Michael Lockett has a BA in Communication from Clarion University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Carlow University. He’s a lover of the short story and inspired by the works of Breece D’J Pancake, Lewis Nordan, Sherman Alexie, Yu Hua, and Katherine Mansfield. His stories are published in the Northern Appalachian Review, Prometheus Dreaming, Twisted Vine, Hive Avenue, Taint Taint Taint, Matthew's Place through the Matthew Shepard Foundation, History Through Fiction, Quarter Press, Appalachian Lit, Still: the Journal, and the Watershed Journal. His stories have been nominated for the James Baldwin Literary Award [2022, Tait, Taint, Taint], the Bram Stoker Long Fiction Award [2024, Horror Writer’s Association], and the Pushcart [2024, Appalachian Lit]. His debut collection of short stories titled In the Cut, from Sunbury’s Catamount Press, was shortlisted for the Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia (WCoNA) 2025 Book of the Year. Originally from Central PA, Lockett is the proud grandson of a gravedigger and  a factory worker. He’s one of five kids raised in rural poverty by a single mom. He’s a first-generation college grad who also did a stint in the Peace Corps in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, West Africa. His defining adjectives are Queer and Pentecostal. He now lives in the Northside of Pittsburgh with his partner, cats, and birds. If he’s not reading or writing, Lockett can be found walking Pittsburgh’s trails and cemeteries, working on his old house, arguing with his partner, singing karaoke alone (or sometimes in his brother’s garage), or rocking out to his favorite band Morgan’s Run at some smoky old bar or lodge back home.