Kimberly Ann Southwick-Thompson is the founder & editor in chief of the literary arts journal Gigantic Sequins, which has been in print since 2009. She is an Assistant Professor specializing in Poetry and Creative Writing at Jacksonville State University. Her full-length poetry collection, Orchid Alpha, will be published by Trembling Pillow Press in 2021; it was a finalist over six times and a semi-finalist twice before getting picked up. Kimberly has been a featured reader at the Open Mouth Poetry Festival and Dogfish New Orleans Reading series. She graduated in May 2020 with her doctorate in English & Creative Writing at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She has multiple chapbooks, such as those from Hyacinth Girl Press and Ghost City Press, and numerous works in literary journals, such as The Literary Review, Barrelhouse, and Bedfellows.