Shahrzad Taavoni is a writer, artist, and acupuncturist currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Baltimore. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and dual Master’s degrees in Acupuncture and Herbology. Her work has been featured in Amethyst Review, California Quarterly, Persian Heritage Magazine, Soul Forte Journal, The Closed Eye Open, and Loch Raven Review, with work forthcoming in the Poets of Manor Mill Anthology, among others. She has served as a reader for Honeycomb Literary Press and is currently the poetry editor for Welter Journal.