Teachers

Janae Johnson is an award-winning poet, performer, and educator. Her writing celebrates and centers on Black queer masculinity, kinship, and belonging. She is a former National Poetry Slam Champion, Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion, and a founder of two nationally recognized poetry venues: The Root Slam (Oakland, CA) and The House Slam (Boston, MA). Janae’s full-length poetry collection Lessons on Being Tenderheaded is forthcoming in Spring 2022 by Write Bloody Publishing. Janae currently resides in Tacoma, WA. 

Clare Johnson is a dyke-identified writer + visual artist, with honors including fellowships from Jack Straw and Mineral School; residencies at Surel’s Place, Crosstown Arts and Vashon Artist Residency; and publications including Poetry Northwest, Raven Chronicles and Shake The Tree. Recent multidisciplinary public art projects include banners decorating fencing around a Tiny House Village; window art in Cal Anderson Park about HIV and family; a banner series based on local seniors’ memories around water; and a scavenger hunt of art on the backs of traffic signs (currently viewable along the Delridge-Highland Park Neighborhood Greenway in West Seattle). For 15 years Clare has also drawn/written on a post-it every night to hold onto something from each ending day, making over 5,000 pieces so far, which were excerpted for years in a monthly Seattle Review of Books lyric essay column. 

Zachary Kellian is the editor-in-chief of an award-winning international literary journal committed to championing new and diverse voices. As an author,​ he has had over a dozen​ short stories published in the last two years. For more information go to zacharykellian.com or follow on social media @zackellian.

Jeremiah (He/Him) has spent the last four decades on and around stages all over the Pacific Northwest, doing everything from writing, producing, and performing in original fantasy rock operas, swinging swords as a knight in shining armor in a professional jousting troupe, moonlighting as a lyric tenor in traditional opera companies, playing roles and managing tech in countless musical theater productions, and throwing horns as a vocalist and guitarist in symphonic metal bands. He is also an indie video game developer, specializing in narrative design, technical art, and music and audio composition. In his free time, he loves crafting elaborate, emotional storylines for his D&D players, and has been a ‘Forever DM’ for close to thirty (amazing) years.

Jesse is a long time game master, creator, and chronic overcommitter. He is delighted to join this ensemble as co-GM.

Ever Jones is a queer/trans writer, artist & instructor. Their poetry collection, nightsong, published in 2020 (Sundress Publicatiins), is a transliberatory lyric, earthing & unearthing the body from gender, politics & identity. Ever’s work collapses binaries & resists social constructions, embracing intersections & celebrating and / & / or / both / also / multiple / question / etc. They won the Grand Prize for the Eco Arts Awards in 2014 & was a finalist for terrain.org’s 2013 poetry contest. Ever is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Washington in Tacoma & teaches at Richard Hugo House. You can find their work at POETRY, Tupelo Press, About Place and others. Visit everjones.com to view some art and writing.

Omi Osun Joni L. Jones is an artist/scholar/facilitator who employs Black Feminist aesthetics and theatrical jazz principles in her work. Her original performances include sista docta, a critique of academic life, and Searching for Ọ̀ṣun, an ethnographic performance installation around the Divinity of the River. Her most recent book is Theatrical Jazz: Performance, Àṣẹ, and the Power of the Present Moment, a collaborative ethnography focusing on three theatrical jazz practitioners. Omi has been shaped by Robbie McCauley’s activist art, Laurie Carlos’s insistence on being present, and Barbara Ann Teer’s overt union of Art and Spirit. She is Professor Emerita from the African and African Diaspora Studies Department at the University of Texas at Austin, a mother, a Queer wife, and a curious sojourner.  

JARED JONES is a recipient of the University of West Georgia’s Kay Magenheimer Poetry Prize and an MFA candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Washington in Seattle. He has work forthcoming in the Birmingham Poetry Review. In his spare time, Jared enjoys soccer, video games, and writing unfinished screenplays. 

Hugo House and its many brilliant teachers welcomed me into the vast world of creative writing, encouraging me to write and challenging me to write better. The most precious gift Hugo House has given me is the opportunity to build relationships through writing with Darryl, Su, and Ren, and others. 

Intisaar is a Seattle-based singer, composer, and acoustic/electric powerhouse.

M is a visual storyteller. Wired magazine called M a "filmmaker provocateur." She produced Neptune Frost which premiered at Cannes in 2021 and received the Audience Award at Indie Memphis in 2022 for her feature debut, ELEPHANT.

Beth Jusino has more than twenty years of experience helping writers navigate the complicated space between manuscript and final book. A former literary agent and marketing director, she’s now a writer, developmental editor, and publishing consultant for both traditional and self-publishing authors. She’s the author of the award-winning Walking to the End of the World: A Thousand Miles on the Camino de Santiago and The Author's Guide to Marketing, and she’s ghostwritten and collaborated on half a dozen additional titles for both large and small presses. Beth is a member of The Authors Guild and the Northwest Editors Guild, and has taught at writers’ conferences and book festivals around the world. Visit her online at www.bethjusino.com or on Twitter/Instagram @bethjusino.

Ilya Kaminsky was born in Ukraine and currently lives in New Jersey. He is the author of Dancing in Odessa and Deaf Republic which was a finalist for the National Book Award and received the Los Angeles Times Book Award.

Tim Keck is the co-founder of The Onion, Portland Mercury, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper, The Stranger. He is currently working on a novel called "Balance Rock." He has told many people that it will be done soon.