Writing Class

Oksana is the author of the bestselling memoir, American Gypsy (FSG, 2012). Her works have appeared in Rumpus, Slate, and Time magazines, and in a number of literary journals and anthologies. Oksana was the 2013 BMI - Library of Congress Kluge Center Literary Award recipient and the 2020 recipient of the Picador Guest Professorship Award from the University of Leipzig, Germany. In 2018 Oksana founded Lounge Writers, an online creative writing studio where writers of all levels and genres can stay inspired and hone their craft.

Serena Agusto-Cox, a Suffolk University alum, claims that she writes more vigorously now than she did in her college poetry seminars. Her day job continues to feed the starving artist, and her poems can be read in Dime Show Review, Baseball Bard, Mothers Always Write, Bourgeon, Beginnings Magazine, LYNX, Muse Apprentice Guild, The Harrow, Poems Niederngasse, Avocet, Pedestal Magazine, and other journals. An essay also appears in H.L. Hix’s Made Priceless, three poems in Love_Is_Love: An Anthology for LGBTQIA+ Teens, and a Q&A on book marketing through blogs in Midge Raymond’s Everyday Book Marketing. She also runs the book review blog, Savvy Verse & Wit, and founded Poetic Book Tours to help poets market their books.

She attended Knox College for her B.A. in English Creative Writing with a minor in the Pedagogy of Poetry. While there, she worked for the Association for Black Culture Centers (A.B.C.C.) under Dr. Fred Hord and Ms. Terry Duffy. In addition, she was a TRiO Achievement Program scholar, as well as a Ronald E. McNair Fellow. Monica studied abroad in Dakar, Senegal for a semester in 2010, where she wrote 85 poems, struggled to speak Wolof, and decided to never join the Peace Corps.

Bianca Marais is the author of the beloved Hum If You Don't Know the Words and If You Want to Make God Laugh.

She teaches at the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies
where she was awarded an
Excellence in Teaching Award for Creative Writing in 2021.

She runs the Eunice Ngogodo Own Voices Initiative
to empower young Black women in Africa to write and publish their own stories,
and is constantly fundraising to
assist grandmothers in Soweto with caring for children
who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
She is the co-host of the popular podcast, The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

I'm Tonya Nagle, Ph.D. I've been writing a lot longer than I've had those last letters. I started writing over 15 years ago for publication. I have been traditionally and independently published. I work in higher education as a writing coach, an adjunct faculty member, and a curriculum designer.

I am a book coach and freelance editor working with romance authors that want to take their books and their business to the next level. Let's talk about your book or series concept, together we can identify opportunities to engage the reader so they fall in love with your writing.

Bethany, a former youth minister’s wife and high school cheerleading coach turned author, speaker, and business owner. Graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts in Communication, where I concentrated on marketing and public relations. A goal is to take those skills and apply them to writers, authors, and brands.

Karen wrote the first draft of Getting It Right (Akashic Books) on airplanes, in the Delta Sky Club, and in hotel rooms around the country and the world. The book tour was amazing. Friends hosted her in their homes, clubs, events, conferences, and book clubs. Independent and Barnes & Noble bookstores across the country welcomed her.

Kathleen Fair is a former teacher that now writes. She also heads up a chapter of the writing group.