Lillian-Yvonne Bertram is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, where they teach and direct the UMass Boston MFA in Creative Writing Program. They also direct The Chautauqua Writers’ Festival. They are the author of the poetry collections Travesty Generator (Noemi Press, 2019), winner of the 2018 Noemi Press Poetry Prize and finalist for the National Poetry Series. Travesty Generator received the 2020 Poetry Society of America Anna Rabinowitz Prize for interdisciplinary and venturesome work. They are also the author of Personal Science (Tupelo Press, 2017); a slice from the cake made of air (Red Hen Press 2016); and But a Storm is Blowing From Paradise (Red Hen Press, 2012), chosen by Claudia Rankine as the winner of the 2010 Benjamin Saltman Award. Bertram’s other publications include the chapbook cutthroat glamours (Phantom Books, 2012), winner of the Phantom Books chapbook award; and the artist book Grand Dessein (commissioned by Container Press), a mixed media artifact that meditates on the work and writing of the artist Paul Klee.
Michelle Orsi is from Spokane, Washington, where she received her BA in English and Spanish from Gonzaga University. Her poetry has most recently appeared in Reflection and Lilac City Fairy Tales Vol IV: Towers and Dungeons, among others. She currently serves as Poetry Editor for Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts and teaches at the University of Houston, where she is pursuing her MFA in Poetry.
Devereux Fortuna is a writer and visual artist, currently pursuing a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature at the University of Houston. Devereux's work can be found at Waxwing Magazine, Triangle House Review, and elsewhere.
Sonia Hamer is a writer from Houston, TX. She is an MFA candidate at the University of Houston, Online Nonfiction Editor for Gulf Coast, and a Program Associate for Writers in the Schools. Her work has appeared in Creative Nonfiction's True Story, Allegory Ridge's Archipelago, The Dollhouse, and elsewhere.
This online event is produced in partnership with Lawndale Art Center and will be live-streamed through Facebook Live, Instagram Live, and YouTube Live.
