2026 Participating Artists (more being added!)

Owólabi Aboyade is a multidimensional essayist/ poet/ critic/hip hop artist/ Detroiter. His work has been anthologized (NOMBONO, A Body You Talk To) and recognized by the Odd Contest and SFPA. He is Text Editor of AWE Society Press. His work has been supported by Tin House and VONA. He holds an MFA from Pacific University. Lee,Young Lee is his first poetry chapbook. owolabiAse@gmail.com
creativecalabash.substack.com
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Holly has been writing and co-writing scripts for 30 years, including Best Audio Drama winner, The Mysterious CHIRP podcast! Other notable scripts include an adaptation of Paper Bag Princess approved by the author, multiple acclaimed interactive stage performances for children, and commissioned mysteries. Holly is also an award-winning teaching artist and SAG-AFTRA performer. holly@holly-adams.com 
themysteriouschirp.com
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Linda D. Addison is the author of five award-winning collections, and recipient of the HWA Lifetime Achievement Award and SFPA Grand Master of Fantastic Poetry. LindaAddisonWriter.com

Rocio Anica received her MFA in Fiction at Cornell University, where she garnered the Martin Sampson Teaching Award. Her creative writing has been nominated for Best of the Net and has appeared on the Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions list and the Jeanne Leiby Chapbook Award longlist. She volunteers her writing to non-profit organizations in her spare time.  rocioanica.com

Brian Arnold is a photographer and writer interested in exploring ethnography and multicultural collaboration. He has published three books, the most recent called A History of Photography in Indonesia, and is currently immersed in his fourth, Something About YU: Photography and the Western Balkans. His work has been supported by MacDowell, AIFIS/Henry Luce Foundation, and NYSCA. briancarnold@gmail.com
briancarnold.com / Work Sample

Liz Arnold, a 2026 NYSCA Support for Artists Grantee, sponsored by the Center for the Arts of Homer, has published nonfiction in Fourth Genre, The Common, The New York Times, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir-in-progress has been supported by Bread Loaf, Tin House, and Vermont Studio Center. A 2023 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow, she lives in Brooklyn and Cortland.
liz-arnold.com

Aishvarya Arora is a poet, teaching artist, and cultural organizer from Queens, New York. They’re the author of Mr. Time (Gold Line Press, forthcoming 2026). Their writing has appeared in Poetry, The Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, Poetry Northwest, The Brooklyn Rail, and Foglifter, among other publications. They create poetry ephemera through their micropress, Lavender Codex.
coolslug.com
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Naomi Artemi is a speculative fiction author and community creative writing teacher based in Ithaca, NY. She holds a Masters in Screenwriting from the National Film School of Ireland. Such world travel experiences have infused her stories with otherworldly environments, often with characters who are fish out of water—if the fish could time travel or shape shift… naomiartemi@gmail.com
naomiartemi.com

Jamaica Baldwin’s first book, Bone Language, was published by YesYes Books in June 2023. Her work has appeared in Guernica, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, The Missouri Review, and more. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, a and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a Rhino Editor’s Prize, among others. She lives and teaches in Ithaca, New York.
jamaicabaldwin.com
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Diverging from a past of structured writing for forums such as competitive public speaking and freelance food journalism, Barden’s poetry practice is a joyous sandbox. They are particularly drawn to the puzzle-esque process of revision. Much like the fossilization of tree resin into amber, Barden sees poems as a preservation & distortion of life experiences into a form of beauty all its own.
sebarden.pika.page

E.C. Barrett is a writer, editor, literary critic, award-winning journalist, and creative writing teacher. A Clarion West graduate, EC’s writing has appeared in Baffling, Bourbon Penn, Split Lip, Strange Horizons, and elsewhere, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. In their off hours, EC gardens, games, and makes art, some of which can be found at ecbarrett.com.
ecbarrett.com

nicole v basta’s poems appear in Ploughshares, Blackbird, Third Coast, North American Review, etc. “the next field over,” was published by Tolsun Books in 2022. nicole is also a visual artist, community educator, and arts events producer with proud roots in the Pennsylvania coal mines & garment factories. Her work has been supported by Art Farm Nebraska, Monson Arts, The Saltonstall Foundation, etc. She is the Poet Laureate of Tompkins County.
nicolevbasta.com

Michelle Courtney Berry is the second Tompkins County Poet Laureate, a published author, award-winning storyteller, and global speaker. She has shared her work across the globe, exploring resilience, leadership, and the human cost of how we live and work through storytelling, acting, poetry, and a deep commitment to healing and transformation. michellecourtneyberry@gmail.com
michellecourtneyberry.com

Janie E. Bibbie, a former Tompkins County Poet Laureate, is the self-published author of “Alzheimer’s: Up Close and Personal” and several books of poetry. Her poems bring reflection and hope into ordinary life. write2jeb@gmail.com
janieebibbie.com

Aurora Bonner is a writer and teacher whose work appears in journals including Cleaver Magazine, HerStry, Impost, and Under the Gum Tree, and in the anthologies Rivers, Ridges, and Valleys (shortlisted for WCoNA Book of the Year) and DINE. She reviews books for Colorado Review and Hippocampus Magazine, holds an MFA from Wilkes University, and teaches writing at McDaniel College.
aurorabonner.com
abonner.substack.com

Gordon Bonnet is an author and blogger, originally from southern Louisiana. He writes speculative and historical fiction, and is the author of 24 novels, with three more currently in process. All of his stories center on how we process what we experience, how those experiences create our worldviews, and how that worldview changes over the course of our lives. gordon.bonnet@gmail.com
gordonbonnet.com
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Ilona edits imaginary books in her dreams. That’s the apparent result of having spent the last 26 years as an author/editor at Nolo (publisher of legal how-to books) and an even longer time drafting children’s books. After enduring many kidlit rejections, she’s thrilled that her co-authored middle-grade novel CAT TAKES QUEEN will come out in October, 2026 (Feiwel & Friends).
ilonabraylit.com
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Michael Gray Bulla is a graduate of Wells College, where he majored in Creative Writing. He is the author of two young adult novels: If I Can Give You That (2023) and The Ghost of You (2024). Originally from Tennessee, Gray currently resides in Ithaca, New York with his partner and their two cats, Hermes and Hera.
michaelgraybulla.com
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Ayani Bunch likes to make up stories about sports and life. She is a ninth grader at the Lehman Alternative Community School. She plays basketball, which is her favorite sport.

John Buskin does a great imitation of Wallace Shawn in ‘My Dinner With Andre.’
john.buskin@gmail.com

Regi is a storyteller, author and gal about town. She’s traveled the world bringing stories and workshops to others who want connection, expression and more than a little fun in their lives.
regi@regicarpenter.com
regicarpenter.com

Ana Celeste Carpenter is a local vocalist, artist, and poet. You can find them behind the bar or on stage at K-House, or at cafes doing forever-homework for a masters program. Ana has found a loving and exuberant community in Ithaca who inspire them endlessly; they are excited to continue their creative endeavors: singing, playing guitar, publishing poetry, and acting.
ana.celeste.carpenter@gmail.com
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Amrita Chakraborty is a writer from Queens, New York and a PhD candidate in comparative literature at Cornell University. Her work explores transgressive forms of embodiment, border ecologies, and everyday utopia. Her poetry, prose, and scholarship has been published by the Latin American Literary Review, the Asian American Writer’s Workshop, and more. You can find her work at amritachakraborty.com. amritacwriting@gmail.com

Amanda Jaros Champion is the author of In My Boots: A Memoir of Five Million Steps Along the Appalachian Trail and 100 Things to Do in Ithaca Before You Die and editor of Labor of Love: A Literary Mama Anthology. Her literary nonfiction has appeared in journals and magazines including Terrain.org, Newfound, Stone Canoe, and Appalachia. Find her at Amandakjaros.com
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Rob Costello (he/him) is a Lambda, Locus, and Bram Stoker Award nominated author, anthologist, and teacher. His books include An Ugly World for Beautiful Boys and We Mostly Come Out At Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters, Angels & Other Creatures. He lives in upstate NY with his husband and their four-legged overlords. Learn more at:
cloudbusterpress.com
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Lee Cotman (they/them) writes for and about working-class people. Their latest screenplay, There Were Signs, made Semifinalist in the 2026 Killer Shorts Horror Screenplay Competition. In 2025, Lee was awarded a residency from the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts and a Graduate Diversity Fellowship from Empire State University, where they are studying queer and trans representation in historical cinema.
leecotman.com

Victor Cruz is a senior at LACS. He writes poems exploring his perspective, his family, and how everything is connected through his culture. He enjoys music, writing, and spending time with his friends.

Susan Annah Currie is a librarian, author and former county legislator. She worked at Cornell University, SUNY Binghamton and Tompkins County Public Library. She is the author of the “The Preventorium,” winner of a 2023 Memoir Magazine award, acknowledged by the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters, & a finalist for the Memoir Award American of Legacy Book Awards. susanannah@gmail.com
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Jessica Custer-Bindel is an early childhood teacher, musician, and poet living in Ithaca, NY. Of Ethiopian, Somalian, and Italian heritage, she was raised across Italy, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. Her poetry reflects this blend of cultures and experiences, and weaves the ordinary through prose.
custerjessica.wixsite.com
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Leslie Daniels’ novel, Cleaning Nabokov’s House, was published in translation in four languages and optioned for film. Daniels will teach this summer at Community of Writers conference and at Colgate.
lesliedaniels.com
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Alida Dean‘s poems and short stories have recently appeared in The Forge, Chicago Quarterly Review and SmokeLong Quarterly, among other venues. She was a 2025 fellow in poetry at the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts. Alida teaches writing workshops through the nonprofit Literary Cleveland and at TC3. alidamdean@yahoo.com
alidadean.com

Stephen St. Francis Decky is a multimedia artist and writer whose work has appeared in festivals and museums both nationally and internationally. As a video designer, he has worked on operas and installations throughout the U.S., and he has taught animation and video at several schools, including Ithaca College and Tufts University. Stephen is the author of the novella Make the Bear Be Nice, and his first novel—Werewolf Movie —was published recently by Frayed Edge Press.
frayededgepress.com/werewolf_movie.html
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Ben is a Junior at Ithaca College with a BA in Writing and Theatre Studies. They love blue, dew, and everything new. You can find most of their works performed within the carpeted halls of Dillingham. Ben plans on becoming a playwright and director. benxavierdomenick@gmail.com
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Pete Dorman is a poet from Columbus, Georgia, and a third-year student at Ithaca College. Their work has been featured in coalitionworks, Oakland Arts Review, Wallstrait, and elsewhere.

Scótt Russell Dúncan, a Xicano writer, edited the first Chicano sci-fi anthology, El Porvenir, ¡Ya!: Citlalzazanilli Mexicatl and is creator and editor of the Xicanxfuturism: Gritos for Tomorrow Codex I & II. He is director of Palabras del Pueblo writing workshop and co-creator of Maíz Poppin’ Press. His novel, Old California Strikes Back, a magic memoir and meta-novel described as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas meets Yo Soy Joaquin, is published through FlowerSong Press.  scottrussellduncan@gmail.com
scottrussellduncan.com
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Erica Rose Eberhart is a neurodivergent, disabled writer of queer characters, dragons, girls who grow feathers, and boys who become trees. She lives in the New York Finger Lakes with her family. She is the author of The Elder Tree Trilogy. Find out more at ericaroseeberhart.com
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Jade Ferrante is an Ithaca College alum who studied writing and English. Her fictional and poetic work can be found in Waxwing, Greene Street Review, Oakland Arts Review, and Stillwater. She was the inaugural winner of the Louise Cannon Prize. Her favorite color is neon orange.
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Yvonne Fisher is a writer, performer, visual artist, and psychotherapist. She’s been doing theater for much of her life. Her latest show: AGING IN THE APOCALYPSE was a collaboration performed in Ithaca NY for which she received a grant from the Community Arts Partnership. She is excited to be working with Sue Perlgut and Leigh Keeley for Spring Writes.

Peter Fortunato is a poet, painter, essayist and novelist. The author of several poetry collections and the winner of numerous prestigious prizes, his latest collection is World Headquarters, from Fomite Press, which also published his novel Carnevale. His memoir, Desert Wind: My Life in Qatar recounts some of his experiences when he taught at Weill Cornell Medicine—Qatar from 2005-2009. poetfortunato@gmail.com
peterfortunato.net

Kate Frazer is an essayist and poet who writes about the natural world, the wild edges of parenthood, and the places where wonder and dread meet. Her work has appeared in Flyway, Joy and Fragmentation: An Anthology, Nature Conservancy magazine and elsewhere. She’s studied with writers including Janisse Ray, Ross Gay, Katrina Vandenberg, and Danusha Laméris at Bread Loaf and Orion magazine workshops. By day, she leads storytelling at a global environmental NGO. klfrazer@gmail.com
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Alison Fromme is a writer interested in exploring themes like logic and emotion, expressions of power, and the natural world. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, Pregnancy, Stone Canoe, and elsewhere, and she was a Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts fellow. Alison is currently working towards her MFA in Creative Nonfiction at Bennington College.
alisonfromme.com
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Laura Glenn is the author of I Can’t Say I’m Lost (FootHills) and When the Ice Melts (Finishing Line), and has completed another manuscript. Her poems have appeared in Antioch Review, Boulevard, Cortland Review, Epoch, Green Mountains, Hotel Amerika, Massachusetts Review, Ninth Letter, Poet Lore, Poetry, Smartish Pace, literary anthologies, etc. Also an artist, she works as a freelance editor. lauraglenn95@gmail.com
lauraglennpoetandartist.com

Rebecca Gopoian received her MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She’s the author of a poetry chapbook, Terrible Person, and a book-length poem, Two, about becoming a mother for the second time. Rebecca lives in Queens and teaches English at Hostos Community College in the Bronx. First Rule of Fire is her first novel.
rebeccagopoian.com
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Melanie loves to read and write Sapphic love stories. She’s also a huge Survivor fan, which was the inspiration for this year’s Literary Survivor event. She can’t wait for the day when those two interests collide.
melaniegreaver.com

Lesley Greene is co-director and co-founder of Story House Ithaca and co-founder and co-organizer of Porchfest. Her play, The Turnaway Play, has had dozens of performances across the United States. lesley@storyhouseithaca.org
lesleylisagreene.com
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Hardy Griffin’s writing has appeared in The Masters Review, New Flash Fiction, Assisi, The Washington Post, American Letters & Commentary, and others. He wrote the chapter on Voice for The Gotham Guide to Writing Fiction (Bloomsbury).
hardygriffin.com

David Guaspari was trained as a pure mathematician and claims to be, of all post-19th century mathematical logicians, the funniest. In addition to technical papers, he has published short fiction, essays, humor, travel, and reviews, and has had plays performed in states totaling 331 electoral votes as well as five foreign countries. dguaspari@gmail.com
dguaspari.com

Eleanor Henderson is the author of the novels Ten Thousand Saints and The Twelve-Mile Straight and the memoir Everything I Have Is Yours. A professor of Writing at Ithaca College, she received a 2024 NYFA Fellowship in Fiction and a 2025 NYSCA Support for Artists Grant for her novel The Galaxy, forthcoming from Flatiron Books.
eleanor-henderson.com

Rozey Hill is a researcher and writer originally from Florida. Her upbringing as well as her travels from Cameroon to Bangladesh have inspired her poetry.
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Gail Holst-Warhaft is a poet, translator, musician, and adjunct professor of Comparative Literature at Cornell. Her books include Lucky Country, The Fall of Athens, Penelope’s Confession, The House with the Scorpions, The Cue for Passion, Nisiotika, Dangerous Voices, Theodorakis: Myth and Politics in Modern Greek Music, Road to Rembetika, and most recently, My Father and the Silver King. glh3@cornell.edu
gailholst-warhaft.com

Akua Lezli Hope, a Grand Master of Fantastic Poetry (SFPA), is a multi- award-winning creator, wisdom seeker & paraplegic in print since 1974 with 500+ poems published. Her honors include the NEA, NYFA & NYSCA, IGNYTE, ELGIN and RHYSLING awards. She edited NOMBONO, the first Anthology of BIPOC Speculative Poetry. Her new collection is TELEPATH from Gnashing Teeth Publishing.
akualezlihope.com
speculativepoetry.com

Emily Sanders Hopkins is a poet, writer, and artist whose cartoons have appeared in the New Yorker magazine. She writes the popular Substack newsletter Emily Writes Back, a 2022 Notable Publication on the platform, and is the ghostwriter of two award-winning memoirs and an essay in the anthology Pretty Bitches. She serves on the Tompkins County Library Board of Trustees.
emilywritesback.substack.com

Has four published books of poetry. Founded and edited Works; Cofounder and editor of Cayuga Lake Books; Poet Laureate of Tompkins County 2015-16. Member of Aladdin poetry group. hopperjac34@gmail.com

Rose has a short story that is being published by local publisher Ink Alchemy Books in their upcoming compilation, Xeno: Stories Sans Humans (Ex. pub Aug 2026). She is working on a queer historic sci-fi novel set in Ithaca, and enjoys writing speculative fiction and poetry. A multimedia artist, she also designs mailable pop-up cards, zines, and odd paper creations. Rose@rosehoward.com
rosehoward.com
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Bridget Huh is currently an MFA candidate in poetry at Cornell University. Her poems have appeared in The Walrus, Gulf Coast, and The Margins, and have been recognized for awards in CV2, Fugue Journal, and Palette Poetry. Her debut collection of poetry, Fugue Body, was published by Véhicule Press in March 2025.
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Robert Isaacs supported himself as a juggler and unicyclist on the streets of San Francisco before turning to music. Over the course of thirty years, he conducted everywhere from Carnegie Hall to the Cook Islands, released a dozen CDs, and earned a Grammy nomination. His first novel, It’s Hard to Be an Animal, will be released by Hachette next month.
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Emily Isaacs is a senior in Jon Raimon’s I Know Some Things class at LACS. She primarily writes creative nonfiction, essays and prose, and when she’s not writing, she enjoys reading and sitting in trees, preferably at the same time.

Shahirah Jadeed (they/she) is a Syrian-American poet, artist, podcast co-host, and lover of the color yellow. Originally hailing from Knoxville, Tennessee, Shahirah has put new roots down in Central New York. Their works largely center on relationships, spirituality, mental health, and the blurring lines between their Arab heritage and post-9/11 American upbringing.
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Jasmine Jay (she/her) is a poet, community-weaver, and performer. She has participated in a range of Black-centered community art projects with the Rememory Library, Cypher Circle, and the Southside Community Center. She is a Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop Fellow and holds an M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Cornell University. Jasmine lives in Ithaca, NY. jvjay92@gmail.com

Clare Jones is a writer and editor. Her work has been supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, the Fulbright Program, and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She leads The Writers’ Room, a drop-in writing group that meets fortnightly at Tompkins County Public Library.
clarejonespoet.com
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The Senior Theatre Troupe is directed by Susan Kaplan who taught English for the ICSD for over three decades. Over those years, she directed and choreographed dozens of student production at the middle school and high school levels. She wrote dramaturgical material for the Hangar Theatre and directed a few of their KIDDTUFF productions. This is her third year helming the Play It Again Theatre Troupe of Lifelong.
tclifelong.org

Leigh is a retired nurse with a sideline in theater. Locally, she has appeared at the Firehouse Stage, the Hangar Theatre and the Kitchen Theatre. Currently she resides with her cat, Oliver, in her snug little house, finding ways to fill her retirement with relaxation after so many years of frenetic activity. hldk55@gmail.com

Sorayya Khan is the author of three novels, Noor, Five Queen’s Road, and City of Spies, and a memoir, We Take Our Cities with Us. She is a Fulbright Scholar, the recipient of an American Institute for Indonesian Studies fellowship that supported research and travel to Indonesia, and a 2026 NYSCA grant for the development of a new novel.
sorayyakhan.com
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Shacoya Kidwell is an ancestral-accountable creative theorist and Fulbright alumna in search of hidden genealogies and cosmologies to aid in our collective imagining of just, sustainable futures. She currently teaches a climate change seminar at Cornell University while she completes her dissertation, River Talk: Black Atmospheric Archives.
sk3298@cornell.edu

Dan Klein spent 18 years in local elected office. Recently retired, Dan is beginning an 18-year course of therapy to digest everything that happened.

EarthTooTierra is a poet and spoken word artist based in Ithaca, NY. earthtootierra@gmail.com
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Melanie Lefkowitz is a mother of three and an award-winning writer whose journalism has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Newsday, among other publications. Her fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train and The Kenyon Review, and in 2014 she won first prize in Glimmer Train’s Short-Story Award for New Writers.

Lisa is an author and retired diversity consultant, having spent decades listening to stories of people’s professional and personal lives. She is a certified Guided Autobiography Instructor from the Birren Center for Autobiographical Studies and has written three oral histories. She is the author of The Libra Solution and has blogged for Huff Post and the Good Men Project.
thebirrencenter.org
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Cora Little is a trans fiction writer, poet, and visual artist with an eye for communicating raw experience. clittle@ithaca.edu

Lushima is an artist based in upstate NY with a worldwide mind, seeking to liberate all from oppression and cruelty – with art as an eye-opener. lushimaklk@gmail.com

Katharyn Howd Machan writes poetry and memoir on her Dragon Patio when weather allows and elsewhere when it doesn’t. As a professor in the Department of Writing at Ithaca College she mentors students in fairy-tale-based creative writing courses. Her most recent publication is Dark Side of the Spoon (The Moonstone Press, 2022). For spirit and body, she belly dances. machan@ithaca.edu

Jim Mack (he/they) is a writer and voice-over artist based in the greater Ithaca, New York area. In addition to poetry and speculative fiction, Jim enjoys tabletop gaming, anime, gardening, and early music. jimmackwrites@gmail.com
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Jeanne Mackin is the author of several novels; the most recent is Picasso’s Lovers (Berkley/Random House 2024). Her work has been translated into eight languages. An avid gardener, she also wrote The Cornell Book of Herbs and Edible Flowers. She taught writing in the MFA progream at Goddard College. Her journalism won national awards and her fiction earned a CNY in Fiction award. She is a fellow of the American Antiquarian Society. jeannemackin.com
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Fran Markover has authored 2 poetry books, including Grandfather’s Mandolin, winner of an American Bookfest Prize and a finalist for the Henry Morgenthau III Poetry Book Award. Her work appears in a variety of literary journals and anthologies. Other honors include residencies at the Saltonstall Foundation, and nominations for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.
writer49pen@aol.com

Amber Martin is an indie folk singer-songwriter whose expressive lyrics and deep tone resonate with listeners. Recently, her sound expanded with the formation of her band Amber Martin & The Fruit Stand. Whether she is performing solo or with the band, her music is bound to evoke haunting emotions.
ambermartinmusic.net
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Yessica is a migrant poet and writer originally from Medellin, Colombia. A graduate of Cornell University’s MFA program, her writing has been featured in Salt Hill, The Los Angeles Review, Aster(ix) and Here to Stay: Poetry and Prose from the Undocumented Diaspora. She offers creative writing and college access workshops to a wide variety of audiences.
You can find more of her work at: yessicamartinez.org

Clara (she/they) channels creativity as a roller skater, poet, and community DJ. As host of Mind Meadow on WRFI, they collaborate with local poets to craft unique word-music medleys. Clara finds immense joy in connection and freedom of expression!
wrfi.org/mind-meadow
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J. Amir McClam (they/them) is a poet-educator, editor, and clay worker who believes in taking deep breaths and talking to trees. A 2025 Lambda Literary fellow, their poems are featured or forthcoming in Nimrod International Journal and The Amistad. Amir teaches writing to undergraduates at Cornell and adults of all ages through workshops, courses, and 1:1 coaching.
jamcclam@proton.me
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Sir Kenneth McLaurin is a stand-up comedian, producer, and builder of Ithaca’s comedy scene. Known for sharp wit and real insight, he has created festivals, open mics, and original productions. He also co-stars in Singing Notes and Slinging Jokes, a live show blending comedy, music, and storytelling that brings people together through laughter.
Kennethmclaurin.com

Tommy Mitchell is a Senior at LACS. They enjoy writing poems and vignettes in school and in their free time. Tommy enjoys playing the trombone, doing theater shows, riding their bike, and hanging out with friends.

Kestrel Molnar is a junior at LACS. They’re a big fan of writing poetry, songs, and stories. Outside of writing, they enjoy math, drawing, and singing in general.

Kathy Morris has been a writer, photographer, and visual artist in the Ithaca area for over forty years. She received her MFA from Cornell University in 1976, taught at TC3 for twenty years, and currently teaches yoga and meditation for the Cornell Prison Education Program. Her work combines media—including words. She’ll share a chapter from her visual memoir.
kathymorris.net

Wearing multiple ‘head wraps’ as a homegrown leader in Ithaca, New York,
Dr. Nia Nunn is a Department Chair & Associate Professor of Education at Ithaca College, a community healer, and poet. The creator of Radical Vulnerability Immersion and innovative curricula, Dr. Nia is committed to engaging learners and audiences joyfully, intensely, and gracefully. greetings@drnianunn.com
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Born in Tokyo, Nancy is the author of the YA novels B*Witch and Witch Rising (with co-author Paige McKenzie; Little, Brown); Consent; Beauty; and Always, Forever (all Simon Pulse); and the Blast Off! early-grade history series (Little Bee). She has collaborated with Quvenzhane Wallis, Chloe Lukasiak, and other celebrities, and has written or ghostwritten over 100 books for all ages.
nancyohlin.com

Stephen Paling’s work has appeared in a variety of literary magazines, including Plains Poetry Journal and Piedmont Literary Review. In 2020 Cayuga Lake Books published his volume of poetry, Rooms In Old Houses. He is currently at work on a novel, Skinny’s Blues, which portrays a financially destitute freshman at an elite university. steve.w.paling@gmail.com
stevepaling.info
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Ris walked out of a career in tech and into a life of flowers. She is a Farmer. And an Artist. You can learn more about her work on her website:
sunnysideithaca.com

Jen Pearcy-Edwards has worked professionally as a devising performer and puppeteer, storyteller, film and theatre director, producer, and educator. She is currently interim co-director of Story House Ithaca. jen@storyhouseithaca.org
LinkedIn
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Perlgut has worked in theatre in for more than 50 years. She tells her pre-Roe v Wade abortion story locally and nationally via film and theatre festivals, on local and national media, rallies, and to college classes. She is an award-winning documentarian forming CloseToHome Productions in 2007 to reach wide-ranging audiences with videos featuring topical and socially relevant issues.
CloseToHomeProductions.com
ConnieCookFilm.com

Julian Plum is a local picture book illustrator, author, and bug enthusiast whose work is known for being full of frogs and snails. Working in gouache, he paints critters and books and plants, and sometimes escapes into the woods to get a little bit closer to moss, when necessary. hello@julianplum.com
julianplum.com
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Ruma Poudell is a public health expert and interdisciplinary creative. In her upcoming chapbook Hypertrophy of Reason, she explores cultural ties to neurodivergence. poudellruma@gmail.com
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Jon Raimon teaches writing at LACS (Lehman Alternative Community School) and has for many a decade. His poetry explores grief, family, resistance to injustice, and all forms of love. His inspirations include his students and children, his father, and the creek where he walks his dog each day.

Aurora Rey is a college dean by day and a life coach and award-winning author of queer romance the rest of the time. aurorarey.com

Carolina is a senior at LACS. She doesn’t write a lot, but when she does, her writing can be really personal. When she’s not in school, she enjoys hanging out with her friends, drawing, and being at home.

Jessie Romero Silver (she/they) is reproductive advocate, writer and researcher studying public health and writing at Ithaca College. With roots between New Jersey and Costa Rica, the natural elements of her home, tied into her passion for advocacy work, inspires her writings.
jromerosilver@ithaca.edu

Robin Rosner was a teacher for incarcerated students. Since leaving prison, she has embraced her freedom with long walks, hot baths, audiobooks, music, and squeezing her boyfriend.

Laura Rowley operates Illuminated Press, a micro press dedicated to publishing handmade books and organizing community events. By day, Laura is the director of the Lodi Whittier Library.
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Lex E. Santí, LCSW, is a novelist and DSW candidate living in Trumansburg, New York. He holds an MFA from George Mason University and is the founder of A Key Therapy PLLC and the former editor-in-chief of Our Stories literary journal. He spent nearly twenty years writing his debut novel, The Song of the Midnight Rider, while building a life, starting a family, and collecting the experiences that made the next novel inevitable. lexsantiwriter@gmail.com
lexenricosanti.com
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Jennifer (she/they) writes in the early morning and works as a production editor at Cornell University Press during the day. Their debut novel Endpapers was a finalist for a 2024 Lambda Literary Award and a fall/winter 2023 Indies Introduce pick. All credit goes to Jen’s two feline writing assistants.
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When Deirdre Silverman turned 60, she promised herself that in every subsequent year, she would do something she’d never done before. She joined the senior theater troupe (now Play It Again Theater) when she was 69, and has been at it ever since.

A writer, radio broadcaster, and former attorney, Stephen has collaborated with co-workshop presenter Ilona Bray on the forthcoming middle-grade novel CAT TAKES QUEEN (Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends, October 2026). He likes few things better than a well-crafted sentence or a clearly expressed thought.
Work Samples 

D.A. Xiaolin Spires is a speculative fiction writer with 100+ stories in publications including Clarkesworld, Uncanny and Nature—and novella Ellipses forthcoming from Infinivox. Select work appear in The Year’s Top Robot and AI Stories and The Year’s Top Tales of Space and Time. Her poetry has been nominated for Dwarf Star, Rhysling, Best of the Net and Pushcart Awards.
daxiaolinspires.wordpress.com
Work Samples

Isabel Sterling writes stories about queer love and resilience with a witty magical twist. She is the author of several YA and adult novels, including: These Witches Don’t Burn and With All My Haunted Heart. Isabel is also a master certified life coach, the founder of The Confident Author Academy, and the host of The Author Burnout Cure podcast.
isabelsterling.com/author
Work Samples

M. Stevenson is the author of Behooved and other novels for adults and teens. She graduated from Brown University (BA, Geology-Biology) and the University of Idaho (MEd, Environmental Education). An avid swing dancer and amateur naturalist, she’s often found dancing Lindy Hop or talking to birds and plants. She is based in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Find her online at mstevensonbooks.com.

Caitlin Strong is a fiction writer born and raised in Ithaca, NY. She is a rising junior studying creative writing and publishing & editing at Susquehanna University. Her piece “Just A Spark” was recently published by The Sanctuary Magazine. A true storyteller at heart, when not writing, she enjoys reading, going for walks, and theater. caitlinstrong5@gmail.com

Annie Sumi is a mixed-race, ethereal-folk artist from Canada. Her music is intimate and expansive, inviting the listener into a familiar otherworld. Inspired by the mirrored relationship between physical and emotional landscapes, Sumi’s music speaks of the human experience through the language of the senses. anniesumimanagement@gmail.com
anniesumi.com

Emily Sun Li is a Chinese American children’s book author based in Ithaca, New York. She holds an MA/MFA in Writing for Children from Simmons University and an M.S.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania. Her debut picture book, Mr. Chow’s Night Market (Penguin Workshop, 2026), was recently released; Kirkus Reviews calls it “a visual delight—and vindication for night owls.” li.emilysun@gmail.com
emilysunli.com
Work Samples 

Jhenah Telyndru (MA, Celtic Studies) is an award winning author, singer/songwriter, and bardic practitioner. She hosts spiritual retreats across North America and the UK, presents internationally at conferences and festivals, teaches online workshops and immersion programs, and facilitates pilgrimages to sacred sites in the British Isles.
ynysafallon.com
Work Samples

Elle Tinnirella is a writer, psychology graduate student, and professional advocate who explores themes of grief, complicated relationships, and generational trauma. But like, in a fun way. elle.tinnirella@gmail.com

Melissa Tuckey is a poet, literary activist and teaching artist. She is author of Tenuous Chapel, a book of poems and Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology. She’s a former Poet Laureate of Tompkins County, and an emeritus fellow at Black Earth Institute. Follow her on substack @ substack.com/@poetrydoula

Zoë has been teaching radical visible mending in the Finger Lakes area for the past two years, building on a personal textile repair practice that spans more than two decades. She aspires to connect audiences in a meaningful and intentional way with the clothes they wear every day, and push against the narratives that encourage us to treat clothing as disposable.
zvannostrand@gmail.com
zoewonders.community/textiles
Work Samples

Finley Williams is a writer and recent Cornell University graduate hailing from Chicago, IL. Her journalism and creative nonfiction has appeared in The Plentitudes and The Cornell Daily Sun.finley.lynnwilliams@gmail.com
inextenso.blog

Teddie Wixson is a senior at LACS and at TST BOCES for Early Childhood Education! Teddie comes from a huge family of teachers, writers, and more. They’re super excited to be sharing their writing with Ithaca for the first time! In their free time, Teddie volunteers, goes to work, and loves spending time with their dogs.

Zee Zahava is a former bookstore owner (Smedley’s Bookshop), librarian, anthologizer, small press publisher, and editor of “brass bell” — an international online haiku journal. These days she writes when the spirit moves her.