About Us
Roanoke Review was co-founded in 1967 by Roanoke College student Edward A. Tedeschi and teacher Henry Taylor, who went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in poetry for The Flying Change in 1986. Poet James Boatwright and novelist George Garrett served as advisory editors, and the first issue included work by William Stafford, Lee Smith, Kelly Cherry, William Jay Smith, and Malcom Cowley, among others.
Tedeschi and Taylor were ultimately replaced by Robert Walter, who edited the journal for the next thirty years. The Review was taken over in 2001 by Paul Hanstedt, who served as editor for the next fifteen years with the occasional interim leadership of Melanie Almeder and Mary Crockett Hill, who took on the role of editor in 2016.
For over half a century, the Review has established itself as a home for new and established authors writing in both traditional and experimental forms.
2025-2026 STAFF
Editor
Laura Garrison gets lost easily. Fortunately, she enjoys unexpected adventures. She appreciates all forms and genres of literature but has a particular affection for speculative flash and haiku. You can also find her at Jersey Devil Press.
Co-Manager
Kate Straub is a senior majoring in English with a Publishing and Editing Concentration. She is deeply passionate about recycling, classic rock music, and (you guessed it) books. Catch her around campus and you'll probably see her taking a walk listening to music – or complaining that she never has time to read because of all the reading she's doing.
Co-Manager
Rina Rogers (She/Her) is a senior majoring in Creative Writing with a minor in Communications. When she is not performing on stage in the depths of Olin, you can find her editing for the Entertainment section of the Brackety-Ack or line dancing at Sidewinders in Roanoke. She plans to go onto graduate school for Strategic Communications and hopes to be part of the world of Marketing and Public Relations.
Book Reviewer
Cameron MacKenzie's work has appeared in Able Muse, The Rumpus, SubStance and The Michigan Quarterly Review, among other journals. His essays have been collected in The Waste Land at 90: A Retrospective and Edward P. Jones: New Essays. His novel The Beginning of His Excellent and Eventful Career is currently out with Madhat Press. He teaches English at Ferrum College.
READing staff
Ali Adams, Zachary Bayers, Emily Chapman, Sienna Grillo, Sloane Harrison, Ruben Krishna, Jillian Nickelson, Harper Norman, Vance Redd, Danni Sommerfield, and Kent Turner.
Sloane Harrison is a senior double-major in spanish and creative writing. When she’s not ping-ponging across the equator every year, she enjoys reading, drawing, and a good game of mancala. She can make some pretty decent brownies, cake, and tiramisu as long as she isn’t being supervised, as the recipe will go catastrophically wrong if she is watched. she strongly believes that to be cringe is to be free.
Vance Redd is a sophomore at roanoke college aiming for a history major and a creative writing minor alongside pursuing the last of the german concentration. he has developed a recent passion for the realm of linguistics and is free to talk about it anytime. Outside of consuming history, stories, poems, movies, music, and games, he also enjoys hiking, as seen in the photo.
Dannielle Sommerfield is a senior at Roanoke College majoring in history and creative writing with a minor in French. When she's not searching for dragons, you can find her reading, writing, drawing, playing video games, and goofing around with her friends. She plans on publishing fantasy stories for teens and adults to enjoy. Legends say you can summon her with the delicious dessert known as tiramisu.
Ali Adams is a sophomore at Roanoke college majoring in both creative writing and actuarial science. When she’s not working on homework or revising her latest story, you can find her reading, hanging out with her friends, or listening to music while going on a walk. she hopes to be a fantasy author in the future and has dozens of half-filled notebooks dedicated to each new idea.
Jillian Nickelson (She/Her) is a double major in Screen Studies and Creative Writing. She experiences the world through stories and creative pursuits. From the development of complex character personas to carefully designing their fashion and physical attributes to bring them to life, she builds entire fictional realms that are a playful mix of dystopian, apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, fantasy and science-fiction themes. Jillian draws inspiration from the landscapes of her travels to places such as Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Greece, England, Mexico, St. Lucia, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. Jillian adores amusement parks of all varieties, playing video games, collecting unique plushies and trinkets, making costumes for Cosplay and Renaissance Festivals, visiting vintage bookshops, immersing herself in Halloween and Christmas festivities, and especially connecting with fellow writing enthusiasts.
Kent Turner (he/him) is is a literary studies major pursuing graduate school to grow as an academic and as a writer. Hobbies beyond literature include: listening to records, armchair philosophizing, barbecuing, photographing, and embracing good ol’ tomfoolery.
Ruben Krishna is a sophomore at roanoke college double majoring in english and sports management. He loves geography, cars, literature, and sports, and is a part of Roanoke’s quiz bowl and mock trial teams. he plays club soccer and rugby and is a member of the kappa alpha order and alpha kappa chi fraternities. he loves to write and writes for roanoke college’s brackety-ack and more. in his free time, he likes to play competitive scrabble matches and learn languages at least when he has time!
The best place to find Sienna Grillo is nestled up with a good book, a cup of coffee, and her cat to keep her company. Going into her senior year at Roanoke, she is a Creative Writing major and a Minor in Environmental Studies. She enjoys going on walks, sitting outside, listening to music, and always learning new things.
Zachary Bayers is not only the editor-in-chief of the roanoke college school newspaper, but co-editor-in-chief of their literary art magazine as well! although commonly rotating through the realms of choir, theatre, and writing, he also loves to spoil his cat, go on fun foodie dates with his girlfriend, and plow through his increasingly growing library of Steam games.
Harper Norman is a sophomore at roanoke college double majoring in screen studies and creative writing, with a concentration in publishing & editing. she writes fiction and poetry, makes films and music, takes photographs, paints, and spends an unreasonable amount of time in used electronics shops. when she isn’t working on her next project, she can usually be found on the air at wrke, going on long walks at night, working on cars, feeding stray cats, or shopping for physical media. her favorite kind of tea is chamomile, and she believes bad lighting is usually better than good lighting.
Emily Chapman is a Sophomore at Roanoke College majoring in Creative Writing. When not nose-deep in a book she’s up late working on many of her drafts she hopes to finish and publish before she graduates college. She plans to go on to graduate school for English and hopes one day to be an author!
EDITOR (In Memorium) Mary Crockett Hill is the author of A Theory of Everything (selected by Naomi Shihab Nye for the Autumn House Prize) and If You Return Home with Food (winner of the Bluestem Poetry Award), and coauthor of the history of A Town by the Name of Salem. Her work has been featured on such sites as Poetry Daily and Best of the Net, and in such anthologies as American Poetry: The Next Generation. She is a multiple nominee for the Pushcart Prize and the Virginia Book of the Year. In her other life as a children's book writer, she is author of How She Died, How I Lived, from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, and coauthor of the young adult novel Dream Boy. She tweets nonsense @Marylovesbooks.
We miss her very dearly and send well wishes to her family.
