Faculty

 KATHIE GIORGIO

KATHIE GIORGIO is the critically acclaimed author of eight novels, The Home For Wayward Clocks (The Main Street Rag Publishing Company, 2011), Learning To Tell (A Life)Time (The Main Street Rag Publishing Company, 2013), Rise From The River (The Main Street Rag Publishing Company, 2015), In Grace’s Time (Black Rose Writing, 2017), If You Tame Me (Black Rose Writing, 2019), All Told (Austin Macauley Publishers, 2022), Hope Always Rises (Black Rose Writing, 2023), and Don’t Let Me Keep You (Black Rose Writing, 2024), as well as two story collections, Enlarged Hearts (The Main Street Rag Publishing Company, 2012) and Oddities & Endings; The Collected Stories Of Kathie Giorgio (The Main Street Rag Publishing Company, 2016), a collection of essays, Today’s Moment Of Happiness Despite The News; A Year Of Spontaneous Essays (Black Rose Writing, 2018), and four poetry books, True Light Falls In Many Forms (The Main Street Rag Publishing Company, 2016), When You Finally Said No (Finishing Line Press, 2019), No Matter Which Way You Look, There Is More To See (Finishing Line Press, 2020) and Olivia In Five, Seven, Five; Autism In Haiku (Finishing Line Press, 2022). A new poetry book, Let Me Tell You; Let Me Sing, will be released by Kelsay Books in August of 2026. She’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in fiction and poetry 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. Her poem “Light” won runner-up in the 2021 Rosebud Magazine Poetry Prize and her poem, “Again”, won first prize in the Wisconsin Writers Association’s Jade Ring contest. She is a two-time winner of the Zona Gale Short Fiction Award, for her stories, “Quiet” and “Recipe”. Her short story, “Snapdragon”, was performed on stage for the Stories On Stage series at Su Teatro theatre in Boulder, Colorado. Her poem, “Harvest Moon”, was included in the Poetry Leaves exhibition in Waterford, Michigan. In a recent column, Jim Higgins, the books editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, included Giorgio in a list of the top 21 Wisconsin writers of the 21st century.

Besides being a writer, Giorgio is also the director and founder of the international creative writing studio, AllWriters’ Workplace & Workshop LLC. AllWriters’ offers online and on-site courses and workshops in all genres and abilities of creative writing, as well as coaching and editing services. Thousands of writers worldwide have gotten their start at AllWriters’, and thousands have continued their career there. Giorgio has taught for 30 years.

Kathie lives in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Three of her adult children, Christopher, Andy, and Olivia, live close by, along with her solo granddaughter, Maya Mae. One adult child, Katie, has wandered off to Louisiana where she teaches at the University of Louisiana – Lafayette and lives among the mathematicians and alligators.

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.

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.

RICHARD HEDDERMAN

Richard Hedderman is a multi-Pushcart Prize nominated poet whose work has appeared in dozens of literary journals both in the U.S. and abroad. Publications include The Stockholm Review of Literature, Rattle, The American Poetry Review, Kestrel, Chicago Quarterly Review, Stone Poetry Quarterly, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, and Santa Fe Literary Review. His poems have been collected in several anthologies including In a Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare (University of Iowa Press.) He’s been a Guest Poet at the Library of Congress, performed his writing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and served as a Fine Arts Grants Panelist with the National Endowment for the Arts. A veteran theater professional, he’s worked as a voice-over artist and actor, and performed ten seasons with the New York State Shakespeare Company. He is a Certified Advanced Actor/Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors and has taught and choreographed stage combat in theaters, universities, and colleges on the east coast, in Milwaukee, and nationwide. His most recent book of poems is, Choosing a Stone (Finishing Line Press.) He is formerly Education Programs Coordinator and Writer-in-Residence at the Milwaukee Public Museum and currently teaches creative writing at Mount Mary University. More about Richard and his work may be found at richardheddermanpoetry.com.