Novelist Natashia Deón is the author of the critically-acclaimed novel Grace. A practicing criminal law attorney, law professor, creative writing instructor, and literary organizer, she is the founder of REDEEMED, a nonprofit that pairs professional writers with those who have been convicted of crimes.

UCLA Extension Writers’ Program instructor and alumna Lilliam Rivera has been featured on NPR, New York Times Book Review, New York magazine, MTV.com, and Teen Vogue, among others.

UCLA Extension Writers’ Program instructor and alumna Lilliam Rivera has been featured on NPR, New York Times Book Review, New York magazine, MTV.com, and Teen Vogue, among others.

UCLA Extension Writers’ Program alumnus Moisès Zamora is a Mexican-American award-winning writer and filmmaker and has written for the Emmy-winning dramas American Crime and Star.

UCLA Extension Writers’ Program alumnus Moisès Zamora is a Mexican-American award-winning writer and filmmaker and has written for the Emmy-winning dramas American Crime and Star.

UCLA Extension Writers’ Program instructor Laurel Ollstein writes plays, essays, memoirs, screenplays and television scripts; directs plays; and serves as an adjunct professor of writing for several universities.

UCLA Extension Writers’ Program instructor Laurel Ollstein writes plays, essays, memoirs, screenplays and television scripts; directs plays; and serves as an adjunct professor of writing for several universities.

UCLA Extension Writers’ Program alumna Mae Respicio is a past recipient of a PEN Emerging Voices Fellowship and a David Henry Hwang Writers Institute scholarship for playwriting.

UCLA Extension Writers’ Program alumna Mae Respicio is a past recipient of a PEN Emerging Voices Fellowship and a David Henry Hwang Writers Institute scholarship for playwriting.

UCLA Extension Writers’ Program instructor Miguel Murphy is the author of the poetry collections A Book Called Rats and Detainee. He teaches at Santa Monica College and lives in Los Angeles.