Charles A. Swanson teaches dual enrollment English in a new Academy for Engineering and Technology, serving the Southside region of Virginia. Frequently published in the Appalachian region, his poetry and short fiction have appeared in such magazines as Virginia Writing, Wildlife in North Carolina, ALCAlines, Appalachian Heritage, Appalachian Journal, Confluence, Pegasus, The English Journal, and Now & Then. He has worked with writers such as Cathy Smith Bowers, Kathryn Stripling Byer, Robert J. Higgs, Jim Minick, Ron Rash, Donald Secreast, and Frank X. Walker. He also pastors a small church, Melville Avenue Baptist in Danville. He has two books of poems: After the Garden, published by MotesBooks, and Farm Life and Legend, from Finishing Line Press.