• Ted L. Leung
• Warner Conarton
• Kim Cotton
• Jade Walker
• John Rice
• Christopher Gibrich
• Sol staff judges (clicking any will take you to the Sol Staff page)
• Betty Ann Whitney
• Paula Marie Bentley
• Craig Tigerman

A Fulbright Scholar in college, Ted L. Leung earned BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Nuclear Physics from Ohio University.  Uprooted to Cambridge as an MIT Fellow, he  moved to the nation's capital, and is now a life member of the Fulbright Association.  His work has been published in published the literature section of various newspapers and magazines, the Annals of Physics, National Intelligence Estimates, Presidential Daily, and IEEE Transactions on Magnetics.  He also served on a Phase One Engineering Team, in which scientists were chosen to advise President Reagan's Star Wars Program.

In his words:   "My poetry self-learning process consists of reading and writing.  Ever since I represented my class in a high school contest reading Thomas Hardy's "Weathers," I have grown to love poetry.  I appreciate the diction, alliteration, rhythm, cadence, and metaphor of poetry.  Entering a contest is often one of the few good ways to receive feedback for self-improvement.

Poet and screenwriter, Warner Conarton's work has been published in various newspapers and magazines including Sol Magazine, Sunscripts, Phoenix,  and JDM (John D. MacDonald) Bibliophile.  His play, "The Shooter," was produced in 1999 and performed at Tampa’s Falk Theater by Stage/Works.

Moderator for Lansing Writers in Lansing, MI, for 4 years in the early 50’s, Warner had his first stage play produced in 1953 at MSU, and a play produced live on TV in 1957.  He was editor of both The Mancelona Herald, and Body, Mind and Spirit Magazine of Tampa Bay.  Warner is currently Copy Editor of JDM Bibliophile, the oldest periodical published in this country concerned with a single writer.

Born on Halloween, 1930, Warner wrote his first major poem at the age of five.  He and his wife, two dogs and a cat, reside in the lovely hills north of Tampa, Florida.

In his words:

Poetry comes from a different part of the brain than most other stuff.  I feel that in order for poetry to be good, it must also enter back into that same part of the brain of those reading or hearing it.

I know when that part of me is operating or captured because it feels right.  It is a sort of high or buzz that allows one to understand without necessarily understanding.  A poem that manages to cross from one poetic mind to another often provides a sense of authorship by the recipient.

Some music makes you tap your foot. Good poetry makes you nod your head (inside) as you read along, while it’s soaking in.  It is not always pleasant, but it’s always pervasive.

Travelling through space and time to learn the secrets of the cosmos, Kim Cotton uses poetry, art, email and word of mouth to transmit knowledge.  She gives poets a forum for expression in print with the literary magazine, "tongue," and a place to read out loud with the Poetically Inclined reading series at Oscar’s Creamery & Internet Café in Houston, Texas. Her first chapbook, "A Stand Up Woman Sitting Alone," was self-published in 2000.  Kim spreads poetic vibrations through the weekly Spoken Words Newsletter.  In her words, "Building positive artistic coalitions and breaking down man-made barriers is my mission." http://kcotton97.tripod.com/id17.htm
 

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Jade Walker

Jade Walker writes poetry to explore the grey areas of life. With each twisted phrase, a lyrical truth is discovered. Her favorite form of poetry is a modern, bastardized version of American haiku/senryu which shows an elegant, yet brief glimpse into daily madness. Favorite poets include Maria Ranier Rilke, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe and Tess Gallagher.

Ms. Walker has judged manuscripts in eight Romance Writers of America contests and poetry and short story contests for the Scribe & Quill newsletter, Afterthoughts, Inscriptions, Sol Magazine and the Prodigy Novel Workshop.  Her first book, "Summer of my Soul" was released in May 1997.Since then she has written "Secrets of AOL" (1998), and "Cyber Age Adventures" (2000).  Ms. Walker has published fiction and poetry in The New Hope International Review (UK), Crystal Sands, Afterthoughts and Sol Magazine. She won honorable mentions in two AOL Instant Novelist contests, first place in the Cyberscribers May Picture/Poem contest, first place in the Sol Magazine End of Time Poetry contest and was the Featured Poet on Voices of Poetry.

Ms. Walker edits Inscriptions, the weekly e-zine for professional writers, and works the vampire shift as the overnight producer of The New York Times Website.  In her spare moments, she writes book reviews, poetry and the Hero of the Month column for Cyber Age Adventures.

She studied news-editorial journalism and criminal justice at the University of Miami in Florida, and graduated from the Metro-Dade Citizens Police Academy. Jade Walker lives in New York.

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John Rice

John Rice was born in Galveston in 1941. His parents were writers and musicians. He grew up in a house full of books, art and music and has been a reader since early childhood. Early poems, written in grade school, are recalled as "sagas" - page after page of couplets and/or doggerel verse. Rice is married with four children and three grandchildren all of whom read and some of whom write. He has lived in Houston for nearly thirty years where he is an executive in international maritime industry. He is an artist working in several media. In addition to Sol Magazine, Rice's work has appeared in several other publications.  He is the President of the Bay Area Writers League in Seabrook, Texas.

In his words:  "I write poetry as catharsis or out of sheer joy. I write poetry to- order' sometimes when challenged - by myself or by others. I encourage others, probably to the point of annoyance, to write poetry - just TRY it! However, I understand the reticence: writing is, for me, too, very personal. Reading a piece aloud to a 'crowd' or having it published is akin to standing naked and turning slowly - pot belly, cellulite, warts and all! Many times, a poem begins to form unexpectedly for me and may, therefore, come to life on any available writing material in sometimes unusual places. And that is the fun and, sometimes, relief of it all."

Christopher Gibrich

Born and raised in non-Chicagoan Illinois, Chris earned a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, although Comparative Literature and English were among his favorite courses.  While not a native Texan, he says " I got there as fast as I could," moving to Austin in 1998 with his wife, Christie.  He has worked in Austin as a computer programmer since then, reading voraciously as always, and writing poetry now and again.

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