Jonathan Starke was born in Columbia, Missouri, and raised amongst the swaying cornfields of Iowa City, Iowa. When he’s not writing he enjoys lifting weights, watching mixed martial arts, quoting movies, eating cereal and working on/reading submissions for Palooka.

He was an essay finalist in the 2009 Missouri Review Editors’ Prize and was accepted to attend the 2010 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in nonfiction. He has essays published or appearing in Brevity, Fourth Genre, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Missouri Review, and The Pinch. He’s also the co-founder and editor of an underdog literary journal called Palooka.

In answer to our question of why he writes, Jonathan responded:

“Because it’s possible to leave someone breathless without throwing an actual punch.”

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