In this episode of the DiepCJourney podcast I interview April Johnson Stearns. She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Wildfire Magazine & Writing Community. April has an extensive background in writing and landed her first memoir-based magazine cover story at 16.

She worked for her college newspaper and then the local newspaper in Santa Cruz, The Sentinel, following graduation. During the tech boom of the early 2000s April worked “over the hill” from Santa Cruz in Silicon Valley.

However, in 2012, in the midst of this career, April was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer at age 35. Four years later, while struggling to “go back to normal” and find others in similar circumstances, April launched WILDFIRE Magazine & Writing Community as a way for younger people to tell and read breast cancer stories.

Since 2016, April has guided hundreds of writers through the Wildfire writing workshops and published more than forty-five issues of Wildfire Magazine.

April shares the passion behind the magazine and her work with the young breast cancer community inspiring them to share their stories. She hosts her own podcast The Burn where she interviews writers in the Wildfire community.

Connect with April and the Wildfire Community:

Wildfirecommunity.org

Facebook: facebook.com/wildfirecommunity

Instagram & Threads: @wildfire_bc_magazine

Twitter: @real_wildfire

Email: editor@wildfirecommunity.org