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2020 Applications Accepted July 1st - July 31st.
If you are interested in sharing your work at JaxbyJax, please submit an application here!
The application process for JaxbyJax 2020 opens July 1, 2020.
Please visit again soon!
Information about the 2020 JaxbyJax festival will be added to the site throughout the summer and fall.
What is JaxbyJax?
Parking
Parking is available in the Duval Street garage at 33 West Duval Street (corner of Duval and Main). The library will validate parking at the checkout desk. There is also ample on-street parking, which is free downtown on the weekends.
JTA Skyway
The JTA Skyway will operate from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
2019 Women Writing for a Change
Pick up your copy of the Rise & Shine! anthology featuring WWFAC authors and enjoy an interactive writing experience.
2019 Student Showcase
2019's JaxbyJax Student Showcase will feature the work of talented Jacksonville students from DA, UNF, and FSCJ. Creative Writing Teacher Tiffany Melanson and Adjunct Professor Darlyn Finch Kuhn are working with the selected students to provide an outstanding experience.
2019 Venues
Jacksonville Public Library (Downtown)
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)
2019 Writers
Check out the Writer Photo Gallery on this page, or for an alphabetical list,
Meet the 2019 writers below.
(Click on photo to see writer's name and bio.)
 Brad KuhnBrad Kuhn wasn’t born in Jacksonville, but he has taken to it like a spoonbill to mud bugs. Here, he realized his life-long dream of living on the water. He is a founding director of the Jack Kerouac House Project, and has received the Thomas Burnett Swann/Gwendolyn Brooks Prize for Poetry, the Green Eyeshade for Investigative Reporting, a Royal Palm Literary Award from the FL Writers Association, and awards for excellence from the Florida Magazine Association. |  Thony AiuppyThony Aiuppy is a visual artist and writer. Creative writing informs his narrative paintings, portraits, and sculptures. His art has been exhibited at Yellow House, Andalusia Farm: Home of Flannery O’Connor, and the Edgar Allan Poe Museum, among others. He teaches art at the University of North Florida. |
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 Molly Gabriel AngneyMolly Gabriel Angney is a writer and poet transplanted from Cleveland, Ohio. She received a BA in Creative Writing from Baldwin-Wallace College. Her work has been published in S.P. Quill and The Mill Literary Journal and received the Robert Fox Award for Young Writers. She recently participated in a fiction workshop with Bridge Eight Literary Magazine. She currently serves as English Department Chair and Teacher at Frank H. Peterson Academies. She lives in Jacksonville with her husband and son. |  Atkinson_BenBen Atkinson’s first collection, Spider Lightning (Hidden Owl), will be released at JaxByJax this year. His poems have appeared in Cadence, Chelonian Conservation and Biology, Facets, FM Quarterly, and Stockpot. Ben has read for the JaxByJax Literary Arts Festival, Sing Out Loud Festival, and the Southeastern Sister Cities Reading Tour. |
 Ma BonesMa Bones is a local Jacksonville educator and writer. Along with Nick Dunkenstein, she is the founder of “DeadSteins” a group which offers free workshops and programming to the writing community at large. DeadSteins' first illustrated poetry book will be released in time for Jax by Jax. |  Tricia BookerTricia Booker is an award-winning journalist who has written for Folio Weekly, Southern Living, Notre Dame Magazine, and other publications around the country. She currently teaches journalism at the University of North Florida and writes a popular blog about topics ranging from politics and literature to adoption and manners. Her first book is a memoir about how Tricia and her husband adopted and are raising three children. |
 Iman ByfieldIman Byfield is a poet, fiction writer, editor, and artist whose work has appeared in The Literateur, epigraph magazine Tidal Basin Review, and the Garland Court Review. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Chicago State University and is a Callaloo Writing Workshop fellow, a Luminarts fellow, and is on the board of the Conjure Women Collective. Iman has lived in Jax for five years and is an adjunct English professor and communications director for a local nonprofit. |  Howard DensonHoward Denson, a 50-year resident of Jacksonville, quit being a “flunky journalist” for The Pensacola News Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and The Birmingham News because he wanted to write stuff that might be read a year or decades later. He spent 38.5 years as a humanities-English instructor for FSCJ. An indie author of about 15 books, he has written novels, humor, political commentary in The Wild-Eyed Moderate series. He and his spouse, Michele Boyette, have 11 four-legged children. |
 Wanda DuncanWanda Suttle Duncan is a seventh-generation Floridian, descended from swamp dwellers and dragon slayers. Born in Green Cove Springs, she spent most of her adult life in North Carolina, earning a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies degree at Wake Forest University, focusing on Southern literature and creative non-fiction. She has written freelance for 20 years, and was the 2018 Library Partners Press David Coates Non-Fiction Award Winner. Cracker Gothic: A Florida Woman’s Memoir is her first book. |  Thomas FerrielloTom Ferriello graduated from the University of North Florida in December of 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in creative writing. His poetry and fiction can be found in The Talon Review and Bending Genres. He reads, writes, and attempts to play the piano so people will think he is cultured. It’s yet to work. Check out Alive Poets Society, the lit loving podcast he co-hosts with two much smarter and funnier people. |
 Keri FosterKeri Foster is a poet and host of spoken word and open mic events in Jacksonville since 2013 at venues like Bab's Lab, CoRK, Yellow House, Coniferous Cafe, and currently Silver Cow. Keri's first poetry chapbook Mind The Path was released through Happy Tapir Press in 2018 and can be found in Quimby's Bookstore in Chicago and New York City. |  Sohrab Homi FracisSohrab Homi Fracis's novel Go Home was shortlisted for the 2018 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, and brought him the SALA (South Asian Literary Association) Distinguished Achievement Award. He was the first Asian American to win the Iowa Short Fiction Award, for Ticket to Minto: Stories of India and America. He was an Artist in Residence at Yaddo and Visiting Writer in Residence at Augsburg College. |
 Chris GabbardChris Gabbard teaches courses in British Enlightenment literature, Disability Studies in the Humanities, and creative nonfiction at the University of North Florida. Beacon Press published his book A Life Beyond Reason: A Father’s Memoir in spring of 2019, and Bloomsbury will release his co-edited volume, A Cultural History of Disability in the Long Eighteenth Century in December. He moved to Jacksonville in 2001. From 1983 to 1989, he was the chief editor of The Short Story Review. |  Tim GilmoreTim Gilmore is the author of 19 books, including Channeling Anna Fletcher and Repossessions: Mass Shooting in Baymeadows. Director Emeritus of JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival and creator of jaxpsychogeo.com, Gilmore was named Jacksonville’s 2018 Literary Artist of the Year by the Cultural Council. He teaches writing at FSCJ. (Photo by James Hunter) |
 Alton GordonAlton Gordon, poet and spoken word artist, is a resident of the Ken Knight Drive community that was heavily impacted by Hurricane Irma. His work describes the impact of the storm, mucking out people’s homes, creating mountains of debris that contained people’s personal items, furniture--the objects of living. Alton has said many times, “I am more than this crisis,” reminding us all of his talent, his history, and his humanity. |  Laura HoffmanLaura Hoffman is a United States Marine Corps Veteran and graduate student attending The University of Tampa's MFA in Creative Writing program. Hoffman's most recent work is forthcoming or appears in: 2River, The Ibis Head Review, The Talon, Atomic Style Society Magazine, Left Hooks, Wowsdom: The Girl’s Guide to The Positive and The Possible by Donna Orender, and Flypaper Magazine. Hoffman is also the winner of The University of North Florida’s 2018 Wainright Award for Poetry. |
 Arash KamiarArash spends a lot of time high-fiving his family and pondering the death of his "rescue" chicken. Somewhere in between hand-slaps and daydreams, there is a Masters in Public Policy and a job in Digital Communications. He writes semi-persistently as a craftsman might. But mostly as a dreamer might, on a wing and a prayer. |  Sarah MaplesSarah Maples is a United States Air Force veteran and a recent transplant to Jacksonville. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Publishing from George Washington University. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, Task & Purpose, Rally Point, Line of Advance, and on her veterans resource blog, After the DD-214. |
 Johnny MasiulewiczJohnny Masiulewicz is author of the poetry collection Professional Cemetery (Puddin’head Press), creator of the Happy Tapir zine series, and founder of the artisan publishing house Happy Tapir Press. His work has appeared in a variety of literary journals, sites and anthologies including Curbside Review, The Main Street Rag, Third Wednesday, Ash & Bones and The Alembic. A native Chicagoan, he now lives and works in St Johns, Florida. |  Marq MervinMarq Mervin is a multifaceted creative, educator, TEDx speaker, and lover of video games. His tenure in broadcast led to an Emmy Award-winning documentary. Marq teaches at FSCJ and advocates for art and design education for underrepresented youth. His work led to recognition from Revision Path's 28 Days of the Web and to moderate VyStar's International Artist Lecture Series. He’s the author of "One Day, I Hope That...,” a collection of prose and poetry. He digs traveling and anime. |
 Tayve NeeseTayve Neese’s work has appeared in journals and anthologies, including The Paris Review, Comstock Review, Fourteen Hills, and Diode. She is longlisted for the 2019 University of Canberra Vice Chancellor's International Poetry Prize in Australia. Blood to Fruit, her full-length collection of poems, was published in 2015. She is Executive Editor of Trio House Press, and was interviewed by The Best American Poetry in 2018. She is a member of the Concord Poetry Center in Massachusetts. |  Bobbie O'ConnorBobbie O’Connor has written and performed Screams Echo, a piece about how the screams of racism echo through the centuries, as well as pieces for the Florida Times Union about violence against women and her own white privilege. She performed Gender in a Binary World at the Coming Out Monologues to diminish transphobia. A recent work, Home Again, is about reclaiming voice and self-authority after sexual abuse. |
 Ebony Payne EnglishEbony Payne-English is a lyricist, author, playwright, performance artist, and educator. She is curator of The God MC, the first Hip Hop showcase at the Museum Of Contemporary Art and the first woman to establish her own chapter of the international poetry organization, Black on Black Rhyme. She is the 2017 Cultural Council Emerging Artist as well as recipient of Spoken Word Gala’s 2017 William Bell Humanitarian Award. Ebony is the Managing Director of The Performers Academy. |  Shannon PulusanShannon Pulusan is a writer and illustrator. For her editing process, she likes to sketch images based on the poem draft to test the clarity and vividness of her words. She reviews poetry as an editorial assistant for Flock, manages her blog quiet planet, and draws round-faced characters with triangle noses and pepperoni cheeks under the name moonmemo. Her poetry has been featured in Hour of Writes, Asian America: The Future is Now, and Bridge Eight. |
 Andres RojasAndres Rojas was born in Cuba and came to the U.S. at 13. He holds an MFA from the UF and is the author of the chapbook Looking For What Isn’t There (Paper Nautilus Debut Series winner, 2019) and of the audio chapbook The Season of the Dead (EAT Poems, 2016). His poetry has been featured in the Best New Poets series, AGNI, Barrow Street, Colorado Review, Massachusetts Review, New England Review, and Poetry Northwest. He served as poetry editor for Compose and is poetry editor of Bridge Eight. |  Kat RowlandKat Roland is a Jacksonville native. She went to LaVilla and Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. She also recently graduated from the University of North Florida with a bachelor's degree in English and minor in Creative Writing. She is the 2019 Amy Wainwright Creative Nonfiction Award winner. You can find her work in Paper Darts, Gingerbread House, The Gateway Review, and Flock. |
 Erica SafferErica Susan Saffer resides with her three children in Jacksonville, studied Education at Flagler College in Saint Augustine, and studies fiction through the MFA Program at the University of Tampa. Her work provides rich and diverse insights into the beauty found in the mundane, as well as unearthing truths through voicing unique perspectives. She is currently writing a novel, while planning a collection of short stories centered around Florida’s mental health crisis. |  Lynn Skapyak HarlinLynn Skapyak Harlin, poet, writer and editor has led Writers Workshops for 30 years. Her writing and poetry appeared in textbooks, trade magazines, literary magazines, newspaper articles and features. Her first published poem “War Waste,” 1970 appeared in Time. Her latest collection of poems, Twists and Turns, 2019 was published by Hidden Owl Books. Poetry gives her light. |
 Sean T. SmithSean is a thriller writer living with his wife and kids in Murray Hill. He has written four published novels, numerous short stories, a video game, and articles for Folio Weekly. His post-apocalyptic trilogy, beginning with Objects of Wrath, is in development for television, signed to Council Tree Productions. |  DamonThomasDamon Thomas grew up on the banks of the Suwannee River. Here he experienced a Southernness that included sea monsters, swamp cabbage, and makeshift graves. Damon is a regular contributor to Atomic Planet Magazine. |
 Nikesha Elise WilliamsNikesha Elise Williams is an Emmy award winning news producer and author. Born and raised in Chicago, she attended The Florida State University where she graduated with a B.S. in Communication: Mass Media Studies and Honors English Creative Writing. Nikesha’s debut novel, Four Women, was awarded the 2018 Florida Authors and Publishers Association President’s Award in the category of Adult Contemporary/Literary Fiction. The book was also recognized by the National Association of Black Journalists |
Click on the Logos to visit our 2019 Sponsors
Jacksonville Public Library
(Presenting Sponsor)
Chamblin's Uptown
(Presenting Sponsor)
Museum of Contemporary Art
(Presenting Sponsor)
Florida State College at Jacksonville
University of North Florida
Women Writing for a Change
Bridge Eight Press
Yellow House
Scribbles
Scribbles
Brad Kuhn & Associates
Douglas Anderson School of the Arts
Folio Weekly Magazine
Delegal and Poindexter, P.A.
More Information
Jax by Jax 2019 is thrilled to introduce our new presenting sponsor: Chamblin's Uptown. Through the generosity of Bookmine owner Ron Chamblin, Jax by Jax will offer, for the first time, a cash award to the participating writers.
We are also pleased to announce two exciting new side-by-side venues in the city center:
the Jacksonville Public Library and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA).
Women Writing for a Change will kick off the morning's program with availability of their new anthology, Rise & Shine! and will lead an interactive workshop.
Brilliant young writers from area schools will feature in the Student Showcase.
Then, 31 Jacksonville Writers Writing Jacksonville will read from their work in 3 beautiful auditoriums, followed by an After-Party and book signing at MOCA. Poets from TAG of Yellow House and musician Kinney Harold will entertain, while we enjoy light bites and a cash bar.
This celebration of Jacksonville talent would not be possible without the generosity, support, and enthusiasm of our sponsors, including Chamblin's, MOCA, Jacksonville Public Library, FSCJ, UNF, Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Women Writing for a Change, Bridge Eight Press, Yellow House, Folio Weekly, Delegal & Poindexter, P.A., Scribbles, and Brad Kuhn & Associates, LLC.
The writers and readers of JaxbyJax thank you!
Look for the announcement of the selected writers in the Wednesday, August 21st edition of sponsor Folio Weekly!
2019 Afterparty
The JaxbyJax Afterparty and Book Signing will be held at MOCA, with cash bar, light bites provided by Delegal & Poindexter P.A., poetry by Teen Art Group (TAG) of Yellow House, and music by Kinney Harold.
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