Our Team

Karen and her husband owned a business in Southern California for 24 years, where she worked as a buyer and salesperson. She regularly met with university bookstore managers in three counties and gathered significant distribution knowledge. This helped lay the groundwork for her publishing company. Karen is an award-winning poet who writes free verse and formal poetry. In 2012 she created Kelsay Books and has edited over 1,500 titles. Karen schedules national and international poetry readings, co-edits The Orchards Poetry Journal, and selects published titles each year for poetry contests.

Shay Culligan, Book Cover Designer

Originally from Ireland, Shay has worked in publishing as a graphic designer since 1983, including 18 years as a cover designer for Pearson Education. He is a graduate of Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. Along with working in graphic design, he is also very active in fine art and photography. Shay has won multiple awards over the years for his book covers.  

Jenna V. Wray, Project Manager and Editor

Jenna began working for Kelsay Books in 2018. In addition to editing books, assisting authors, and managing the workflow at Kelsay Books, she co-edits biannual issues of our affiliated literary magazine The Orchards Poetry Journal. Her BFA in Creative Writing is from the University of Evansville and Harlaxton College. She received Virginia Grabill Awards in Poetry and Nonfiction. Additionally, she writes for a national laboratory and has edited for Addiction Recovery, Thera Books, The Evansville Review, Polyphony Lit, and freelance clients.

Delisa Hargrove, Assistant Project Manager

Delisa joined Kelsay Books in February 2020. She loves the power and magic of words and frequently Googles 19th-century dictionaries and etymologies to find out what words used to mean. She celebrates advancing the creation process and seeing the poets’ endeavors bear fruit. Delisa is a wanderer, having packed her belongings and moved 65 times in life, landing most recently in Texas to help her aging mother-in-law as needed.

Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas, Copy Editor

Carol Lynn is a graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts, MFA in Writing program. Her collection, Alice in Ruby Slippers, was shortlisted for the 2021 Eric Hoffer Grand Prize and awarded an honorable mention in the Poetry category. Her work has been published in The Comstock Review, Redactions, Verse Daily, and many more. An eleven-time Pushcart Prize nominee and seven-time Best of the Net nominee, she has served as editor-in-chief for both The Orchards Poetry Journal and Tule Review. She is a member of the Board of Directors for Women’s Wisdom Art, an organization in Sacramento that supports women’s wellness through creativity in all forms.

Bayleigh Mayhak, Copy Editor

Bayleigh lives just outside of Denver, CO with her husband and two cats. After getting degrees in creative writing and music in 2020 from the University of Evansville, she did freelance editing and writing work. Now, she runs a small Etsy business in addition to doing a variety of tasks for Kelsay Books. She enjoys audiobooks, cats, crocheting, and chai tea—an old lady trapped in a younger-millennial body.

Olivia Loftis, Social Media Coordinator

Olivia is driven to publish compelling books and magazines, help authors share their insights, and make the literary arts accessible to all. She holds a BA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College (2021). Since 2023, Olivia has been growing Kelsay Books’ blog as Social Media Coordinator and implementing final touches as an Editorial Assistant. Her dual passion for music and literature finds intertwined expression in poetry.

Sam Fowler, Assistant Reader