Review, Agent Journal, PCC Inscape, Good River Review, and elsewhere. She has been recognized by the Ohio Poetry Association and the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. She is an editorial associate at The Kenyon Review. Bea studies political science and Chinese at Kenyon College.

In Your Car (2023)

Alexandra Aureden is a poet from Upstate New York. In her free time, she is busy crocheting, oversharing at dinner parties, and spending time with her roommate’s cat.

MEKHITZA (2022)

ilan magnani is a poet-in-progress based in Shawnee and Osage lands, or so-called Pittsburgh, PA. They are a sophomore at Kenyon and one of Sunset Press's writers for the 2021-22 publication cycle.

Cosmic Rice (2022)

Josie Girand is a writer and illustrator from New York. She is currently working on a comic book to be released this spring, and has served as an Art Editor in the past. She studies Studio Art and Philosophy, and likes dipping things in coffee.

SAINTLESS (2022)

Stephanie Chang (she/they) is a Chinese Canadian poet from Vancouver, British Columbia. Her work appears in The Adroit Journal, Kenyon Review, Frontier Poetry, wildness, Waxwing, Penn Review, and others. She is the winner of the 2021 Adroit Prize for Poetry. Currently, she majors in English (Creative Writing) and Art History at Kenyon College. Stephanie's second chapbook, SAINTLESS, is forthcoming from Sunset Press. When not writing, she enjoys listening to Mitski and napping.

LONE LILY (2021)

Tariq Thompson is a Black poet from Memphis, Tennessee. He attends Kenyon College, where he is both an Associate & Social Media Intern for The Kenyon Review. He also serves as the Social Media Editor for Shade Literary Arts. He is the recipient of the 2020 Adroit Prize for Poetry & the Academy of American Poets Prize from Kenyon College. Aside from poetry, his loves include Pokémon, Studio Ghibli, & The Last of Us franchise. His debut collection of poetry, LONE LILY, explores the meaning of community through Black history, and seeks to intertwine notions of past, present, and future.

Venous (2021)

Micah Kim is an author (Yippee!) from Vernon Hills, Illinois, and tried very hard to impress his elementary school teachers. Positive feedback turned him into the writer he is today. He mainly enjoys reading Warrior Cats, playing fighting games and making music. His horror short story collection, Venous, has now been published by Sunset Press, the hottest literary organization at Kenyon College. He also beat his older brother in a spelling bee when they were in middle school (the word was “narcolepsy”).

Gulfwater: some aftermaths (2021)

Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Liv Kane was first published by Young Pegasus Poetry and served as the inaugural Writer-in-Residence at the San Antonio Public Library. A current Kenyon Review Intern, she studies English, Film, and Environmental Studies at Kenyon College in the hopes of pursuing science writing post-grad. She received the New York Life Award for her work in 2019, and is the current Nonfiction Writer for Sunset Press. In her debut nonfiction collection, Gulfwater, she examines the natural worlds left behind after tragedy, giving faces to the aftermath of communal, familial, and individual disaster. In her free time, Liv pretends she’s near the ocean and reads parts of books. She looks forward to hugging people again.

A Shoebox of Sparrows (2019)

Jenny Tie is an essayist from Kunming, China. At Kenyon College, she is currently double-majoring in English and Art History. Her work as a Gund Gallery curatorial associate and a Kenyon Review associate keeps her always reading and learning about the best of contemporary art and writing. Jenny began writing her own work at Kenyon, encouraged by the literary community and creative opportunities. Her essays trace her relationship with her family, across borders and cultures, examining and often critiquing their shared history of separation and distance. She’s often found squatting on her chair with a mug of over-steeped tea and a book, her rice cooker chugging away at an implausible recipe behind her.

If Organic Deodorant Was Made for Dancing (2019)

Virginia Kane is a queer writer and educator from Alexandria, Virginia. In 2019, her debut poetry chapbook, If Organic Deodorant Was Made for Dancing, was selected as an inaugural release for Sunset Press, where she later served as Editor-in-Chief. At Kenyon, she studies English, Creative Writing, and Women’s and Gender Studies and reads for The Kenyon Review. Her work has appeared in them., The Susquehanna Review, Dust Poetry Magazine, and on the Ours Poetica web series.