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Regular Contributors

Since Peter Jurmu, current editor, moved to Boston, he’s noticed a disconcerting upswing in his beer consumption and risks wearing out multiple pairs of shoes. Peter grew up and attended school in the Midwest, which, he learned from a cab driver, includes upstate New York.

Andrew Ladd is a recent graduate of the MFA program at Emerson, where he continues to teach freshman composition and read fiction for Ploughshares. His fiction has appeared in the Apalachee Review, and his other writing in a variety of blogs, alt weeklies, and guidebooks. You can follow him on Web 1.0 at hotscot.blogspot.com, and eventually, with any luck, when his thesis, a novel set on a remote Scottish island, gets published and hits the best-seller lists.

Katherine Meehan was born long ago in Winston-Salem, a land redolent of tobacco and sweet breads. The daughter of a harpsichordist and a poet, she spent her youth in mild seclusion. She began her new life in Boston two months ago, and is still somewhat afraid of the underground trains. What makes them go? Horses? What if the horses run out of water? Something must be done. She’s currently working on an MFA in short fiction, and lives in seclusion in Somerville when she isn’t out and about.

Brooks Sterritt writes fiction and book reviews. He diddled a doorknob. He is the fiction editor of Redivider. For less information, visit Magic Monads.

Vernacular At Large

Jill D’Urso is a beard enthusiast who edits college textbooks and the Fringe Magazine blog. She keeps obsessive lists, takes her cream and sugar with coffee, and hopes to someday write a book of essays chronicling her amazing number of irrational fears. She needs a vacation and more calcium.

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Llalan Fowler calls herself a nonfiction writer when pressed, but really she’s just a beer enthusiast who occasionally likes to write about herself. She has been published several times in The Weekly Dig, writes for and edits The Globe Corner Bookstore blog, and has a weekly column on Bostonist.com about (what else) beer. In her spare time she eats chips and entire jars of salsa, watches Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and tries new kinds of beer.

Joe Gallagher publishes plays for high schools, produces plays in New York City, markets academic books, reviews meat products, etc. He designed this blog because he likes the people that write for it.

Though she often fronts an Atlanta-based heritage, the truth is that former editor Alexis Hauk was born on the wagon of a travelin’ show. Her mama used to dance for the money they’d throw. Papa would do whatever he could–preach a little gospel or sell a couple bottles of Doctor Good. When not pirating Cher lyrics, Alexis sometimes forces herself to write original material. She has been published in The Weekly Dig and The Boston Phoenix and enjoys photography and internet stalking. Uh, she means “research.”

Kim Liao, founder and former blog editor, blames and thanks Jeffrey Seglin for the creation of Vernacular; if it weren’t for his great ideas and shockingly quick email responses, she might not have bothered to convince several brilliant friends to come with her on this wild ride. A freelance nonfiction writer in Boston, her work has appeared in the Boston Phoenix, Weekly Dig, Bostonist, Thirsty Boston, and Fringe Magazine. This spring, she received her MFA in creative writing at Emerson College with the completion of her thesis, a historical family memoir. She has been called the “Mussolini of Blogging,” which she took as a compliment.

Joseph P., publicity manager, is a grad student, sex blogger, web 2.0 user, administrator, and oxford comma user. He spends every waking moment coming up with short story ideas. He really hopes that he spends every sleeping moment writing them. He’s pretty sure you owe him five bucks.

Chris Rand was born in California, but grew up in Richmond, Virginia; he likes to mention where he was born in conversation. Chris was an English major, a fiction editor, a ‘zine contributor, an advice-giver, an empathetic listener, a fraternity brother, a short story writer, a partier, and a math minor as an undergraduate. Since he moved to Boston, he has been obsessively following developments in publishing, distribution, and bookselling. He toys with bold and unrealistic entrepreneurial ideas, goes to a lot of shows, and tells people he is working on a novel; for the latter, he often attempts to prove himself right. According to his roommate, he spends more time in front of a computer screen than anyone he knows. Chris lives under a giant Citgo sign.

Other people to know:
Taleiah Todd-Hill, events goddess