Meet the Tolsun Team
David Pischke
Executive Director, Publisher, Editor
David Pischke lives in Flagstaff, Arizona with his partner, two boys, and two dogs. He teaches middle school Art, Woodshop, and Yearbook, holds teaching certificates in English and Art, and hosts the hilarious podcast Müstache Waxing. He was awarded an MFA in Creative Writing in Fiction.
Heather Lang-Cassera
Publisher and Editor
Heather Lang-Cassera lives in Las Vegas. She is a Clark County Poet Laureate Emeritus (2019-2021), a 2022 Nevada Arts Council Fellow, and a Lecturer at Nevada State. She holds an MFA in Poetry with a certificate in Literary Translation. Her book, Gathering Broken Light, was written with support of a Nevada Arts Council grant.
Bridgette Brados
Editor
Bridgette Brados is an editor and poet living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is an MFA candidate studying poetry in the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan. You can find her reciting poems to flora and fauna along the Huron River.
Percy Lind
Associate Editor
Percy Lind is a writer and illustrator living in northern Arizona, where he is completing his BA in Creative Writing. He has been published in Glendale Community College's creative arts magazine The Traveler (2018), and his work was featured in Herberger Theater's Proudly I Stand gallery exhibition (2019). A bird enthusiast, rock hound, and avid hiker, he can be found doing most of his work outdoors.
Ngozi Iloka
Associate Editor
Ngozi graduated from University of Houston with a BA in communications & English this year. She was born and raised in Houston, Texas where she interned for a local magazine in their editorial department. When she's not reading, you can find her painting, baking, or dancing to some good tunes.
Risa Pappas
Former Publisher and Editor
Risa Pappas is a poet, filmmaker, editor, narrator, and pro-wrestling ring announcer. Her recent publications include the Bosphorus Review of Books, the River Heron Review, and bluntly magazine. Risa earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She resides in the greater Philadelphia area with a cat and many houseplants.
Margarita Cruz
Former Associate Editor
Margarita Cruz received her MFA in Creative Writing from Northern Arizona University. Former Editor-in-Chief of Thin Air Magazine, she currently spends her time as Vice President for the Northern Arizona Book Festival and teaches English at the elementary level. You can find her writing and what she's up to at shortendings.com.
Kalani Pickhart
Former Associate Editor
Kalani Pickhart earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Arizona State University and has held positions at Hayden’s Ferry Review and the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing. Kalani was awarded a fellowship from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Intelligence for Eastern European and Eurasian Research, and has recently completed her first novel, which takes place during the current Russian-Ukrainian War. She lives in Phoenix.
Brandi Fairbanks
Former Editor
Brandi Fairbanks lives in Flagstaff, AZ with her two boys and various pets. She is a kindergarten teacher, a certified Speech and Language Pathology assistant , a Board Member of The Northern Arizona Book Festival, and an all around hard-working lady.
Shelley Flecky
Board Secretary
Shelley Flecky is an Arizona native and a Physician Assistant in Pediatric Neurosurgery. She is a wife and mother of two boys and a rescue pup. She is also a leader on the PTO board for her sons’ school. Shelley enjoys traveling, live music, and event planning for her family’s local vineyard.
Jake Friedman
Former Board Treasurer
Jake Friedman is a writer, editor, and literary arts administrator based in Phoenix, AZ. From 2016 to 2021, he served in various administrative positions at the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University. He was also the Founder and Editor in Chief of Four Chambers Press, an independent literary magazine and grassroots community organization that existed in Phoenix between 2013 and 2018. Beyond this, he is also or has been: moderating a weekly writing group with the Central Phoenix Writing Workshop since 2011; a consultant for the good folks at Iron City Magazine; an intern with the Arizona Commission on the Arts; a scholarship recipient for the Community of Writers in 2021; a board member for the Northern Arizona Book Fest; among other things. He lives in Phoenix with his partner and a cat.
Andie Francis
Former Board President
Andie Francis (she/her) is the author A Fresh Start Will Put You On Your Way (Finishing Line Press 2022) and I Am Trying to Show You My Matchbook Collection (CutBank Books 2015). She holds an MFA in poetry from The University of Arizona. She's Poetry Editor for Carbon Copy and is an assistant poetry editor for DIAGRAM/New Michigan Press. Francis's work appears in Berkeley Poetry Review, Cimarron Review, Columbia Poetry Review, Greensboro Review, Zone 3, and elsewhere. Andie is the Northern Arizona Regional Partner for Poetry Out Loud and she also serves on the Board for the Northern Arizona Book Festival.