Born in Sofia, Bulgaria Dena Popova graduated from Whitman College, Washington with a major in Film Studies and Politics. While at Whitman, Dena was part of the selection staff of Quarterlife and Blue Moon literary magazines. Following, she pursued an MSc in Political Science: Multiculturalism at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona and for the past 5 years Dena has been working in the field of social inclusion, migration, creative self-expression and public speaking.
Dena Popova is an alumna of the first edition of the Sozopol Fiction Seminars '08, organized by Elizabeth Kostova Foundation. Her texts have been published in several magazines. Dena won various national and international fiction and screenwriting contests: first place in the prose section in the National Literary Contest "Petya Dubarova" and the NisiMasa Screenwriting contest. Dena Popova has two published books with short stories: Girls from Good Families (2009) and The Old Days (2013).
Eireene Nealand's translations have appeared in Poetry International, Drunken Boat, Catamaran, Absent, and The St. Petersburg Review, among other places. Recently, she was a Fulbright Fellow in Sofia, Bulgaria, where she taught creative writing and worked with the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation. She now lives in Moss Beach, California, where she is continuing to translate Russian, French, and Bulgarian prose and poetry.
The artist, Fariel Shafee has degrees in science but enjoys writing and art. She has exhibited digital art and paintings internationally. Find more of her artwork at http://fshafee.wixsite.com/farielsart and http://fariels.tripod.com.