Teachers

Jaime Parker Stickle is an actor, writer, and podcast host. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside low residency program. She is the creator of the hilarious and poignant podcast, Make That Paper featured in VoyageLA magazine. She is the creator and host of the new storytelling series “Okay, You Guys…” in Los Angeles. Her published work can be seen in The Coachella Review and the Adelaide Literary Anthology, amongst other places. She is currently the fiction and nonfiction editor for the literary magazine – GXRL. She is the recipient of a Virginia G. Piper Desert Nights Rising Stars Fellowship.

Jaime is currently finishing work on her first novel and is represented by Dara Hyde at the Hill Nadell Literary Agency.

Alli is a prose writer with a Masters in Creative Writing from University of Glasgow. Her work is featured in Crab Fat Magazine, The Bookends Review, The Daily Drunk Mag, and others. Alli was accepted to the Kenyon Review Writer’s Workshop Summer 2021. As well as writing, she spends her time making wheel-thrown pottery, reading, and drinking whisky—her favorite is Jura 10 year. She lives in Seattle with her spouse and two dogs.

Emily Parzybok is a writer, political consultant and teacher from Seattle. She serves as the Executive Director of Balance Our Tax Code advocating for progressive solutions to balance the tax code at the state legislature and on the ballot. She is a writer and an MFA candidate at New York University’s low residency program. Her work has been published in Poetry Northwest, The Syndrome Mag and Points in Case. She has work forthcoming in the Uncertain Girls, Uncertain Times anthology, a collection of inspiration and encouragement for young women. Above all else, she is a dedicated reader who can often be found in bed with her three cats, a cup of breakfast tea and a book.

Paxton is an artist, writer and game designer who has worked at the technical intersection of story and play both professionally and independently. Their interactive audio dramas have been published on the Amazon Echo, and their choice-based narratives have won awards through the Interactive Fiction Competition. Paxton is a Narrative Technical Designer for Bungie, previously for Destiny 2 and currently for the upcoming game, Marathon. They are also the founder of Cryptic Conservatory, a cooperative studio focused on helping new narrative designers find their voice.

Jordynn Paz is from the Apsaalooke (Crow) Nation of southeast Montana. Growing up on the reservation, she regularly attended powwows and other cultural/ceremonial events, often with a book in hand. Jordynn received her Bachelor of Arts in journalism and Native American Studies from the University of Montana. As a journalist she covered Indigenous issues including the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement, blood quantum, and the complexities of Indigenous identity.

Jordynn was a production assistant for the docuseries Murder in Big Horn which covered MMIW cases within her home community. Jordynn plans to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing in the future. Her focus on fiction and narrative nonfiction allows her to tell stories of her community in an accessible way. Growing up an avid reader she rarely saw her people in modern fiction or classic literature. She hopes to contribute to the amazing work of Indigenous writers of today. 

Michelle Peñaloza is the author of Former Possessions of the Spanish Empire, winner of the 2018 Hillary Gravendyk National Poetry Prize (Inlandia Books, 2019). She is also the author of two chapbooks, landscape/heartbreak (Two Sylvias, 2015), and Last Night I Dreamt of Volcanoes (Organic Weapon Arts, 2015). The recipient of fellowships and awards from the University of Oregon and Kundiman, Michelle has also received support from Lemon Tree House, Caldera, 4Culture, Literary Arts, VONA/Voices, and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, among others. The proud daughter of Filipino immigrants, Michelle was born in the suburbs of Detroit, MI and raised in Nashville, TN. She now lives in rural Northern California.

Francesca Penchant (she/her) is a designer, writer, and publisher who teaches editing at the University of Washington. She has an MFA with a concentration in book arts and creates books and ephemera for Rachilde & Co., an independent micropress. Francesca lives with her husband in Seattle.

Saleem Hue Penny (him/friend) is a Black, disabled poet expanding the pastoral tradition of the Southern Black Belt using a "rural hip-hop blues" aesthetic. Drum loops, field sounds, gouache, and birch bark commonly punctuate his poetry; these hybrid audio/mixed media pieces are released under the moniker h.u.e (hope – uplifts – everything).

Saleem is the 2021 Poetry Coalition Fellow at Zoeglossia, an Assistant Poetry Editor at Bellevue Literary Review, a member of Obsidian’s Inaugural “O|Sessions Black Listening” 2022 cohort, and a proud Cave Canem Fellow. Across poetic mediums, he explores how young people of color traverse wild spaces and define freedom on their own terms.

A mutual aid advocate and disability justice activist, he practices cultivating "Ecosystems of Care" centering

"Melanistic Wonderment". Saleem regularly collaborates on community engagement activities, particularly for teen parent-headed families, long-term pediatric patients, and families affected by incarceration.

He is compiling his first full-length poetry collection and pursuing archival research for ‘The Happy Land Liniment’ Project: an oral history, digital field guide, and chapbook-length lyric essay set in Reconstruction-era “Affrilachia”.

Alejandro Pérez-Cortés was born in Colima, Mexico.  

His poems and short stories have been published in newspapers in his home state since 1996. 

Year 2000. His work was included in the Anthology “Cage of Verses/ Jaula de Versos” published by the literary workshop “Chessboard / Tablero”, that was coordinated by the local poet Efrén Rodríguez. 

Year 2002. His manuscript won first place in the XVI Literary Creation Contest of ITESM -Zacatecas, Mexico. (19 poems)

Year 2018. Alejandro’s first English poems are included in the anthology “Soundings from the Salish Sea, A Pacific Northwest Poetry Anthology” (Edmonds, Washington) 

Year 2021. My manuscript "Ima and Coli are the tree that was never a seed" won the Octavio Paz Poetry Prize organized by the National Poetry Series and the Miami Book Fair at Miami Dade College. (Spanish – English bilingual edition)

He currently teaches Spanish in Washington State. 

Alejandro Pérez-Cortés nació en Colima, México.

Sus poemas y cuentos han sido publicados en periódicos de su estado natal desde 1996.

Año 2000. Sus poemas fueron incluidos en la Antología “Jaula de Versos/ ” editada por el taller literario “Tablero”, que coordinado por el poeta local Efrén Rodríguez en Colima, México.

Año 2002. Su manuscrito obtuvo el primer lugar en el XVI Concurso de Creación Literaria del ITESM -Zacatecas, México. (19 poemas)

Año 2018. Los primeros poemas en inglés de Alejandro se incluyeron en la antología “Soundings from the Salish Sea, A Pacific Northwest Poetry Anthology” (Edmonds, Washington)

Año 2021. Mi manuscrito "Ima y Coli son el árbol que nunca fue semilla" ganó el Premio de Poesía Octavio Paz organizado por National Poetry Series y la Feria del Libro de Miami en el Miami Dade College. (Edición bilingüe español – inglés)

Actualmente enseña español en el estado de Washington.

Paulette Perhach’s writing has been published in the New York Times, Vox, Elle, The Washington Post, Slate, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Marie Claire, Yoga Journal, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Hobart, and Vice. She’s the author of two million-reader viral essays.

Her book, Welcome to the Writer's Life, was selected as one of Poets & Writers' Best Books for Writers.

She blogs about a writer’s craft, business, personal finance, and joy at welcometothewriterslife.com and leads meditation and writing sessions through A Very Important Meeting.

She serves writers as a coach,

Hugo House awarded her the Made at Hugo House fellowship in 2013.

Jennifer (JP) Perrine is the author of four award-winning books of poetry: Again, The Body Is No Machine, In the Human Zoo, and No Confession, No Mass. Perrine’s recent poems, stories, and essays appear in The Missouri Review, New Letters, The Seventh Wave Magazine, Buckman Journal, and The Gay & Lesbian Review. A resident of Portland, Oregon, Perrine co-hosts the Incite: Queer Writers Read series, teaches creative writing to youth and adults, and serves as a wilderness guide.

Website: jenniferperrine.org

Kathryn Petruccelli holds an M.A. in teaching English language learners. A former slam host, she's taught young people through California Poets-in-the-Schools and Mass Poetry. Kathryn was a Best of the Net nominee and finalist for the Omnidawn Broadside Poetry Prize.

Brenda is the award-winning author of The Rock Eaters. Her stories have won an O. Henry Prize, a Pushcart Prize, the Chicago Tribune’s Nelson Algren Award, and inclusion in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. Her novella, Time’s Agent, is forthcoming from Tor.com in 2024.