Cherie Hunter Day is an awarding winning poet, an artist, a book illustrator, and the publisher of Sundog Press. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies as well as in several book-length collections. Day was one of the early writers of the linked verse form, rengay. She was also the first to explore solo rengay and to write critical analyses of the rengay form. She currently lives in Cupertino, California.

Book designer, printer, and photographer, Herb Everett, is the owner of Peace Rose Graphics in Eugene, Oregon. His clean and crisp page designs can be found inside many books published in Oregon, including those by Mountains and Rivers Press, and his photographer’s eye leads to beautifully arranged and compelling book covers. Samples of his work for Mountains and Rivers Press include the following books: The Exultations by Cid Corman, Kindle by Paulann Petersen, and Under the Roan Cliffs by Lorraine Ellis Harr and Brad Wolthers.

“Up until 2002, Herb Everett's Peace Rose Graphics had printed little poetry. Since then Herb has become Eugene's most active designer and printer for small press and self–published poetry books. For Traprock Books, which I edit, Herb has produced twenty books, both chapbooks and perfect–bound volumes. He has been Traprock's designer and its printer or agent with the printing industry, which is in a state of technological change and friendly takeover (i.e. hard to deal with or comprehend!). The results of Herb's efforts have been books the poets and I have been proud of. Readers are happy with them, too. Herb works carefully and creatively. He listens hard to what the poets and the editor want and offers additional ideas that enhance the book's attractiveness. After six years, Herb is my friend and valued collaborator. I can't imagine Traprock without him.”

Brad Winter lives in Portland, Oregon. He is a well–respected artist who works in a variety of media. His work with the Creative Music Guild brought him international appreciation, and his music reviews can be read in a wide range of publications. Winter designed the cover for Coming Here to be Alone , and his original artwork is featured on the cover and on the section pages within the book.

My endeavor(s) in the visual arts have always been concerned with a search for the new, the just discovered. My work is generally abstract though a good deal of representational imagery is often found (or at least hinted at) as well. Art influences include surrealism, expressionism, shamanism, abstract expressionism, fluxus, etc. Automatic drawing (and writing) are an important component as well as the inspirations to be derived from philosophy, literature, and music (most specifically jazz, new classical, and improvisational forms). Of course the actual physical world has an impact as well but the main focus is on the internal/eternal/essential truth rather than that which may or may not be before our eyes. I have recently been working mostly with my own photography and collage but have created a wide body of work via painting and drawing as well. I have also been involved in a large number of projects designing covers and illustrations for books (mostly poetry) and compact discs (mostly improv/jazz artists from various parts of the world). My approach to the artwork for the book, Coming Here to be Alone, focused on one concept/koan: “what is here. where is here,” with the intention of connecting with the spirit of the poems therein rather than attempting to illustrate any literal image(s) or ideas.