W.o.o.t.s.

Writers in Residence 2008-2009

Turiya Autry is a writer, performance artist, educator, event organizer and the 2007 recipient of Portland State University’s “John Eliot Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award.” Work with her duo Good Sista/Bad Sista was included in The Quotable Rebel and Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution. Whether working with a classroom or a crowd of over twenty thousand, she encourages self-expression and awareness through written and spoken word.

Lorraine Bahr is an award-winning actress, playwright and director. She is co-founder of Sowelu Ensemble Theater in Portland and teaches Acting and Playwriting at Portland State University, in Washington and Oregon high schools, and at the Well Arts Institute. Her produced plays include A Life Alone, Bottomless, Count Time Count Time, Charlie Stone and numerous short plays. She is currently writing Mothers Trilogy, as well as a new show with Ritah Parrish, to be performed May 2009.

Carmen T. Bernier-Grand is a Puerto Rico native who has lived in Portland for the past 32 years. She teaches for Community of Writers and the Whidbey Island MFA program. Her books for children and young adults have been Oregon Book Awards finalists. César: ¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can! and Frida: ¡Viva la Vida! Long Live Life! won Pura Belpré awards. Bernier-Grand is the recipient of the 2008 Evelyn Sibley Lampman Award for her contributions to literature for children and young adults.

Carson Cistulli earned his MFA in poetry at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he created and led two experimental writing workshops, one on sports writing and the other entitled “Let’s Misbehave,” which focused on literature’s greatest smart alecks. A finalist for both the Fence Modern Poets Series Book Contest and the Jack Spicer First Book Award, his full-length book of poems, Some Common Weaknesses Illustrated, was published in 2007 by Casagrande Press.

Raphael Dagold is a poet, woodworker and photographer. His poems have appeared in Quarterly West, Indiana Review, two girls review, Frank, Shirim, The Oregonian, Born and Bridges. His prose has appeared in the anthology Northwest Edge III: The End of Reality. Two fables from Versions of Aesop, a book in progress, appeared in Quarterly West, and two others appeared in Washington Square. Carbon, Dagold’s book-length poetry manuscript has twice been a finalist for the Anhinga Press Poetry Prize.

Michael Dickman was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He has lived in California, Mexico, Texas, and most recently Michigan. His poems have appeared in places such as Tin House, FIELD, The American Poetry Review, and The New Yorker. His first book, The End Of The West, is forthcoming from Copper Canyon Press in 2009.

Hunt Holman’s play Willow Jade was read in the Made in Oregon Series at Portland Center Stage in summer 2008. His play Spanish Girl was produced off-Broadway by Second Stage Theatre in their Uptown Series, and revived in fall 2007 in Vancouver, BC. His other plays have been produced in Seattle, New York, Los Angeles and Roanoke, Virginia. He is a co-founder of Printer’s Devil Theatre in Seattle, Washington. He earned an MFA at Columbia University’s School of the Arts.

John Isaacson is a cartoonist and poet whose illustrations, poetry, comics and journalism have appeared in The East Bay Express, Terrain, The Santa Barbara Independent and the anthologies Pet Noir, Not My Small Diary and Sidewalk Bump. His first graphic novel, Do It Yourself Screen-Printing, was published in 2007 by Microcosm. He has taught creative writing, poetry, comics and screen-printing throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Joe Kurmaskie is a journalist, bike adventurer and the author of Metal Cowboy and Riding Outside the Lines. He is a regular columnist for Bicycling, where his “Ask the Metal Cowboy” column appears. Kurmaskie has written for Backpacker, Details, Outside, Portland Monthly and other publications. He frequently reviews books for the Oregonian. He has taught writing in the schools through Community of Writers, and he founded Camp Creative, a summer arts program for children and young adults in New Mexico.

Jessica Lamb is a poet and essayist. Her work has appeared in literary magazines such as Poetry, Willow Springs, Carolina Quarterly, Fireweed, Green Mountains Review, Hubbub, Open Spaces and The Southern Review. She received her master’s degree in Italian literature from Stanford. Lamb is a poetry instructor for Portland’s Community of Writers. Her first collection of poems, Night Feeding, has been a finalist for several first book prizes.

Amy Minato is author of The Wider Lens poetry collection published in 2004 by Ice River Press and a creative nonfiction book, Siesta Lane, forthcoming from Skyhorse Press in 2009. Her poetry has been published in Wilderness Magazine, Poetry East, Windfall, Cimarron Review and Oregonian Poetry Corner and has been recognized with a 2003 Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship. She teaches poetry writing at Washington State University, through Literary Arts and in other venues.

John Morrison earned his MFA from the University of Alabama and received the 2003 C. Hamilton Bailey Poetry Fellowship from Literary Arts. His book, Heaven of the Moment, won the Rhea & Seymour Gorsline Poetry Competition and is a finalist for the Oregon Book Award in poetry. His poems have appeared in the Cimarron Review, Poetry East, Southern Poetry Review, and Caffeine Destiny among other national journals. He currently teaches poetry at Washington State University, Vancouver.

Laura Moulton earned an MFA in writing from Eastern Washington University. She has taught writing workshops in high schools, universities and a homeless shelter for teens. She is adjunct professor at Mt. Hood Community College and teaches workshops at the women’s prison in Wilsonville. Her work has been featured in Hip Mama, Nervy Girl, Portland Tribune, and Brain Child. She was recently selected as an artist-in-residence at Portland State University, where she will complete a public art project in 2009.

Emma Oliver is from Guadalajara, Mexico. In addition to her work with Literary Arts, she teaches creative writing in The Miracle Theatre’s youth program, Pluma Nueva. She recently completed her first novel, A House in Los Potreros and is currently seeking a publisher. She is working on her second novel, The Mexican Gang of Four.

Donna Prinzmetal is a poet and psychotherapist. Her poems have appeared in The Journal, The Pinch, 88, Cincinnati Review, New Ohio Review, and in the anthology Chance of a Ghost. A first-prize winner in the California Quarterly poetry competition, she has won two Oregon State Poetry Awards.

Mark Pomeroy has received an Oregon Literary Fellowship for fiction, a residency at Caldera, and his poetry and essays have appeared in Open Spaces, The Oregonian, and Portland. A former classroom teacher, he holds an MA in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and lives in northeast Portland with his wife, a public school teacher, and his young son, a rambunctious otter of a child.

Carlos Reyes is a noted poet, translator, editor and writer. His most recent book of poetry is At the Edge of the Western Wave (Lost Horse Press). He was recently honored with a Heinrich Boll fellowship, allowing him to spend two weeks writing in the Boll Cottage on Achill Island, Ireland. In addition to his work with Literary Arts, he has taught as a poet in the schools with Young Audiences and Community of Writers.

Kirsten Rian’s poetry has appeared in national literary journals and nominated for inclusion in the 2008 Best New Poets anthology. She leads workshops internationally in places like Finland and Sierra Leone working with refugee/immigrant and homeless communities. She is co-author of Walking Bridges Using Poetry as a Compass, featuring poems by 70 nationally recognized poets. An independent curator and writer, she has coordinated over 375 exhibitions and 65 books and catalogues.

Joanna Rose is a poet, short-story writer and novelist. Her first novel, Little Miss Strange, won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Fiction Prize and was a finalist for an Oregon Book Award. She is a regular reviewer for The Oregonian and her work has appeared in ZYZZYVA, Story Magazine, Artisan Journal and Northern Lights. She has worked with WITS for ten years, as well as working directly with teachers through University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and Portland State University on presenting creative writing in the classroom.

Natalie Serber received her MFA from Warren Wilson in 2005. Her work has appeared in The Bellingham Review, Fourth Genre, Gulf Coast, the collections, Knowing Pains and Airfare: Stories, Poems and Essays on Flight. Her work has been short-listed for Best American Stories. Awards include the TobiasWolff Award for Fiction, John Steinbeck Award for Fiction, and a finalist mention for the Annie Dillard Creative Nonfiction Award. Natalie is at work on a collection of linked stories and a novel.

JoNelle Toriseva is a poet, short-story writer, playwright, and novelist. She received a master’s degree in creative writing from Mills College. She is the author of two books, Rodeo Day and Becoming Ballet. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Descant, Soundings East, The Fiddlehead, PRISM International, Fulcrum and 14 Hills. She has taught at Mills College, Universidad de Valle in Guatemala City, California Poets in the Schools and the San Francisco Arts Commission’s WriterCorps and is the recipient of a Breadloaf Writers’ Conference scholarship.

Cindy Williams Gutiérrez collaborates with artists in theatre, music and visual art. Her poems and reviews have been published in Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Calyx, Crab Orchard Review, Open Spaces, Rain Taxi, and ZYZZYVA. Her plays have been produced by the Miracle Theatre Group and Insight Out Theatre Collective in Portland, Oregon. Cindy earned an MFA from the University of Southern Maine Stonecoast Program. She is President of the Board of Directors of the Miracle Theatre Group and teaches through Community of Writers and the Attic.

Matthew B. Zrebski is a professional theatre artist who has spent the majority of his career devoted to the development of new theatrical work. Productions of his plays include the planet ME, Neck, A Place Called Timothy, Darkstep and Dawning, Parts, After the Zipper, The Vespiary, and Ablaze. In addition to his work with Literary Arts, Matt teaches playwriting for Portland Center Stage through both the Visions and Voices program and the Greenhouse School of Theatre.