Faculty
KATHIE GIORGIO
Near the end of 2021, Kathie’s 12th book and sixth novel, All Told, will be released by the Austin Macauley Publishing Company. In August of 2022, her 13th book and fourth book of poetry, Olivia In Five, Seven, Five; Autism in Haiku, will be released by Finishing Line Press. Her latest book, No Matter Which Way You Look, There Is More To See, a full-length poetry collection, was released by Finishing Line Press in September 2020.
Kathie's tenth book and fifth novel, If You Tame Me, won second place in the Women’s Fiction division of the 2019 Pencraft Award For Literary Excellence. If You Tame Me was released by Black Rose Writing in 2019. Kathie Giorgio’s poetry chapbook, When You Finally Said No, was released by Finishing Line Press in February of 2019. Today’s Moment of Happiness Despite the News, Kathie Giorgio’s year-long collection of spontaneous essays, was released in 2018 by Black Rose Writing. Kathie's sixth book, In Grace's Time, was released in 2017 by Black Rose Writing. Oddities And Endings; The Collected Stories of Kathie Giorgio, Kathie’s fifth book, was released in June of 2016 by the Main Street Rag Publishing Company. Comprised of 40 short stories, this collection shows the full force of Giorgio’s flexible literary muscle. Also in 2016, Main Street Rag Publishing Company released an anthology titled, It’s About Time. Giorgio served as guest editor and selected all of the poems, short stories and short memoir for the anthology.
In 2015, Kathie released her fourth book, Rise From The River, from Main Street Rag Publishing Company. Kathie's third book, Learning To Tell (A Life)Time, was released on September 17, 2013, and debuted to an audience of over 200 people at the SouthEast Wisconsin Festival of Books, where Kathie was the welcoming Keynote. Lifetime is the sequel to Giorgio’s first book, The Home For Wayward Clocks, released in 2011 by the Main Street Rag Publishing Company. Kathie's short story collection, Enlarged Hearts, was released in April 2012 by the Main Street Rag Publishing Company as well.
Giorgio’s short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies. Her short stories and poems have been performed on stage. She’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in fiction and poetry, the Patterson Fiction Prize, and awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library Association, the Silver Pen Award for Literary Excellence, the Pencraft Award for Literary Excellence, and the Eric Hoffer Award In Fiction. She’s been nominated for the Million Writer Award and for the Best of the Net anthology.
She holds her BA in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and her MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College. She has twenty-five years of experience in developing and teaching creative writing classes for adults and children. She launched AllWriters’ Workplace & Workshop LLC in 2005 and developed it into a thriving international business serving thousands of writers every year. She also speaks and teaches at writers conferences across the country. Visit Kathie Giorgio's website at kathiegiorgio.org.
MICHAEL GIORGIO
Michael got his start in writing in what many consider a dead, or at least a lost, art: Radio Drama. His first work won a national scriptwriting contest and a love of writing was born. Since then, he has had over a dozen audio scripts produced in Newark, Los Angeles, Akron, San Francisco, and Tennessee.
Michael's third full length novel, A Week Of Criminal Happiness, will be released by Black Rose Writing in June of 2020. Michael's second full length novel, The Memory Swindlers, was released in 2016 by Black Rose Writing and is the sequel to his first full length novel, Justice Comes Home, released in 2014.
An Active Member of the Mystery Writers of America and the Short Fiction Mystery Society, Michael has had both mystery and mainstream short stories published in magazines such as The Strand, Mystery Time, Up Dere?, Prose Ax, My Legacy, Fighting Chance, and Lunatic Chameleon. His fiction has also been anthologized in The Mammoth Book of Tales from the Road (Carroll and Graf), The Mammoth Book of On the Road (Robinson), It's That Time Again: The New Stories of Old Time Radio (BearManor Media), and Who Died in Here? (Penury Press). For more about Michael and his work, please visit www.michaelgiorgio.org.
SHAINDEL BEERS
Shaindel Beers’ poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She is currently an instructor of English at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, Oregon, in Eastern Oregon’s high desert and serves as Poetry Editor of Contrary. A Brief History of Time, her first full-length poetry collection, was released by Salt Publishing in 2009. Her second collection, The Children’s War and Other Poems,was released in February of 2013.
Shaindel was raised in Argos, Indiana, a town of 2,000 people. She studied literature at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama (BA), and at the University of Chicago (MA) before earning her MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has taught at colleges and universities in Illinois and Florida but feels settled in the Eastern Oregon high desert town of Pendleton. Her awards include: First place Karen Fredericks and Frances Willitts Poetry Prize (2008), Grand Prize Co-winner Trellis Magazine sestina contest (2008), First place Dylan Days Poetry Competition (2007), Award-winning poem published, Eleventh Muse (2006),Honorable mention, Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Awards (2005), Honorable mention, Juniper Creek/Unnamed Writers Award(2005), and the title poem from this collection, A Brief History of Time, was nominated for aPushcart prize (2004). Read more about Shaindel Beers at shaindelbeers.com.
CAROLYN WALKER
Carolyn Walker is the author of the memoir Every Least Sparrow, a book about raising her daughter Jennifer, who has Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome. In May, 2017, the book was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize by Garn Press.
Walker is a creative writing instructor for Writer’s Digest University, Springfed Arts, and All Writers Workplace & Workshop.
Walker’s work has appeared in The Southern Review, Hunger Mountain, The Writer’s Chronicle, Gravity Pulls You In: Parenting Children on the Autism Spectrum, HOUR Detroit, The Detroit News, and many other publications. Her essay “Christian Become a Blur,” published in the literary journal Crazyhorse, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Walker has been a writing resident at Vermont Studio Center, and the Noepe Center for Literary Arts on Martha’s Vineyard. She has facilitated workshops in Newfoundland, Nantucket Island, Michigan, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
She has a Master of Fine Arts in Writing degree from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and she is a 2013 Kresge Fellow in the Literary Arts.
LISA MARIE BRODSKY
Lisa is the author of Motherlung (Salmon Poetry, 2014) and We Nod Our Dark Heads (Parallel Press, 2008). She received her MFA in Poetry from UW-Madison as a Martha Meir Renk Graduate Fellow in 2005. Her poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction have been published in The North American Review, Verse Wisconsin, Pirene’s Fountain, Mom Egg Review, among others. Motherlung, and its story of grief and redemption, has resonated with many and was featured in Madison Magazine, on WISC-TV, and WORT Radio. Besides writing and teaching poetry, Lisa is a Creativity Advocate - helping others come to their place of confident creativity. Lisa lives in Evansville, Wisconsin, with her husband and three stepchildren. To learn more, visit her website at lisamariebrodsky.blogspot.com.
CARRIE NEWBERRY
Carrie Newberry’s first novel, an urban fantasy called Pick Your Teeth With My Bones, is being published by EDGE Lite Science Fiction and Fantasy, a Canadian publisher. The book was accepted on its first submission. For the most part, she writes fantasy and horror, though she has written short pieces of literary fiction as well as flash memoir pieces.
After studying Creative Writing at UW-Madison and after maxing out on Creative Writing Workshops at UW-Madison, she decided to leave academia behind in order to pursue her career as a dog groomer’s assistant and have lots of time to write. She hasn’t regretted the decision for a moment, although it would come in handy to have a degree of some sort to list right here. She continues her studies at AllWriter’s, as a member of the monthly Saturday morning New Year’s Resolution Write a Book Workshop, because writers can always learn more from their peers. And because Kathie Giorgio throws a great party. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with a greedy terrier and a cock-a-poo who’s an obnoxiously persistent morning person. For more about Carrie's work, visit www.carrienewberry.com.
LARINA WARNOCK
Larina Warnock is a one-time teen mother and high school dropout who now holds a doctorate degree from Creighton University. She teaches high school business courses, including marketing and business communications, for college credit in Oregon where she lives with her husband and a small zoo. Her poetry, fiction, and nonfiction has appeared in such journals as Against the Grain, Space & Time Magazine, Poet's Market, Touch: The Journal of Healing, The Oregonian, and others. Larina's work has twice been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, and her chapbook, Guitar without Strings was published by The Lives You Touch Publications in 2011.
JOANNE NELSON
Joanne is the author of the memoir, This is How We Leave, forthcoming from Vine Leaves Press. Her writing appears in anthologies and literary journals such as Brevity, the Citron Review, the museum of americana, and Redivider. In addition, she is a contributor to "Lake Effect" on WUWM—Milwaukee's NPR station. Nelson lives in Hartland, Wis., where she develops and leads community programs, maintains a psychotherapy practice, and adjuncts. More information about Joanne Nelson can be found on wakeupthewriterwithin.com.