Editor-in-Chief, Publisher & Founder
Mandy Haynes
Mandy Haynes is a freelance writer for Amelia Islander Magazine, Amelia Weddings, author of two short story collections, Walking the Wrong Way Home, Sharp as a Serpent’s Tooth Eva and Other Stories, and a novella, Oliver. She is the editor of Encounters with Nature – a collaboration of Amelia Island Writers and Artists, The WELL READ’s Best of 2023 & 2024 anthologies, and also a co-editor of The Best of the Shortest: A Southern Writers Reading Reunion. Mandy is the creator, designer, content editor, and publisher of WELL READ Magazine.
Contributing Editors
Raymond L. Atkins – Off the Page
Raymond L. Atkins is a reputed and award-winning American writer, who is famous for writing Southern fiction, paranormal, mystery, and humor stories. He has penned several mind-blowing standalone novels, including Sorrow Wood, Sweetwater Blues, Front Porch Prophet, Camp Redemption, etc. Atkins lives and works in the mountains of Northwest Georgia.
Robert Gwaltney – Inside Voices
Robert Gwaltney, award winning author of southern fiction, is a graduate of Florida State University. He resides in Atlanta Georgia with his partner, where he is an active member of the Atlanta literary community. Robert’s work has appeared in such publications as The Signal Mountain Review and The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. His debut novel, The Cicada Tree, won the Somerset Award for literary fiction. In 2023, Gwaltney was named Georgia Author of the Year for first novel.
Ann Hite – Mountain Magic
In September of 2011 Simon & Schuster, published Ann Hite’s first novel, Ghost on Black Mountain. In 2012 this novel was shortlisted for the Townsend Prize, Georgia’s oldest literary award. In the same year, Ghost on Black Mountain won Hite Georgia Author of the Year. Haints On Black Mountain: A Haunted Short Story Collection was one of ten finalist for the Townsend Prize in December 2022. It has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and won Bronze in the Forward Indie 2023. She was raised by an Appalachian Granny Woman and steeped in mountain magic. Her passion for Appalachia and history heavily influences her writing.
Jeffrey Dale Lofton – Inside Voices
Jeffrey Dale Lofton hails from Warm Springs, Georgia. His years telling the stories of playwrights and scriptwriters as a stage and screen actor taught him the pull of a powerful story arc. Today, he is Senior Advisor at the Library of Congress, surrounded by books and people who love them. Red Clay Suzie is his debut novel, a fictionalized memoir written through his lens—gay and living with a disability—in a conservative family in the Deep South. It was longlisted for the 2023 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and awarded the Seven Hills Literary Prize for Fiction, among other distinctions.
Dawn Major, Contributing Editor for TRIPLIT with D Major
Dawn Major’s debut novel, The Bystanders, was named finalist for 2024 Georgia Author of the Year for Best First Novel. Major is an associate editor at Southern Literary Review and advocates for southern authors via her blog, Southernread. Her literary awards include the following: the Dr. Robert Driscoll Award, Reinhardt University’s Faculty Choice Award, and the James Dickey Review Literary Fellowship. Major is a member of the William Gay Archive and has edited and helped publish the works of the late author. She serves on the board for Broadleaf Writers Association and is also a member of M’ville, an Atlanta-based artist salon. Major lives in the Old Fourth Ward in Atlanta, GA and is working on her next novel, The Dandy Chronicles.
Claire Hamner Matturro – Claire Considers
Claire Hamner Matturro is a former attorney, former university writing instructor, avid reader, and the author of seven novels, including four published by HarperCollins. Her poetry appears in various journals including Slant and Lascaux Review. She is an associate editor of The Southern Literary Review and lives happily in Florida with her cross-eyed rescued black cat and her husband.
Annie Mondesir – Annie Asks
Annie Mondesir, best selling author of Annie’s Song: Dandelions, Dreams & Dogs, Book Reviewer, is also a contributor to In Flow Magazine, NZ and Founder of the Write Review, Teacher, Speaker, Writer, Author Consultant, Co-Administrator of the World of the Write Review Book Club, Blogger, and author online event planner.
Susan Beckham Zurenda – The Writer’s Eye
Susan Beckham Zurenda taught English for 33 years on the college level and at the high school level to AP students. She is author of the award-winning Southern literary novel, Bells for Eli, and the recipient of numerous awards for her short fiction, including the South Carolina Fiction Awards, twice. Her second novel, The Girl From the Red Rose Motel (Mercer University Press, September 2023), was the recipient of the 2024 Patricia Winn Award in Southern Fiction, Gold Medal winner in the 2024 IPPY Awards for Southeast Fiction, a 2024 Pushcart Prize nominee, a Shelf Unbound 2023 Notable 100 books, and a finalist in the American Book Fest Awards. Susan lives in Spartanburg, SC.