Teachers

Janine Kovac writes about power dynamics and women’s bodies. Since 2014 Janine has taught introductory and advanced classes in Scrivener for organizations such as The Writers Grotto in San Francisco, Page Street, The Unicorn Author Club and through private consultations.

Christine Kwon is the author of A Ribbon the Most Perfect Blue (Southeast Missouri State University Press 2023), which won the Cowles Poetry Prize. She is literary editor of Tilted House and lives in New Orleans. Read more on christinekwonwrites.com.

Samantha Ladwig is an essayist, creative writing instructor, and book reviewer based on a small island in the Salish Sea. Her work has been published by The Cut, Literary Hub, Vulture, Bustle, Vice, Real Simple, HuffPost, and Vox, among many others. Find her at samanthaladwig.com.

Describe your teaching style.

I like to create a warm and inviting atmosphere so that students feels comfortable to explore whatever subject they want to write about and also push through creative challenges to pinpoint the emotion of that subject. Respect is a key component of comfort, and I prioritize that by engaging with each student and managing constructive facilitation. My goal with teaching is to inspire, for students to leave the workshop excited to get back to the page. Simply tuning in to each student and including everyone in the overall conversation does just that.

Meghan Lamb is the author of COWARD, Failure to Thrive, All of Your Most Private Places, and Silk Flowers. She is a lecturer at the University of Chicago and the nonfiction editor of Nat. Brut, a Whiting Award-winning journal. Go to http://meghanlamb.com/ for more information.

Nora Lange’s novel Us Fools is longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction, a Los Angeles Times bestseller, and New York Times Editors’ Choice. Nora’s writing has appeared in BOMB, Hazlitt, Joyland, American Short Fiction and elsewhere.

Kate Lebo’s writing is anthologized in Best American Essays 2015 and her first collection of nonfiction, The Book of Difficult Fruit, was published by FSG in Spring 2021. She’s the author of Pie School and co-editor (with Samuel Ligon) of Pie & Whiskey.

Kimberly Lee, JD, is the author of the gripping thriller, Have You Seen Him. A versatile writer, workshop facilitator, editor, and creativity coach, she has a passion for nurturing the imaginative spirit and helping others reveal their own inner wisdom. Kimberly left the practice of law some years ago to focus on motherhood, community work, and creative pursuits. A graduate of Stanford University and UC Davis School of Law, she is an Amherst Writers & Artists facilitator and holds additional certifications from Guided Autobiography, The Center for Journal Therapy, The Center for Intentional Creativity, The Path Meditation, and SoulCollage®. She has led workshops at numerous retreats, conferences, and nonprofit and corporate venues. A former editor and regular contributor at Literary Mama, Kimberly has also served on the staffs of Carve and F(r)iction magazines. Her stories and essays have appeared in publications and anthologies including Minerva Rising, LA Parent, Words and Whispers, Toyon, The Ekphrastic Review, Writers Read, I Am Woman: Expressions of Black Womanhood in America, the Better Sleep app, and elsewhere. Kimberly trusts in the magic and mystery of miracles and synchronicity, and believes that everyone is creative and has unique gifts to share. She lives in Southern California with her husband and three children. Connect with Kimberly at KimberlyLee.me.

Margot Leitman is an award-winning storyteller, best-selling author, speaker and teacher. A former story scout for "This American Life," she is considered a leading expert in the growing field of storytelling. Leitman has written two books on the subject: the best-selling, Long Story Short: The Only Storytelling Guide You'll Ever Need and her latest What’s Your Story? A Workbook For the Storyteller in All of Us both from Sasquatch Books. Her comedic memoir, Gawky: Tales of an Extra Long Awkward Phase is available from Seal Press/Perseus Books

Noah Lemelson is a speculative fiction writer based in Los Angeles. His short stories have appeared in Planet Scumm, Allegory, and Interzone among others. His debut dieselpunk novel, The Sightless City, was released in 2021. Find more at Noahlemelson.com

Jaimie Li is a contributing writer at Poetry Northwest and Darling Magazine and the Editor-in-chief of the Spring 2020 issue of The Pitkin Review. She received her MFA in Creative Writing at Goddard College in 2022 and is the recipient of the 2019 Goddard/PEN North American Centers Scholarship for her work in fiction and memoir. In 2011, she received her BA in Law at Balliol College, Oxford University. She grew up in Los Angeles County and currently lives on the Cedar River in Maple Valley, WA. To learn more about Jaimie go to www.jaimiezongli.com.

Rosario López es escritora, periodista, editora y profesora. Autora de Los besos secos (Bala Perdida, 2020), finalista del Certamen Internacional de Novela Ciudad de Barbastro, 2019. Enseña escritura creativa en Escuela de Escritores, Madrid (España).

Rosario López is the author of Los besos secos (Bala Perdida, 2020), finalist of the International Novel Award City of Barbastro, 2019. She is a writer, journalist, editor and teacher. She has lived and worked in Spain, the Czech Republic, Africa and The Balkans. She was a european volunteer in North Macedonia. Currently, she lives in Madrid and teaches creative writing at Escuela de Escritores. She writes fiction, poetry, articles and books reviews. Her work has been published in several magazines and anthologies: Librújula, Turia, Malos Hábitos, Archiletras, Frontera Magazine, Mujeres Viajeras and others. She was a finalist for the Energheia Award in 2020, a competition of short stories written by young writers. She is always writing: even if she´s in the shower, washing the plates, sleeping or walking, she is always writing.

Describe your teaching style:

I am a friendly person, because I am interested not only in arts but in human beings. It will be a dynamic class.

Lisa Lucas is a senior vice president at Penguin Random House, overseeing Pantheon and Schocken. From 2016-2020, she was the executive director of the National Book Foundation, the organization that runs the National Book Awards and promotes reading and writing. Prior to that, Lucas was the publisher of the beloved literary magazine Guernica. 

Alexandra Lytton Regalado is a Salvadoran-American author, editor, and translator. She is the author of Relinquenda, winner of the National Poetry Series (Beacon Press, 2022); the chapbook Piedra (La Chifurnia, 2022); and the poetry collection, Matria, winner of the St. Lawrence Book Award (Black Lawrence Press, 2017). Alexandra holds fellowships at CantoMundo and Letras Latinas and her work has appeared in The Best American Poetry, poets.org, World Literature Today, and the Poetry Foundation’s Harriet blog, among others. Her translations of contemporary Latin American poetry appear in Poetry International, FENCE, and Tupelo Quarterly and she is the translator of Family or Oblivion by Elena Salamanca and Prewar by Tania Pleitez. She is the co-founding editor of Kalina, a press that showcases bilingual, Central American-themed books and she is assistant editor at SWWIM Every Day an online daily poetry journal for women-identifying poets. Website: www.alexandralyttonregalado.com

Alex Madison is a writer of fiction and creative nonfiction. Her work has appeared in Bitch, Salon, Harvard Review and elsewhere. She holds a Master in Teaching from the University of Washington and an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Describe your teaching style.

It's important to me that every writer feels "speaking rights" in the room, so I often employ turn-and-talk and small group discussion practices, as well as invitations for larger-group conversation. At the same time, I also want to share the wisdom I've acquired from my own teachers and readings, so I will provide handouts and brief discussion leadership (i.e some spurts of lecture and talking "at" you). I like to invite writers to share their own writing but will not require it in this class; you can always opt to share your experience with the between-class habits without sharing the output.

Cynthia Manick is the author of No Sweet Without Brine (Amistad, 2023) which received 5 stars from Roxane Gay, editor of The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry, winner of the Lascaux Prize in Collected Poetry, and author of Blue Hallelujahs. She has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, MacDowell Colony, and Château de la Napoule among other foundations. For 10 years she curated Soul Sister Revue, a quarterly reading series that promoted poetry as storytelling and featured emerging poets, poet laureates, and Pulitzer prize winners. Manick’s poem “Things I Carry into the World” was made into a film by Motionpoems and debuted on Tidal for National Poetry Month. A storyteller at literary festivals, libraries, and museums, her work has also featured in VOICES, an audio play by Aja Monet and Eve Ensler’s V-Day, the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day Series, Brooklyn Rail, the Rumpus and other outlets. She currently serves on the editorial board of Alice James Books. She lives in Brooklyn, New York but travels widely for poetry.

Corinne Manning's debut story collection We Had No Rules has received starred reviews from Booklist and Publisher's Weekly the latter noting it "exquisitely examines queer relationships with equal parts humor, heartache, and titillation." Corinne has taught for Hugo House since 2011.

Siwar Masannat is a Jordanian writer and the author of two books of poetry, cue: poems (University of Georgia Press, 2024) and 50 Water Dreams (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2015).

Describe your teaching style.

I typically begin by introducing the texts we are reading and offering some context to facilitate a well-informed collaborative reading experience. I like to ask questions and open up space for students to contribute their own observations, knowledge, and interests to the conversation.

Lish McBride is the author of funny and creepy young adult books such as Hold Me Closer, Necromancer; Necromancing the Stone; Firebug; Pyromantic; and the upcoming Curses. She has a BFA in creative writing from Seattle University and an MFA from the University of New Orleans.

Jennifer McGaha is the author of Flat Broke with Two Goats, Bushwhacking: How to Get Lost in the Woods and Write Your Way Out, and The Joy Document (Broadleaf Books, 2024). She currently coordinates UNC-Asheville's Great Smokies Writing Program.

Describe your teaching style.

My teaching practice is deeply rooted in this belief in the power of writing to be both radical and revelatory. I encourage my students to approach memoir writing with more questions than answers, more curiosity than certitude, and I invite them to appreciate and even enjoy writing as a process that involves multiple drafts, multiple attempts at reaching for the truth. For me, this hope of gaining new insights into the experiences that have shaped me brings me to the page time and time again, and I encourage my students to approach their craft with an openness to what might be versus what is. My teaching, like my writing, is accessible, joyful, celebratory, and I value the unique insights each writer brings to the classroom with the ultimate goal of helping students discover the stories they most want to tell.

Elise M. McHugh is a writer, teacher, and editor based in Washington State. Originally from New Mexico, she is a senior acquisitions editor for the University of New Mexico Press. McHugh has published poetry and nonfiction in numerous venues, including New Mexico Magazine and ABQ InPrint and has taught poetry and publishing classes and workshops in a variety of settings. She holds an MA in creative writing from the University of New Mexico.

Describe your teaching style.

I’m a lifelong learner, and I learn all the time in workshops and on panels. It’s one of the many reasons I enjoy teaching. The energy generated by people as they share experiences and questions and ideas feeds part of me that always needs replenishing. My approach as an instructor is to use examples and humor to demystify the process as much as possible in a supportive environment where everyone takes away something that will replenish them and get them once step closer to their goals as writers and as human beings.