Rania M M Watts – EIC, CCIQ Press
EIC & Founder of CCIQ Press, Rania M. M. Watts is not your garden variety human cut-out; scribing poetry since the age of 13 when the written word for her held the inception of healing vibes she still carries with her today. Rania has forged a path steeped in consistent trial by fire. As a poet, she houses the capacity to explore the darkest of subjects, while offering constant hope woven throughout her work. Rania is the curator of the ‘Roach Print Anthology’. All profits from this collection are donated towards global mental health initiatives. Rania has been published by the 48th Street Press Broadside Series; and Open Minds Quarterly’s special classroom edition, which is utilised to educate both college and high school students on mental health issues. Aside from her mental health advocacy, she has also utilised her talents to write for two UK based music blogs: The Punk Archive and Music Gateway, where music reviews and blog articles were the focus of her articles.
Outside of her passion for the written word, Rania earned a Social Service Worker Diploma, areas of focus encompassed HIV/AIDS Awareness, Prevention, Advocacy, and Suicidal ideation. In Spring of 2021, Rania earned a Victimology Graduate Certificate with honours, and is currently pursuing an Honours Bachelor in Behavioural Science, which she will utilise to benefit her in the music industry when she enters Music Business Management post, completing HBBS.
Rania is constantly spelunking a myriad of fine art media. However, her wheelhouse is poetry regardless of utensils. A pen, crayon, eyeliner, quill, will do, with a nice piece of unblemished parchment. Rania has genuinely permitted her imagination to dominate her core since the age of 13, when she advised her teacher of her desire to escape to Europe with a typewriter, quill, ink, and parchment to scribe in fields of grass.
On March 31, 2023, Rania will find herself with 3 new book releases and 3 second edition printings of poetry books. The new offerings which include Trajectory, a poetry book that explores being pushed to the limit in the truest comprehension of one’s personal understanding of themselves; foreword by Tony Moore, Verity which explores human dialogues in the most idiosyncratically juxtaposed manner, and Broken Candy a tome devoted to resilience where all the proceeds will go to Advance & Bags of Love in the UK. The 3 second edition printings release are Cockroach Blueprint 213 Ways to Kill a Cockroach, which is an amended version of Cockroach Blueprint 101 Ways to Kill A Cockroach, this book offers over a hundred more killing methodologies, summer to summer d.n.i.w.e.r and explorative study through poetry and art, this poetry collection is based on the work of 12 artists, with a few pop up surprises in between. Lastly, Navigation which is a merge of Accordions & Moustaches, and Cement Covered Ink Quills & Rarities with new poems added. Rania is looking forward to writing her three forthcoming books Like a Sick Twisted Drinking game to be co-authored with Luke Young, When the Venetian Masque Weeps foreword to be written by Luke Young, and Love, Hope, & Kinship with illustrated works by Mathematical Artist Teja Krasek.
Valisa Bernardino — Resident Artist
Valisa is a Southern California native. Currently a project manager by profession, she dedicates the remainder of her time developing her artistic career.
Valisa’s art is of a lowbrow style, featuring subjects that are predominantly feminine. Her artistic themes range from macabre, mystical, and sexually metaphorical. She finds her inspiration in a variety of both people (mainly other artists and writers) and locations. However, most of her pieces are self-reflective and are heavily influenced by her mood or state of mind. Currently, Valisa shares her art via social media and has been featured on various curated artist pages. Her illustrations can be seen on the covers of Rania M. Watts’ books Accordions and Moustaches, Summer to Summer Rewind, and Cement Covered Ink Quills and Rarities, as well as, the Horror Anthology, Twisted, published by Manic Raven Press. Her poetry has been featured in multiple issues of Cult Magazine. You can view her art on Instagram @vali_saurus where she is also open for commission-based projects.
Liz Lugo — Microbiologist & Screenwriter
Liz Lugo is a Puerto Rican self-published poet with a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology. Following her passion for cinema, she pursued a certification in Professional Screenwriting from UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. She later partook in a TV writing workshop with writer and producer Gloria Calderon-Kellet. Liz recently obtained her MFA in Professional Screenwriting.
As a part of a class project, she wrote and directed a supernatural horror short film titled “Lamentos del Silencio.” In 2019, she worked as a Script Supervisor in “Don’t Blink.” Later in 2020, Liz won the Grand Prize at the Various Artists independent Film Festival for her work as a writer/director in Run. Hide. Pray., a proof-of-concept for one of her feature screenplays. This prize leads to the production of a music video directed by Liz.
Her upcoming short film is a psychological horror-thriller titled “I Killed Lucy Jones.” Her stories are mostly identified by inclusion and diversity, including Hispanics and Deaf characters, and situations that highlight at least one of the following causes she’s committed to: verbal abuse, sexual abuse, rape, human rights, mental health, equality, among others. She works mostly with elements of horror, sci-fi, psychological thriller, and post-apocalyptic, and you will always find them linked to her Puerto Rican culture.
Liz also enjoys comedy, documentaries, westerns, foreign films, and has an extreme fascination for comics/graphic novels. When she’s not writing or analyzing films or TV shows, she’s up to a new adventure or just hearing music, dancing, cooking, or exercising.
“Dream the impossible and you’ll get the unexpected.” LL
Sonja Mabel McClure — Poet
Sonja holds a degree in Communication with a focus on news/editorial as well as a minor in English from the University of Utah. She is the author of the full-length poetry collection Shift//Motion (2018). Some of her recent poetry projects include, Nocturnal Wanderings (BSP, 2022) and a split pub, Presence Vision (TKC, 2022). Her writings and poetry have appeared in PSPOETS, Pyre Publishing, Paper and Ink, Two Key Customs, Catalyst, Rock Canyon Poets, and elsewhere. She is of Finnish descent and is a member of the Finlandia Foundation. Sonja loves attending poetry readings and was delighted to take part in the Utah Humanities Book Festival a few years ago. She’s a nature enthusiast and a dog lover. She has a strong sense of wanderlust. Outside of her love of poetry and literature, Sonja has always had a passion for dancing and music. She started ballet at the age of 6. Over the years, she has studied many dance techniques including modern and jazz. She has performed with several dance groups. Later, she discovered belly dance, mesmerized with using different props consisting of fans, veil, basket, finger cymbals, and double swords. Sonja enjoys learning various belly dance styles such as: Egyptian and Turkish but she is most fond of Tribal Fusion and ATS, both which originated in the United States. Connect with Sonja on IG: @sonjasolstice.
Artemis Skye McNeil — Board Certified Holistic Wellness Practitioner and Author. Founder of The Happiness Habit
Artemis Skye McNeil is an author, motivational speaker, and poet. Her platform is bridging the gap between inspirational words and daily affirmations for personal growth and development without anxiety. Ari\’s love of words started at a young age. Growing up in a bilingual home, she enjoyed conversations with her father on the breakdown and etymology of words in both English and Greek. Her love of writing stemmed from the third grade through her schooling years and has been writing professionally since 2013. She enjoys public speaking and book signings. She loves meeting and having great conversations and connections with her audience. She is currently residing in Atlanta with her husband, & birds: Seinfeld McNugget a.k.a. The Nug, Snowball, and Chickpea. She is currently working on her third, fourth, and fifth books. Artemis Skye McNeil is a lifetime member of the Atlanta Writer’s Club; a member of the Georgia Writers Association.
Luke Young — Poet
Luke Young is a writer, bibliophile, proletarian, bartender, amateur bird enthusiast and factotum. He is of mixed Indigenous and old colonial European American heritage. He grew up among Southeast Asian war refugees in the states of Washington and California before moving to Cambodia where he lived for the majority of the next seventeen years. He moved back to the United States in the autumn of 2017 with his wife and four children.
CCIQ Press 