Meet Our Team

The Bayou Review provides a platform for new and established writers and artists to feature their work. Our dedicated prose editor and intern team carefully review all submissions and select pieces ranging from prose, poetry, and visual works.

Fall 2023 Interns

Carollann Lockley

Carollann Lockley (she/her) is a senior at the University of Houston-Downtown and will be graduating in the Fall 2023 semester with a B.A in English. She is a writer of poetry and creative non-fiction that explores family relationships, mental health, and past experiences. Other than writing, she enjoys reading, playing video games with her husband, and going on walks at the arboretum.

Katie Cortes

Katie Cortes (she/her) is a senior at the University of Houston-Downtown and will be graduating in December of 2023 with a degree in English (concentration in Creating Writing). Professionally, her work as a paralegal for the past 20 years had focused on legal writing, but her writing passions include poetry, short stories and literary translation. In her spare time, Katie enjoys reading, writing, creating watercolor paintings and pencil drawings, and spending time with her husband, son and dog.

Stanley Freelon

Stanley Freelon, (he/him), is a senior at the University of Houston Downtown majoring in English-Creative writing. His focus is creative non-fiction with special emphasis on transparency in religious matters. Mr. Freelon is currently working on short stories about civil rights in the deep South. His hobbies are chess and billiards.

Rosmany Garcia

Rosmany Garcia (she/her) is a senior at the University of Houston- Downtown pursuing a bachelors in English-Creative Writing and a minor in Digital Media. She is a leader and a mentor in the Honors Program. Throughout Garcia’s career as a student, she has written fiction stories depicting family dynamics. Her work also explores the adventure of finding the true self. She also enjoys playing video games, reading novels, and drawing.

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Faculty Advisor

Dr. Stalina Villarreal (she/they) currently works as an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at University of Houston-Downtown. Their debut collection of poetry Watcha is forthcoming from Deep Vellum Publishing. Her poetry can be found in the Rio Grande Review, Texas Review, The Acentos Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, Defunkt Magazine, and elsewhere. They are the translator of Enigmas by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Photograms of My Heart, Absolutely Blind by Minerva Reynosa, Kilimanjaro by Maricela Guerrero, and Postcards in Braille by Sergio Pérez Torres. She is the recipient of the Inprint Donald Barthelme Prize in Poetry.

Dr. Stalina Villarreal