Faculty Bios

Quinn Adikes has published fiction in Lit Hub, Five Points, Epiphany, december, the Southampton Review, Shenandoah, and other journals. He taught for Stony Brook Southampton, where he also earned an MFA in Creative Writing. 

Nina Boutsikaris is the author of the memoir I’m Trying to Tell You I’m Sorry: An Intimacy Triptych (Black Lawrence Press), a Small Press Distribution Bestseller. Her essays have appeared in Fourth Genre, Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies, Third Coast, Hobart, and the Los Angeles Review, among others; anthologized in The Best of Brevity: Twenty Groundbreaking Years of Flash Fiction (Rose Metal Press); and named Notable Essays by the Best American Essays series. She has taught at the University of Arizona and the New School, and is the archivist at John Ashbery's Flow Chart Foundation. She holds a BA from Ithaca College and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Arizona.

Adela Brito has published short stories in Acentos Review, the Sandy River Review, Litbreak Magazine, Hieroglyph, and Moko Magazine, and she is a former fiction editor of The Pinch literary journal. Her nonfiction and poetry have appeared or are forthcoming in Writer’s Digest, Cathexis Northwest Press, Underwood, Adelaide Literary Magazine, All About Jazz, c-nf, Counterculture UK, and Storyboard Memphis. She has taught at the University of Memphis and Nashville State Community College. She holds a BA from Florida International University and an MFA in Fiction from the University of Memphis.

Carmen Bugan is the author of the memoir Burying the Typewriter (Picador), the essay collection Poetry and the Language of Opression (Oxford University), and the poetry collections Time Being, Lillies from America, Releasing the Porcelain Birds, The House of Straw (all Shearsman Books), and Crossing the Carpathians (Carcanet Press). Her poems and essays have appeared in the Irish Times, the Harvard Review, the International Literature Quarterly, the Nieman Storyboard, and the anthologies Centres of Catacylsm (Bloodaxe Books), See How I Land (Heaven Tree Press), and Penguin’s Poems for Life (Penguin). She has taught at Grand Valley State University, the University of Fribourg, the Geneva Writers’ Group, and Oxford University. She holds a BA from the University of Michigan, an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University, and a Master’s and Ph.D, both in English Literature, from Oxford University.

Omari Chancellor has published short fiction in Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Brainwxsh, Still Life, and Soft Punk. He wrote and directed the short films The One, which appeared in several film festivals including the Ohio Valley Film Festival, and SwimLessons for The Believer magazine. He has taught at Spotlight Kids NY and the 52^nd Street Project. He holds a BFA from Roanoke College and an MFA from New York University.

Angie Chatman has told stories on The MOTH Radio Hour, StoryCollider, Stories from the Stage (The World Channel), and Boston's Fugitive Stories. Her essays and short fiction are forthcoming or have appeared in Iron Horse Literary Review, Taint, Taint, Taint, Pangyrus, the Rumpus, Blood Orange Review, Hippocampus, and Business Insider, among others. She has taught for the Boston Public Library and the University of Hartford. She holds an MBA from MIT-Sloan, and an MFA in Fiction and Creative Nonfiction from Queens University of Charlotte.

Philip Cioffari is the author of the novels Night and Its Longings, If Anyone Asks, Say I Died From the Heartbreaking Blues, The Bronx Kill, Jesusville, Catholic Boys, and Dark Road, Dead End, as well as the short story collection A History of Things Lost or Broken, (all Livingston Press/University of West Alabama). His short fiction has appeared in the Southern Humanities Review, the Westchester Review, the North American Review, the Connecticut Review, Italian Americana, and been anthologized in Wild Dreams (Fordham University Press), 100 Percent Pure Florida Fiction (University of Florida Press), and Many Lights in Many Windows (Milkweed Editions). His plays have been staged or received staged readings at The Actors Studio, the Belmont Playhouse, the Gettysburg College New Plays Festival, and the Circle Repertory Lab, among many others. He wrote and directed the feature film Love in the Age of Dion, which won Best Director at the New York Independent Film and Video Festival, played at many film festivals including the Rhode Island International Film Festival and the Wildwood-By-The-Sea Festival, and was selected for the New Filmmakers NY series. He teaches at William Paterson University. He holds a Ph.D from New York University.

Elizabeth Cohen is the author of the memoir The House On Beartown Road (Random House), the short story collectionThe Hypothetical Girl (Split Oak Press), and the poetry collections The Economist's Daughter (Ecstatic Utterance), What the Trees Said (Split Oak Press), Bird Light, The Patron Saint of Cauliflower (both Saint Julian Press), and Wonder Electric (Kelsay Books). She is also co-author of the nonfiction book The Scalpel and the Silver Bear (Bantam). Her nonfiction and poetry have appeared in Newsweek, People, the New York Times Magazine, and Yale Review, as well as the anthology Walk on the Wild Side. She has taught at SUNY Plattsburgh, Binghamton University, University of New Mexico, the New School for Social Research, and Western Connecticut State University. She holds a BA from University of New Mexico, an MA in Documentary Filmmaking from Temple University, and an MFA in Poetry from Columbia University.

Lyndsey Ellis is the author of the novel Bone Broth (Hidden Timber Books), and her short fiction has been published in Kweli Journal, Joyland, the Santa Monica Review, Parhelion, the Stockholm Review of Literature, and Orca, A Literary Journal, among many others. Her work has been anthologized in Golden State 2017: Best New Writing from California (Outpost 19 Books), Black in the Middle: An Anthology of the Black Midwest (Belt Publishing), and Crick! Crack!: Poems and Stories by Emerging Writers (The Bonfire Collective). She wrote the Memory Book column for Catapult magazine, blogged at For Harriet, and was fiction editor for The Account: A Journal of Poetry, Prose, and Thought. She has taught for the Loft Literary Center, the California Writers’ Club, Your Words STL, and midnight & indigo. She holds a BA from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and an MFA in Writing from California College of the Arts.

Cristina Fernandez is the author of the novel How to Date a Superhero (And Not Die Trying) (Katherine Tegan Books/HarperCollins). She has worked as a reporter for TIME for Kids, as a scriptreader for Safehouse Pictures, and for the literary agencies Dystel, Goderich, & Bourret, and Foundry Literary & Media. She holds a BA in Writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Janet Flora has published nonfiction in Yalabusha Review, Willow Review, Forge, and the Sanskrit Literary-Arts Magazine. Her short stories have appeared in New Orleans Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Portland Review, and Hawaii Pacific Review. She has taught at NYU and the School of Visual Arts. She holds a BA from City University, Richmond College, and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from The New School.

Britt Gambino has published poetry in Armchair/Shotgun, anderbo, The Boiler, decomP, and Springgun Press, and her poem "In Bloom" was featured in an ad for 1-800-Flowers. She has served as a contributing writer at The Sexy Feminist blog and as an Associate Poetry Editor at The Doctor T.J. Eckleberg Review. She has taught at Education Unlimited, Brooklyn Brainery, and 826 NYC. She holds a BA from Drew University and an MFA in Poetry from The New School.

Serrana Laure Gay has published short stories in Sinister Wisdom, the North Dakota Quarterly, X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine, Red Noise Collective, Big Bend Literary Magazine, Silver Rose Magazine, and Prometheus Dreaming. She is the author of the illustrated book Fatty Fatty No Friends (Mind the Art Entertainment), adapted from her operetta of the same name, which was winner of the Best of Fest prize at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Her plays have been workshopped or appeared at the New York International Fringe Festival, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre, the National Opera Center, the Frigid NY theatre festival, the HERE Arts Center, and Feinstein’s 54 Below. She has taught at the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute. She holds a BFA from Ithaca College and an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College.

Shahnaz Habib is the author of the nonfiction book Airplane Mode (Catapault Books), and the translator of the novel Jasmine Days, for which she and the author Benyamin won the JCB Prize, India's most valuable prize for literature. Her short stories and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker online, Creative Nonfiction, Agni, Brevity, The Guardian, and Afar. She has been awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Artists' Fellowship in Nonfiction Literature, and her work has been cited in the Best American Essays series. She holds a BA from Mahatma Gandhi University, an MA in English Literature from the University of Delhi, and an MA in Media Studies from the New School.

Pamela Harris has had TV pilots packaged with 20th Century Fox and others, and served as a staff writer for Life on the Line, a one-hour drama (Oxygen Network). She wrote the feature screenplay Joyville, which was selected for the Writers Lab, a program sponsored by Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Oprah Winfrey, and was a finalist for the WGA/FilmNation Fellowship. She directed and co-wrote a short film, En Route, that screened at many festivals including Soho International, Vermont Music and Film, and Adirondack. Pamela is also an award-winning visual artist and has exhibited extensively. She holds a BFA from the Hartford Art School.

John Oliver Hodges is the author of the novel Quizzleboon (Perpetual Motion Machine Press), the short story collection The Love Box (Livingston Press), and the novella War of the Crazies (Main Street Rag). His short stories have appeared in appeared in Southern Cultures Magazine, American Short Fiction, New World Writing, and Texas Review. He has taught at Florida State University, the University of Mississippi, and the Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference. He holds a BA and an MA in Creative Writing from Florida State University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Mississippi.

K Hank Jost is the editor of A Common Well Journal. He is also the author of the novel MadStone and the novel-in-stories Deselections (both Whiskey Tit Books). His short stories and poems have appeared in Hobart, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, the Burning Palace, X-R-A-Y Lit Mag, and BULL, among others, and he is a regular contributor to the New Haven Independent. He has taught for the Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research.

George Jreije is the author of the Shad Hadid children's fantasy series, the novel Bashir Boutros and the Jewels of the Nile, and the forthcoming graphic novel Tarik’s Bazaar Adventure (all HarperCollins). He has also written short stories published in collaboration with UNICEF. He has taught for the Concord (Massachusetts) Library System, the Orlando Libraries, and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. He holds a BS and an MBA from Clark University. 

Z Kennedy-Lopez is the fiction editor of the Atticus Review, and their own fiction and essays have appeared in Catapult, Foglifter, Autostraddle, Have Has Had, Storm Cellar, and A Velvet Giant, among many others. They have taught at the University of California, Davis, Rutgers University-Camden, and the Cooper Street Writing Workshops. They hold a BA from Southern Oregon University, an MA in English from the University of California, Davis, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University-Camden.

Kody Keplinger is the author of the young adult Hamilton High series (Little Brown/Poppy), which includes the New York Times best-selling The DUFF, also the young adult novels That's Not What Happened, Run (both Scholastic), Secrets and Lies (Poppy), and the graphic novel Poison Ivy: Thorns (DC Comics). She is also the author of the middle grade novels Lila and Hadley and The Swift Boys & Me (both Scholastic). She has published fiction in Young Adult Review Net, and nonfiction in Seventeen, YA Highway, and Poptimal.

Mo Krochmal is the executive editor and founder of Social Media News NY. He was a founding producer for the New York Times website, senior editor of GenomeWeb, executive producer of Nassau News Live, and New York editor for TechWeb. He has written for United Press International, the New York Times, the Danbury News-Times, the Wilson Daily Times, and the Washington Daily News. He is the vice president of the New York City chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. He has facilitated professional communication training at the Courts of the United States, the US Patent and Technology Office, and Health Security Partners in Washington, DC. He has taught at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Hofstra University, Quinnipiac University, and the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. He holds a BA from North Carolina State University and an MS in Journalism from Columbia University.

Scott LaCounte (also writing as Scott Douglas) is a long-time contributor to McSweeney’s, from which his humor series was turned into the memoir Quiet, Please: Dispatches From a Public Librarian (Da Capo Books). He has independently published a wide range of books on religion, as well as books for children and in the science fiction and humor genres. He holds a BA from California State University-Fullerton, and an MLIS in Library Science from San Jose State University.

Cleve Lamison is the author of the science fiction novel Full-Blood Half-Breed (Penguin Random House), and he is a contributing writer to Suvudu.com, a science fiction and fantasy blog at Random House. He is consulting producer of the short film Superman Doesn't Steal, which won Best Film at the Diversity In Cannes Short Film Showcase and the A Day In the Sun Film Festival, and was selected by the Cleveland International Film Festival, among many others. He was a staff writer for the television show Craig Ross Jr.’s Monogamy (Urban Movie Channel), and he wrote and directed the feature film Following Bliss, which won Best Feature Film at the Global Arts International Film Festival. His short film "The Story" won the Denver World Film Festival, and his short film "Jack for President" was a runner-up in the New York 24-Hour Filmmaking Contest. He was the artistic director of the BlackBird Theatre Company in NYC; created, wrote, and drew the cartoon strip Rick the Roach for the Richmond News Leader; and is a veteran of the U.S. Army Reserves. He holds a BA from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Kyleigh Leddy is the author of the memoir The Perfect Other: A Memoir of My Sister (HarperCollins), which is based on her New York Times Modern Love essay “My Sister Disappeared Years Ago. I See Her Whenever I Want.” Her essays and articles have also appeared in New York Magazine, Parents, People, QCODE, and the Journal of Experimental Psychology, among others. She has worked for Parents magazine. She holds a BA from Boston College and an MSW from Columbia University.

Erica Magrin has published short stories and essays in Aphros, Our Town, and Teen Ink, among others. Her play Make Believe was produced and staged at the Bridge Theater and the American Theatre of Actors, and her play Conversion was produced Off-Broadway at Theatre 54. She is an editor at Lamplight Publishing, and has worked for Persea Books, Macmillan Publishers, Disney Publishing, and Simon & Schuster. She holds a BA and an MS in Publishing from Pace University.

Christine Meade is the author of the novels The Way You Burn (She Writes Press) and The Moon, Her Crown (LitSet Books). Her personal essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, Chicago Literati, HuffPost, the Manifest-Station, and Writer’s Digest. She has taught for 826 Boston, Lasell College, and Curry College. She holds a BA from Northeastern University and an MFA in Creative Writing from California College of the Arts.

Michael Montlack is the author of the poetry collections Cool Limbo and Daddy (NYQ Books) and editor of the Lambda Finalist essay anthology My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them (University of Wisconsin Press). His poetry has appeared in North American Review, Prairie Schooner, The Offing, Poet Lore, Barrow Street, Court Green, and Los Angeles Review. He holds a BA from Hofstra University, an MFA from the New School, and an MA from San Francisco State University, all in Creative Writing and Literature.

Sarah Moriarty is the author of the novel North Haven (Little A). She has been managing editor and head writer for the blog A Child Grows in Brooklyn, where she continues to be a regular contributor, and she writes for the blogs What to Expect and Mommy Poppins. Her nonfiction has appeared in Quivering Pen and Large Hearted Boy. She has taught for Medgar Evers College, the College of Staten Island, and St. Ann's School. She has studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, holds a BA from Harvard University, and an MFA in Fiction from The New School. 

N. West Moss is the author of the memoir Flesh and Blood (Algonquin), the short story collection The Subway Stops at Bryant Park (Leapfrog Press), and the middle-grade novel Birdy, (Christy Ottaviano Books/Little Brown Books for Young Readers, forthcoming). Her short stories have appeared in McSweeney’s, The Saturday Evening Post, Stockholm Review, Blotter Magazine, and Westchester Review. Her nonfiction has appeared in Salon, the New York Times, Brevity, River Teeth, Dorothy Parker's Ashes, and Ars Medica. She has taught at William Paterson University, Montclair State University, and Passaic County Community College. She holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College, a Master of Secondary Education from Mercy College, an MFA in Creative Writing from William Paterson University, and a CPA in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University.

Benjamin Obler is the author of the novel Javascotia (Penguin UK). His short stories and essays have appeared in The Guardian, London Times, Mirror, Electric Literature, Long Reads, Puerto Del Sol, The Junction, Belle Ombre, Qwerty, Sundress, Thirty-Two, Cottonwood, and Evansville Review. He has taught at the Loft Literary Center. He holds a BA from the University of St. Thomas and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow.

Betsey Odell is the author of the novel Deep Water (Sapphire Books) and the essay “Naked in Bohemia” in the anthology Travelers Tales Prague and the Czech Republic (Travelers’ Tales Guides). Her nonfiction has appeared in Preserving Your Memory magazine, of which she was editor-in-chief, and Yellow Rat Bastard. She has taught at Randolph-Macon College. She holds a BA from Randolph-Macon College.

Amy Scheiner has published essays and short nonfiction in Slate, the Stonecoast Review, Blue Mesa Review, the Southampton Review, Longreads/Memoir Monday, Trouble Maker Fire Starter, and the Matador Network, among others. She has taught for Stony Brook University, the Young Artists and Writers Project, and the Community College of Philadelphia. She holds a BA from Boston University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Stony Brook University.

Radhika Sharma is the author of the novel Mangoes for Monkeys and the short story collection Parikrama, (both Frog Books/Leadstart Publishing). Her short fiction has appeared in the Santa Clara Review and The Fanzine, and her essays, reviews, and articles have appeared in the San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Times of India, the Economic Times, Pacific Time, Perspectives, In the Fray, and the Forum on KQED FM, among many others. She is a former assistant fiction editor for 14Hills literary magazine, and she has taught for San Francisco State University, Milipitas Adult Education, and the Learning Bee. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University.

Rachel Simon is the author of the narrative nonfiction book Pickleball for All: Everything But the "Kitchen" Sink (Harper Collins/Dey Street Books). Her essays, features, and opinion have appeared in in the New York Times, W magazine, Shondaland, InStyle, Glamour, Vulture, Refinery29, and NBC News. She has constructed crossword puzzles for the New York Times and New York magazine's Vulture. Previously she's been the deputy editor of HelloGiggles, entertainment-news editor for Bustle, and wellbeing editor for Mic. She holds a BA from Emerson College.

Manreet Sodhi Someshwar is the author of nine novels including the Partition Trilogy series, the Radiance of a Thousand Suns, Girls and the City, and the Long Walk Home (all HarperCollins); the Mehrunisa thriller series (Westland Books), and Earning the Laundry Stripes (Rupa & Co). Her articles and essays have appeared in the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, and the South China Morning Post, among others. She has taught for the New York Public Library and the City College of New York. She holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management and an MFA in Creative Writing from the City College of New York.

Divya Sood is the author of the novels Find Someone to Love and Nights Like This (both Riverdale Avenue Books). Her short stories have won the New Jersey Arts and Letters First Prize for Short Fiction and appeared in The Masters Review. She has taught at Rutgers University and Southern New Hampshire University. She holds a BA from Rutgers University, an MA in English, and an MFA in Fiction, both from New York University. 

Nelsie Spencer is the author of the novel The Playgroup, (St. Martin’s Press). She wrote the feature screenplay A Girl's Best Friend and co-wrote the feature film Valley Inn, which debuted at the Palm Beach International Film Festival. She wrote, produced, and co-hosted the radio show The Radio Ritas, (Greenstone Media) and hosts the podcast Losing It. She co-wrote and starred in the play My Heart Belongs To Daddy, produced at the Pittsburgh Public Theater and Duke University’s Pre-Broadway series. She performed her one-woman show Day of the Dead Daddy at the Chain Theatre in New York City, at the Denver Fringe Festival, and it won an honorable mention in Solo Fest at the Marsh Theater in San Francisco. She studied dance and theater at Orange Coast College, and fiction at The New School.

Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen is the author of the young adult Compound series, the young adult novels The Tomb, The Raft, The Detour, the middle grade Shipwreck Island series (all Feiwel and Friends), and the Elizabeti series of picture books (Lee & Low). She has taught at the Whidbey Island Writer’s Workshop. She holds a BS from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and an MFA in Writing from Spalding University.

Justine Teu has published short fiction in Passages North, Storm Cellar, The Offing, Pidgeonholes, VIDA Lit, LEVEE magazine, and Pigeon Pages, among others, and her essays have appeared in Craft Literary, the Binghamton Journal of History, and Binghamton Writes. She has taught for WriteOn and for BuzzFeed. She holds a BA from the State University of New York-Binghamton and an MFA in Fiction from the New School.

Cullen Thomas is the author of the memoir Brother One Cell (Viking). His nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Salon, The Rumpus, The Sonora Review, World Hum, Current Biography, and Penthouse. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and the National Geographic channel and has taught at NYU. He holds a BA from Binghamton University.

Arlaina Tibensky is the author of the novel And Then Things Fall Apart (Simon & Schuster). Her short stories and nonfiction have appeared in One Story, SmokeLong Quarterly, Reckon Review, The Dodge Magazine, Stanchion, Thimble Lit, @TheKeepThings, The Razor, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Madison Review, The Dinner Party Download, and New Stories from the Midwest, 2018. She has received "The Best of the Net," "Best Small Fictions," and Pushcart nominations for her flash fiction. She holds a BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University.

Cab Tran has published short fiction in Vagabond: Bulgaria's English Monthly, The Oleander Review, and Black Warrior Review, among many others. He is the co-editor and translator of the anthology The Colors of April (Three Rooms Press, forthcoming), by and about the Vietnamese diaspora in the wake of the Vietnam War, and he is the translator, with Quan M. Ha, of the short-story collection Hanoi at Midnight by Bao Ninh (Texas Tech University Press). He co-founded the literary magazine Cedilla, has worked as a tutor with the Michigan Mentorship Program, and taught for the University of Michigan. He holds a BA from the University of Montana and an MFA in Fiction from the University of Michigan.

Marissa Walsh is the author of the picture book One Scoop or Two? And Other Ice Cream Questions (Union Square Books, forthcoming), the YA novel A Field Guide to High School (Delacorte Press), the memoir Girl with Glasses (Simon and Schuster), and the nonfiction book Tipsy in Madras (Penguin). She edited the anthologies Not Like I'm Jealous or Anything (Delacorte Press) and Does this Book Make Me Look Fat? (Clarion Books). She has worked as a literary agent with Fine Print Literary Management and as an editor at Random House. She holds a BA from Smith College.

Laura Yeager is the author of the short story collection First Aid and Other Stories (Iowa State) and the essay chapbook Cancer Loot (excerpted by Cancer Wellness). Her fiction has  appeared in Paris Review, Missouri Review, North American Review, and Kaleidoscope; her personal essays have appeared at Aleteia, Skirt magazine, Dogster, the National Catholic Reporter, Guideposts, and bp Magazine; and her craft essays have appeared in Funds for Writers, WOW—Women on Writing, and Writers Weekly. She blogs for Cure Today and PsychCentral. She has taught at Kent State University, Kirkwood Community College, and Rhode Island School of Design. She holds a BA from Oberlin College, an MA in English from Iowa State University, and an MFA in English from the University of Iowa.

Salma Zarook wrote Salam From Salma, a travel and lifestyle blog, and now writes for Medium. Her essays and poetry have appeared in Pasadena Now and Voiceworks, and one of her short stories won the Australia-wide Write4Fun competition. She has taught for Johns Hopkins University, the New Horizon School LA, the Islamic Center of Southern California, and Five Tuition in Melbourne, Australia. She holds a BA from the University of Melbourne.