Meet the Poets: Inside the Collective
Meet the poets shaping the vulnerable voice of our latest Literary Magazine, “Stories on the Move: Voices of the Unhoused.” Inside the Collective is an on-going series dedicated to revealing the people behind the pages because the IHRAM Literary Magazine is about diversity, community, and representation.
Meet Annastatia, Constantinos, and the other poets part of this magazine: for them, writing is about conversation and resistance; stories that refuse to stay silent.
This is the first chapter in our on-going series, pulling back the curtain behind the creatives that made this magazine happen. Today it is the poets. Next time, there will be more voices and stories.
Annastatia Brooks, Canada, “Home for the Stars”
Annastatia Brooks is from the beautiful island of Newfoundland, Canada. She is a poet who was raised in a small town by the sea, and she is currently studying English and Social Justice & Community Studies in Halifax. Annastatia works as an Assistant Editor for her campus paper, where she also helps run the SMU Creatives column. She is hoping to become a full-time writer, publishing poetry collections and illustrated children's books. Annastatia is a recipient of a 2025 Arts and Letters Award for poetry and the second-place winner of The Prose Poem’s 2025 Spring Short Prose Poetry Competition.
Now, be honest, how has your experience been with IHRAM Press? How did you find us and why did you choose to publish with us?I found IHRAM Press online and I chose to publish with them because of their focus on human rights issues, giving writers and creators a platform to discuss social justice issues.
How do you personally connect with our mission? Particularly on the power of art and literature to influence social change, and our values of beauty as a fundamental creative principle, sincerity, vulnerability, celebrating diversity, and opening doorways of engagement.I am pursuing a minor in Social Justice & Community Studies, so I am quite educated on injustices around the world, both past and present. This education is a blessing, but it is also a heavy weight to carry. Being disabled, I’m not capable of showing up to support people in a physical way, but I desperately want to help and make a difference. To me, writing is my protest. It’s one of the only things I can do, so I make sure to do it with courage, daring to call out the oppressors, stating the raw, awful truths, and ensuring that I provide a glimmer of hope to those who can’t see a way out of the darkness.
Learn more about Annastatia and her piece in STORIES ON THE MOVE IHRAM Literary Magazine (2025).
She was also published in Waffle Fried Literary Magazine Issue #2: “Resilience”, was the Second-place winner of The Prose Poem 2025 Spring Short Prose Poetry Competition, and the Winner of a 2025 Arts and Letters Awards Program in Junior Poetry.
Constantinos N. Makris, Cyprus, “Lárites”
Constantinos N. Makris was born in 1982 in Limassol, Cyprus, where he continues to live and write. He is the author of novels, poetry collections, and short story anthologies. His work explores history, myth, philosophy, and contemporary social issues and has been published internationally.
Now, be honest, how has your experience been with IHRAM Press? How did you find us and why did you choose to publish with us?IHRAM stood out to me as a platform that takes both literary quality and ethical engagement seriously, without reducing complex subjects to slogans. I chose to publish with IHRAM because the magazine allows space for writers to address movement, displacement, power, and identity with nuance, rather than prescribing a single interpretive framework.
How do you personally connect with our mission? Particularly on the power of art and literature to influence social change, and our values of beauty as a fundamental creative principle, sincerity, vulnerability, celebrating diversity, and opening doorways of engagement.I connect strongly with IHRAM’s belief in the power of art and literature to open spaces of reflection and engagement. I also value the emphasis on sincerity, vulnerability, and beauty as foundational creative principles. These values align with my view of writing as a disciplined, ethical practice rather than a vehicle for persuasion.
Learn more about Constantinos and his piece in STORIES ON THE MOVE IHRAM Literary Magazine (2025).
Constantinos N. Makris is the author of novels, poetry collections, and short story anthologies. His work has been published internationally in literary journals and magazines including Poems, Tales & Other English Words (Big Thinking Publishing), The Classical Outlook (USA), Harrow House Journal, In Parentheses, and The Poetry Lighthouse. His writing explores power structures, myth, history, and contemporary belief systems. You can learn more about him here.
David Anson Lee / Philosopet, (Texas) USA, “City of Unfound Doors”
David Anson Lee was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and now lives in Texas. A physician, philosopher, and poet, his work has appeared in Right Hand Pointing, Unbroken Journal, The Scarred Tree, Braided Way, Eunoia Review, Ink Sweat & Tears, The Orchards, and CMAJ. His poems explore human vulnerability, social justice, and resilience.
Now, be honest, how has your experience been with IHRAM Press? How did you find us and why did you choose to publish with us?From the first correspondence onward, the communication has been thoughtful, clear, and human; which, in publishing, already puts you in rare company. I’ve felt respected as a writer and reassured as a collaborator, and that combination goes a long way. The focus on dignity, justice, and lived experience aligned closely with why I write poetry in the first place. It felt less like a transaction and more like an invitation to participate in a meaningful conversation. As a physician and poet, I’m drawn to spaces that take ethical witnessing seriously, and IHRAM clearly does. Also, any organization that manages to be both professional and kind, without losing its sense of humor, earns my loyalty.
How do you personally connect with our mission? Particularly on the power of art and literature to influence social change, and our values of beauty as a fundamental creative principle, sincerity, vulnerability, celebrating diversity, and opening doorways of engagement.In my life as a physician, I’ve seen that change rarely begins with policy alone: it begins when someone is truly seen. Literature and art make that seeing possible across distance, difference, and silence. They don’t argue first; they invite. And that invitation is often what opens the door to change. Your emphasis on beauty resonates deeply with me. Beauty, to my mind, is not decoration, it is a form of truth-telling that helps us stay with difficult realities long enough to care. When suffering is rendered with care, precision, and lyric attention, it resists being reduced to statistics or slogans. Beauty keeps the human intact. I believe that work which risks emotional exposure creates ethical space for the reader. It says: you are trusted with this. That trust is the beginning of engagement, not consumption. In that sense, vulnerability is not weakness, it is a moral stance. The stories IHRAM publishes do not collapse difference; they honor it. They allow many voices, histories, and lived experiences to coexist without being flattened into a single narrative. That multiplicity is where real dialogue, and real solidarity, begins.
For me, art does not change the world by shouting louder; it changes the world by changing how we listen. IHRAM creates spaces where listening becomes possible, and that is why I’m grateful to be part of this work.
Learn more about David and his piece in STORIES ON THE MOVE IHRAM Literary Magazine (2025).
David won first place in The Writing Clubroom Christmas Writing Competition, 2025 (“The Smallest Switch”), published “The Riddle That Carries Us.”; amongst other notable literary prizes and titles.
Cassondra Windwalker, United States, "There is Magic in the Shadows"
Cassondra Windwalker writes full-time from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Her fourth and fifth poetry collections will be published in 2026: PAINT-BY-NUMBERS WORLD (Serving House Books) and THE FISHING CAT (Fernwood Press). Her tenth novel, THE GARDENER'S WIFE'S MISTRESS, will be published January 2026.
Now, be honest, how has your experience been with IHRAM Press? How did you find us and why did you choose to publish with us?[IHRAM are] motivated by a genuine passion for humanity and work hard to amplify voices that build community and compassion. I'm grateful to be able to share in their work in even the smallest way. They bring me real hope.
How do you personally connect with our mission? Particularly on the power of art and literature to influence social change, and our values of beauty as a fundamental creative principle, sincerity, vulnerability, celebrating diversity, and opening doorways of engagement.My faith in the power of art to affect measurable change in the world, to bridge possibilities over time and between cultures, is unshakable. Encountering IHRAM and finding this community of people who are devoted to the hope and power of the human spirit has been so cheering.
Learn more about Cassondra and her piece in STORIES ON THE MOVE IHRAM Literary Magazine (2025).
Cassondra has had ten novels and three poetry collections published, in addition to numerous short stories, essays, and poems. Her most recent novels are THE GARDENER'S WIFE'S MISTRESS (Type Eighteen Books) and GHOST GIRLS AND RABBITS (Polymath Press.) She has two more poetry collections coming out in 2026: PAINT-BY-NUMBERS WORLD (Serving House Books) and THE FISHING CAT (Fernwood Press). You can find all her books through her Amazon Author page linked here.
Vidya Hariharan, (Mumbai) India, “Abandoned”
Vidya Hariharan is a manic reader, traveller, and teacher. In her spare time, she wrestles with crossword puzzles. Some of her prose narratives and poems can be found on Setu, Poetry Superhighway, The Woodside Review, Glomag, Café Dissensus, Borderless, The Bamboo Hut, and The Wise Owl. She also won the Editor’s Choice Award from Under the Basho for one of her haikus in 2024.
Now, be honest, how has your experience been with IHRAM Press? How did you find us and why did you choose to publish with us?They posted their Call for Submissions on Facebook and it’s been a pleasure associating with IHRAM, and I would definitely submit my work again.
How do you personally connect with our mission? Particularly on the power of art and literature to influence social change, and our values of beauty as a fundamental creative principle, sincerity, vulnerability, celebrating diversity, and opening doorways of engagement.I sincerely believe that "the pen is mightier than the sword," and works of art have a timeless quality which will prevail.
Learn more about Vidya and her piece in STORIES ON THE MOVE IHRAM Literary Magazine (2025).
Her work has been published in Setu, Non-binary Review, The Woodside Review, Maintenant 19, Borderless, The Bamboo Hut, The Wise Owl, Pan Haiku Review and Under the Basho.
Annemarie Marek, (Santa Fe) New Mexico, "Boy Scout" and "Stereotypes"
Annemarie Marek’s poetry has appeared in anthologies, newspapers, and journals. She was recognized as a national finalist in the poetry category by Women Writing the West for her first poetry collection, Calming the Wilderness. A member of SKEGS, an international stanza group of the Poetry Society in the U.K., and the Poetry Society of America, Annemarie holds an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Dallas, and a B.A. in Honors English from Georgetown University.
Now, be honest, how has your experience been with IHRAM Press? How did you find us and why did you choose to publish with us?The social justice topics of IHRAM Press and its global reach are two chief reasons I was honored to be published in IHRAM Press' quarterly journal.
How do you personally connect with our mission? Particularly on the power of art and literature to influence social change, and our values of beauty as a fundamental creative principle, sincerity, vulnerability, celebrating diversity, and opening doorways of engagement.The arts and letters have recorded the history of civilization as we know it. That track record of reminding us who, what and how we have acted on this planet should serve reminder that we can be better, do more, participate and support each other. In the words of Mother Teresa, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." I keep that message on my writing desk.
Learn more about Annemarie and her pieces in STORIES ON THE MOVE IHRAM Literary Magazine (2025).
You can learn about her poetry collection, Calming the Wilderness, as well as New Mexico Poetry Anthology 2023.
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