Our Mission

HFR looks for well-crafted work that takes risks, challenges readers, and engages us emotionally  and artistically. The makeup of our editorial team changes every year, and we pride ourselves on our values of inclusivity and multiplicity, seeking to uplift emerging writers and artists. We are interested in creative work that takes risks with language and form, work that challenges boundaries/borders and systems of power, work that examines historically marginalized experiences, as well as work that identifies as hybrid or genre-nonconforming. As a diverse team of editors, we are invested in highlighting voices traditionally underrepresented in the literary landscape, including writers and artists in BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, TGNC, disabled, and economically marginalized communities. Through our publications and events, we aim to showcase a variety of stylistic and artistic modes.

Land Acknowledgement

Hayden’s Ferry Review and ASU’s four campuses are situated on the unceded ancestral lands of the Akimel O’odham (Pima), Pee Posh (Maricopa), and many other Indigenous peoples. We recognize the original stewards of this land and honor those living here today, including the Gila River Indian Community, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, and the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. Furthermore, we recognize that we would not be here today if not for the American occupation of O’odham and Piipaash lands, beginning with the 1854 Gadsden Purchase, which caused a rapidly growing settler population that instigated the “Time of Famine.” We know that a land acknowledgment without action is not sufficient and are making efforts toward equitable practices most immediately by providing a number of free submissions for underrepresented writers for each print issue, keeping our submissions free for web issues, and celebrating Indigenous authors with our 2023 Indigenous Poets Prize.

Susan Nguyen,
Editor in Chief

Susan Nguyen is the author of Dear Diaspora (2021), which won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize, an Outstanding Achivement Award form the Association of Asian American Studies, a New Mexico-Arizona Book Award, and was a finalist for the Julie Suk Award. She is an alum of ASU’s MFA program.

Hana Saad,
Nonfiction Editor

Hana Saad (she/her) is a Lebanese-American writer based in Phoenix, AZ by way of Tulsa, OK. Her work is featured in Mizna and has been supported by Tin House. Hana loves spending time with friends (dancing & pickleball & taste testing new foods!), traveling, and going to concerts. She urges you to support the liberation of Palestine in whatever way you can. Connect with her @hanaxsaad on Instagram or say hello at hana-saad.com.

Max Wheeler,
Translations Editor

Max Wheeler is a trans writer and teacher from Oakland, CA. His work can be found or is forthcoming in Gulf Coast, trampset, Astrolabe, Beaver Magazine, and elsewhere. His short story about a snail was included in Best Small Fictions 2024. He is currently living in the Sonoran Desert, pursuing an MFA at Arizona State University and making friends with the cacti and the birds.

Zêdan Xelef Almito

Zêdan Xelef is a poet, translator, organizer, and archivist. They grew up in the Yazidi community of Shingal Mountains where they herded four goats with three other cousins. They are the co-creator of Tew Tew, an oral history and oral traditions archive with a mission to conserve the endangered Yazidi oral traditions in response to the Yazidi genocide. They’re the writer of A Barcode Scanner (Kashkul Books 2021/Gato Negro Ediciones 2022) and co-editor and co-translator of Something Missing from This World: Contemporary Yazidi Poetry (Deep Vellum, August 2024).

Tsong Chang

Tsong Chang is a fiction writer and literary translator. Their translation work focuses on contemporary Chinese poetry, especially by queer and female poets. They are currently at work on a fictional memoir that interlaces family history, diasporic experience, and their father’s involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

Owen Pesavento

Owen Pesavento is a first-year graduate student in the Narrative Studies MA program. Outside of his studies, he enjoys working on his first novel, reading whatever fantasy or science fiction he can get his hands on, and running chaotic games of Dungeons and Dragons for his friends.

Jade Rose

Jade Rose is a first-year graduate student in the English Literature MA program. She focuses on female representation in modern literature with a specific interest in fantasy novels. Outside of class, Jade has an interest in encouraging a love for writing and reading in everyone. She helped found the Book Club at ASU and is a former intern of the PEN Project.

Gib Manrique

Gib Manrique is a fourth-year undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. He is a queer person of color and specializes in narrative reporting and magazine writing. He also has worked in radio and podcasting. Outside of academics, he is an intern at Wasted Ink Zine Distro and active in the poetry/creative writing community in Phoenix, Arizona.

Maggie Sepeda

Maggie Sepeda is originally from Taos, New Mexico, but spent much of her twenties working and traveling. She has lived all over the world, including New Zealand, Australia, Bolivia, and Alaska. She returned to school in 2023 and got her AA in English, Creative Writing before transferring to ASU. She is currently a Journalism and Mass Communications major, and is also studying French. Outside of school, Maggie works at a dog groomer. She loves literature, traveling, cooking, and spending time outdoors with her husband and their dog.

Audrey Treon