About

Nicholas Dertinger is a PhD candidate of English Literature at Northern Illinois University.

His research focuses on Gothic literature and the discourse between the monstrous and the divine. He published his first poetry book entitled Paper Fledglings in 2020 and has had several poems published in Wolf Jaw Literary Magazine, Verum Literary Magazine, and TroubleMakerFireStarter.

After years of doodling in notebooks, writing stories, Nicholas co-founded Stoke the Wild, a creative arts podcast dedicated to all things creative, be it pop culture or fine arts. His illustrated work can be found on sketch card art from Upper Deck, Topps, and Cryptozoic on properties like DC Comics, Marvel, Star Wars, The Walking Dead, and Rick & Morty.

Nicholas is also an educator. He has taught K-12 kids in various programs and currently teaches Undergraduate courses at the University of Illinois, Chicago as a Visiting Lecture in the English and First Year Writing Department

He also is the proud spouse of Joy Dertinger, a brilliant and beautiful human, together they have four monstrously divine children who find new ways to show Nicholas the beauty of the world.