El León Literary Arts: Ms. Aligned 2, Pat Matsueda, Connie Pan

Biography

Managing editor of Manoa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing, and recipient of an Elliott Cades Award for Literature, Pat Matsueda is the author of Stray, and, with Sheyene Foster Heller, co-editor of the anthology Ms. Aligned: Women Writing About Men.

Connie Pan is a fiction writer originally from Maui. She received a BA in creative writing from Grand Valley State University and an MFA in fiction from West Virginia University. Her writing has appeared in Rosebud Magazine, Hawai‘i Review, and Bamboo Ridge. “The Patron Saint of Exits,” an excerpt from her novel in progress, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Rebecca Thomas is an instructor of English at West Virginia University, where she earned her MFA in fiction. Her writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in ZYZZYVA, Prairie Schooner, and The Massachusetts Review, among other places.

About ms. aligned 2

The second in a series, Ms. Aligned 2 presents work written by women from the male point of view or featuring a prominent male character. With empathy, curiosity, and joy, fifteen women writers explore the ways men think, feel, and behave.

Editors:
Connie Pan
Pat Matsueda

Associate Editor:
Rebecca Thomas

Authors:
Mary Archer • Emily Benton
Sion Dayson • Amy Holwerda
Lillian Howan • Gerda Govine Ituarte
Jill McCabe Johnson • Kristiana Kahakauwila
Cassandra Lane • Pat Matsueda
Adele Ne Jame • Angela Nishimoto
Connie Pan • Shelly Rodrigue

Cover artist: Súa Agapé

Critical Praise

"Ms. Aligned 2 offers a stellar showcase...The voices are distinct and diverse, the narratives all admirably rendered. The reader comes away with a soft wisdom. Of what it means to be relational. Of what it means to be complex, gendered beings navigating our heavy, exacting world. Fascinating and extraordinary!"
Desmond Kon Zhicheng Mingdé