Teachers

Sara Marie Ortiz is a Seattle-based writer of creative nonfiction, poetry, and mixed-genre work. She is an enrolled citizen of the Pueblo of Acoma, a graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts (BFA in creative writing) and Antioch University Los Angeles (MFA in creative writing). She has studied formally writing, law, Native studies, theater, and film. She has published widely, has been featured in such publications as the Kenyon Review, the Florida Review, Ploughshares, and she has presented widely from her beloved birthplace in New Mexico, throughout the Pacific Northwest, and all the way to Johannesburg, South Africa. Sara Marie is also a passionate Native educator and advocate in the realm of Native arts, culture, literature, tribal languages, education, and community. She currently serves as the Native Education Program Manager for Highline Public Schools in Burien, Washington, loves watching movies and listening to all kinds of music (especially chilled electronic, old timey blue grass, neo-Americana, folk, and hip hop), and has a fluffy orange cat named Mr. Pickles.

Esteban Ortiz-Villacorta (he/him/his) is from Sammamish, WA and is studying Theatre and History at Northwestern University. When not on-stage, Esteban can be found writing and recording original music with his band not alone, catching up on cartoons, perusing vinyl shops, or just sitting outside under the sun. 

The grandson of Filipino immigrants and the great-grandson of Japanese immigrants, Troy Osaki is a poet, organizer, and attorney. Osaki is a three-time grand slam poetry champion and has earned fellowships from Kundiman, Hugo House, and Jack Straw Cultural Center. He was awarded a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry fellowship from the Poetry Foundation in 2022. A 2022-2023 Critic-at-Large for Poetry Northwest, his poetry has appeared in Crazyhorse, the Margins, Muzzle Magazine, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Seattle University School of Law where he interned at Creative Justice, an arts-based alternative to incarceration for youth in King County. He lives in Seattle, WA. 

Jéhan Òsanyìn (they/them) is a somatic abolitionist and futurist facilitator who is also an Equity actor and Gregory Award nominated playwright. They studied theatre in Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Brazil and Venezuela. Jéhan produces their art through their experimental experiential art studio, earthseed, where studio research and performance explores the stories our bodies tell with and without our consent. Earthseed offers individual coaching, workshops, and lots of opportunities to investigate racialized identity development through experiential education and liberation.

Madeline Ostrander is an environmental journalist, nonfiction writer, and author of At Home on an Unruly Planet. The former senior editor of YES! Magazine, her work has appeared in the NewYorker.com, The Nation, Sierra Magazine, and numerous other outlets.

Michael Overa was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and completed his MFA at Hollins University. He is a former Writers In The Schools Resident and Jack Straw Fellow. He's the author of two collections of short stories, This Endless Road and The Filled In Spaces. His work has appeared in the Portland Review, East Bay Review, and Inlandia, among others.

Ruth Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker, and Zen Buddhist priest, whose books have garnered international acclaim for their ability to integrate issues of science, technology, religion, environmental politics, and global pop culture into unique, hybrid, narrative forms.

Her new novel, The Book of Form and Emptiness, tells the story of a young boy who, after the death of his father, starts to hear voices and finds solace in the companionship of his very own book. The Book of Form and Emptiness has been shortlisted for the UK Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Her first two novels, My Year of Meats (1998) and All Over Creation (2003), have been translated into 11 languages and published in 14 countries. Her third novel, A Tale for the Time Being (2013), won the LA Times Book Prize, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and has been published in over thirty countries.

Her work of personal non-fiction, The Face: A Time Code (2016), was published by Restless Books as part of their groundbreaking series called The Face.

Shin Yu Pai is the author of several books of poetry, including Virga, ENSŌ, Sightings: Selected Works (2000-2005), Aux Arcs, Adamantine, and Equivalence. She served as the fourth poet laureate of the City of Redmond, Washington, from 2015 to 2017. She is a three-time fellow of MacDowell and has completed residencies at Taipei Artist Village, Centrum, and The Ragdale Foundation. She writes, hosts, and produces the podcast The Blue Suit for KUOW Public Radio. For more information, visit shinyupai.com

Architect, technologist and writer Simin Paksirat lived in Iran most of her life, and came to the US several years ago. She has lived in Chicago and Seattle, and is deeply involved in supporting the struggle in Iran today.

Marc J Palm facilitates the anthology DUNE mini comics that happens monthly at Hugo House. A freelance illustrator for magazines like MAD, Metrograph, and Public Display.Art, Marc was the head organizer and publisher of the INTRUDER comics newspaper during its run from 2012-2016. As a self-publisher, he made his first comic book in 1993, and most recently released The Fang vol. 3 in early summer 2025.

Claudia Alexandra Paras is a mixed-race writer, born and raised in the Philippines who immigrated to the U.S. when she was 18. Writing has been her most patient and challenging life-long friend. She loves trees, bike rides, chocolate, and thinking slowly.

Morgan Parker’s visceral and provocative poetry has been heralded as “a riveting testimony to everyday blackness.” Audacious and essential, her work electrifies audiences and has been awarded with a National Endowment for the Arts Literary Fellowship. “Ignore Ms. Parker at your peril,” acclaimed poet Patricia Smith warns, and we second the sentiment. Grappling with the complications and considerations of contemporary black womanhood, pop culture, and personal history, Morgan’s poetry collections include There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé, Other People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up at Night, and her latest, Magical Negro, for which she was the recipient of a 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award. She is also the author of the young adult novel, Who Put This Song On?, which is loosely based on Morgan’s own teenage life and diaries. Morgan is the creator and host of the live talk show Reparations, Live! at the Ace Hotel and co-curates the Poets with Attitude (PWA) reading series. Her work has been awarded with a Pushcart Prize and a fellowship from Cave Canem. Morgan lives in Los Angeles with her dog Shirley and is currently at work on her forthcoming book of nonfiction.

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.