Michael Lockett has a BA in Communication from Clarion University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Carlow University. He’s a lover of the short story and inspired by the works of Breece D’J Pancake, Lewis Nordan, Sherman Alexie, and Katherine Mansfield. His stories are published in the Northern Appalachian Review, Prometheus Dreaming, Twisted Vine, Hive Avenue, Taint Taint Taint, Matthew's Place through the Matthew Shepard Foundation, History Through Fiction, and Quarter Press. He is a 2022 nominee for the James Baldwin Literary Award. His debut collection of short stories titled In the Cut is forthcoming from Sunbury’s Catamount Press. Originally from Central PA, Lockett is the proud grandson of a gravedigger and  a factory worker, great nephew to the Pennsylvania Ramblers [band]. He’s one of five kids raised in rural poverty by a single mom. He’s a first-generation college grad who also did a stint in West Africa in the Peace Corps. His defining adjectives are Queer and Pentecostal. He now lives in the Northside of Pittsburgh with his partner, cats, and birds.