2026 Conference Presenters
Prepare to embark on a literary journey like never before as we proudly introduce the extraordinary authors headlining the WriteAngles Conference. Our lineup of presenters, agents and teachers represents a diverse tapestry of storytelling prowess, each weaving narratives that captivate, inspire, and resonate with the essence of the written word. From seasoned novelists to groundbreaking poets, our authors bring a wealth of experience and creativity to the heart of WriteAngles.
Here are the different Authors, Agents and Teachers and their roles in the Conference:
Promotion Boot Camp
Pathways to Publishing
Promotion Boot Camp:
Helping your book find its readers
With over 4 million new books published yearly and the shrinking of the traditional book marketplace, book marketing is increasingly done by authors. So how can you maximize your new book finding its way to your readers? Four well-published authors share their experiences and best practices. We’ll discuss hiring publicists, DIY resources, timelines, where and how to pitch for reviews, podcasts, festivals, and events, grassroots promotion, and keeping sane during the process.
Moderator: Ellen Meeropol
Panelists: Randy Susan Meyers, Jendi Reiter, Suzanne Shea
Time: 3:30pm – 4:45pm
Ellen Meeropol (moderator)
Ellen Meeropol is the author of six novels, including Sometimes an Island, a mosaic novel featuring a group of older women facing rebuilding after a climate disaster that changes everything, and guest editor for the anthology Dreams for a Broken World. \ Her work has been a finalist for the Sarton Women’s Prize, longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award, and selected by the Women’s National Book Association as a Great Group Reads.
Randy Susan Meyers
Randy Susan Meyers is the internationally bestselling author of seven novels, including The Many Mothers of Ivy Puddingstone (October 2024), which explores the lasting impact of a family’s immersion in 1960s idealism. Her novels have been named Massachusetts Center for the Book “Must Reads,” selected as Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year, and translated into more than 36 languages. Meyers’s work with troubled youth, nonprofits, the City of Boston, and criminal justice organizations—and years bartending in a small Boston bar—have shaped her fiction.
Jendi Reiter
Jendi Reiter is the author of six poetry books and chapbooks, most recently Introvert Pervert (The Word Works); the novels Two Natures and Origin Story, both from Saddle Road Press; and the story collection An Incomplete List of My Wishes (Sunshot Press). Awards include two Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowships for Poetry and the Rainbow Award for Best Contemporary Gay Fiction. They are the editor of the writing resource site WinningWriters.com.
Suzanne Strempek Shea
Suzanne Strempek Shea is the author of 12 novels and nonfiction books including the forthcoming Compositions: A memoir in 42 essays by one kid on her 8 years in Catholic school, handed in 60 years late. Her journalism and fiction have appeared in newspapers and magazines throughout the US and in Ireland. She’s taught in four MFA programs, created one, and co-directs the Dingle Writers’ Workshop and the Iota Short Forms Conference. She lives in the US and Ireland.
Panel Discussion
Pathways to Publishing
Moderator: Julie Schlack
Panelists: Becky Hilliker, Samantha Kolber and Randy Zucco
Time: 2:00pm – 3:15pm
Julie Wittes Schlack is a regular contributor to Cognoscenti, NPR station WBUR’s journal of ideas and opinions, the author of This All-at-Onceness (Pact Press, an Imprint of Regal House), a linked essay collection named one of Kirkus Review’s 100 Best Indie Books of 2019, and of the novel Burning and Dodging (Black Rose Writing, 2022).
Becky Hiliker learnt the power of words at the age of six, when she slid a note under her sister’s door that said “I don’t love you—I don’t even like you.” That declaration moved her sister, who never tattled again. Becky coauthored the 2015 novel Sisters of Shiloh with that same ratfink sister for Harper Collins (Mariner Books). The book was longlisted for the Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize. Her work has appeared in USA Today, Huffington Post, the Houston Chronicle, Military Spouse Magazine, and on Ancestry.com. Becky approaches editing with the belief that all stories have an emotional heart, regardless of genre, and she enjoys helping authors build from that guiding light. After bouncing around the country for the past few decades, courtesy of the US Navy, she has recently landed in Louisville, Kentucky, with her husband, four children, three dogs, one guinea pig, and numerous dust bunnies.
Samantha Kolber is the owner and publisher of Rootstock Publishing, a curated hybrid and traditional press in Montpelier, Vermont. She is the author of Birth of a Daughter (Kelsay Books, 2020), a 5-Star Readers’ Favorite and Poetry Winner in the 2023 San Francisco Book Festival. Her poems have appeared in Rattle, Rise Up Review, Hunger Mountain, and Minerva Rising, among other publications. She received her MFA in creative writing (fiction) from Goddard College, and completed a post-grad semester in poetry at the Solstice MFA Program at Pine Manor College. Previous jobs held are event & marketing coordinator at Bear Pond Books, associate director of sales & marketing at Tupelo Press, managing editor of Hunger Mountain at VCFA, and publications & communications manager at Goddard College. Her debut novel, Stolen, releases in December to coincide with her 50th birthday!
Randy Zucco has been a worker/owner at Collective Copies for 28 years. In that time we launched Levellers Press and several imprints. Randy has overseen the development of E-book conversion and distribution and is also a Senior Account Executive with several titles out including one of our latest, Thorns of the Mesquite by Patricia Lee Lewis.
Workshop Facilitators
Jennifer Browdy, PhD, has taught literature, writing and leadership for social and environmental justice at Bard College/Simon’s Rock for many years. She coined the term “purposeful memoir” and has shared her own life story and the techniques of purposeful memoir in several award-winning books: Purposeful Memoir as a Quest for a Thriving Future, The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir, and the memoir What I Forgot …And Why I Remembered. The publisher of Green Fire Press, she hosts a podcast focused on “books that make the world better,” and writes on Substack at Writing to Right the World. She has led workshops and presented at conferences at many venues in the US, Canada and Europe, and also maintains a lively online teaching and coaching practice.
Presentation: Thrutopain Fiction
Venue: D7 (38 +)
Time: 9.45am – 11.00am
Sarah Jane Cody is a writer of surreal and magical fiction and nonfiction and author of the webcomic Bathrobe Gal. Her writing has appeared in The Common, Joyland, The New York Times, Electric Literature, Gulf Coast, The Cincinnati Review, and elsewhere, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She was a finalist for the 2018 G.B. Crump Prize in Experimental Fiction. She received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, and she’s a Tin House Summer Workshop alumna. She’s represented by Jess Regel at Helm Literary Agency.
Presentation: Where ideas come from
Venue: D5 (24)
Time: 3.30pm – 4.45pm
Multilingual Boricua poet of color María Luisa Arroyo Cruzado has been joyfully facilitating poetry workshops and giving readings for 20+ years at numerous venues including Amherst College, Mass Poetry Festival, and The Tell It Slant Poetry Festival. Her collections include Thought Here Would Cure Me of There (2024), Resistencia: resilience (2023), Destierro Means More than Exile (2018), and Gathering Words: Recogiendo palabras (2008). In 2024, María Luisa, poet laureate emerita of Springfield, MA (2014-2016), was awarded an honorary doctorate by Smith College in recognition of her community poetics and intersectional teaching.
Presentation: Generate Wildly! Then Find Your ‘Container’ Later!
Venue: D4 (24)
Time: 11.15am – 12.30am
Susanne Dunlap is an award-winning author of historical fiction and historical romance with experience across traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing. Her novels bring the past vividly to life through compelling characters, emotional depth, and richly imagined settings. As a longtime writer, teacher, and book coach, she helps aspiring authors navigate the craft and business of publishing with practical insight, encouragement, and hard-won experience from every side of the industry.
Presentation: You Wrote the Book: Now What?
Venue: D7 (38)
Time: 2.00pm – 3.15pm
Darlene Elias/Gri
Presentation:The Stories We Carry
Venue:D3 (28)
Time: 9.45am – 11.00am
Helen Fremont is the author of three memoirs, including the acclaimed national bestseller After Long Silence, and the award-winning memoirs, The Escape Artist, and Outside the Lines. Her works of fiction and nonfiction have appeared in numerous publications, including, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, The New York Times, Ploughshares, and The Harvard Review. She has been a teaching fellow at both Bread Loaf and the Radcliffe Institute. She was a Scholar in the Women’s Studies Research Center Scholars Program at Brandeis University, and worked as a public defender in Boston, where she now lives with her wife.
Presentation: Why Me? Memoir and Transforming Memory into Meaning
Venue: D6 (60+)
Time: 3.30pm – 4.45pm
Jacqueline Gamache (“Jacqui”) is a “Jacq” of all trades when it comes to writing, doing everything but mostly working in speculative fiction. She is based in Western Massachusetts and creates stories that will remind you to stand up to monsters. She serves as the Literary Team Leader of Common Folk Artist Collective, based in North Adams, MA, and also as Editor-in-Chief of its upcoming Lore & Rime Literary Magazine. You can follow her adventures at @jacquiwriting on Instagram, @jacqui-writing on Bluesky
Presentation: Let’s Not Speculate: Avoiding Over Explaining and Infodumps in Speculative Fiction
Venue: D3 (28)
Time: 2.00pm – 3.15pm
Áine Greaney is an Irish native, Massachusetts transplant and multi-genre writer who has published five books. Her short works have appeared in diverse publications, including Creative Nonfiction, The New York Times, Books Ireland, Poem Alone, The Mid Atlantic Review, and many others. A Pushcart nominee, her work was cited in Best American Essays. She teaches creative and wellness writing in various community, literary and clinical settings.
Presentation: Say it on the Page: How to Craft Lively, Authentic Dialog
Venue: D3 (28)
Time: 3.30pm – 4.45pm
Life long poet, fiction and non fiction writer. Chaya Grossberg has been writing and sharing poetry for 3 decades, participating in and hosting open mics from coast to coast, NYC to San Francisco, Portland, OR, Olympia WA, and here in the Valley the most. She recently published poetry books, “Reborn: Poetic Codes For Psychiatric Survivors” and “Daylilies Wild as Night”. Chaya is a writing teacher, creative artist and advocate in the mental health system and food systems and enjoys integrating the creative and healing arts.
Presentation: Writing Your Controversial Views
Venue: Atrium
Time: 3.30pm – 4.45pm
Jennifer Jacobson’s writing appears in the Master’s Review, Chronogram, Linea, Switch, jubilat, (and elsewhere) with honorable mentions from Glimmer Train, Hunger Mountain, Symphony Space, and the Tennessee Williams Festival. The recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Creative Teaching Fellowship and the National Storytelling Network’s Brimstone Award, Jennifer is completing her first novel about love, rebellion, and the deadly consequences of lying. The story is set in Hangzhou, China, where Jennifer taught in 1989 and witnessed pro-democracy efforts that led to the massacre of innocent protesters in Tiananmen Square. Jennifer is currently developing a staged reading of her short story, “Flight.”
Presentation: Setting: More than meets the eye
Venue: D7 (38)
Time: 11.15am – 12.30am
Celia Jeffries is the author of the award-winning novel BLUE DESERT. Her work has appeared in numerous newspapers and literary magazines including Westview, Solstice Literary Magazine, and Puerto del Sol, as well as the anthology Beyond the Yellow Wallpaper. Jeffries holds an MA from Brandeis and worked in news and educational publishing before earning an MFA from Lesley University. She has worked with writers at all levels, from elementary school to university both here and abroad, and in many different communities, including incarcerated, literacy, and ESL programs. She is a founding member of Straw Dog Writers Guild.
Presentation: The Art of Memoir
Venue: D4 (24)
Time: 9.45am – 11.00am
Elizabeth Levine, M.A., M.P.H., M.F.A., is a trilingual author, editor, poet, and Adjunct Professor of English. Finishing Line Press published her two poetry chapbooks, “The Ribbon Around the Bomb” and “God Doesn’t Live at Our House Anymore”, under her pseudonym Charlotte Clear. She won the 2026 Brooklyn Film Arts Non-Fiction prize. Her writing has appeared in MAPLiterary, NEMLA, Mudfish, the Fountain Pen, and Heather Stivison’s Ekphrasis Art Exhibit “Borders and Boundaries.”
Ms. Levine is an active member of the Straw Dog Writers’ Guild, Amherst Writers & Artists Association, and Yetzirah. As an Amherst Writers and Artists-trained facilitator, she offers virtual creative writing workshops.
Presentation: Entering the Image: Ekphrastic
Venue: D4 (24)
Time: 2.00pm – 3.15pm
Joan Livingston is a former longtime journalist, who led newspapers in Taos, New Mexico and Western Massachusetts. So far, she has published 19 novels for adult and young readers. Most are set in the fictional hill towns of Western Mass., including the Isabel Long Mystery Series. After her publisher closed, Joan became a hybrid author — Bloodhound Books took on some books and the rest she self-published, including handling the formatting and promotion herself. She lives on the Buckland side of Shelburne Falls.
Presentation: Self Publishing 101
Venue: D6 (60+)
Time: 11.15am – 12.30am
Amy Mackin is a writer, researcher, and advocate specializing in the intersections of neurodiversity, education, social equity, and cultural history. She is the author of Henry’s Classroom: A Special Education in American Motherhood (2025), a hybrid memoir exploring the complexities of navigating the American special education system. Her essays and criticism have appeared in The Atlantic, Chalkbeat, Literary Mama, The Writer’s Chronicle, Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies, Watershed Review, Coffin Bell, The Shriver Report, Witness, and elsewhere. Amy holds an MA in American Studies from UMass Boston and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Presentation: The Fact of the Matter: Weaving Research into Personal Narrative for Social Change
Venue: D5 (24)
Time: 11.15am – 12.30am
Rebecca Hart Olander is a Women’s National Book Association Poetry Award winner and the author of three poetry collections: Dressing the Wounds (a dancing girl press chapbook, 2019), Uncertain Acrobats (CavanKerry Press, 2021), a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award and the Massachusetts Book Award, and Singing from the Deep End (CavanKerry Press, 2026). Rebecca has taught writing widely, most recently as the James Merrill Visiting Poet at Amherst College, and she works with graduate student poets at Wilkes University. She is the editor/director of Perugia Press, a feminist press publishing emerging women poets.
Presentation: Singing from the Deep End: A Generative Poetry Workshop
Venue: D7 (38)
Time: 3.30pm – 4.45pm
John Rozum
Presentation: How Comics Work
Venue: D7 (38)
Time: 3.30pm – 4.45pm
Arya Samuelson is a writer, editor, and somatic practitioner. She is the winner of New Ohio Review’s Nonfiction Prize, Lascaux Review’s Nonfiction Prize, and CutBank’s Montana Prize in Nonfiction awarded by Cheryl Strayed. Her essay, “I Am No Beekeeper” was selected as Notable in Best American Essays 2024. Other essays and stories have been published in Fourth Genre, Bellevue Literary Review, Columbia Journal, Gertrude, and elsewhere. Her work has received support from Ragdale, Mass Cultural Council, Edith Wharton/Straw Dog Guild, Virginia Creative Colony for the Arts, Vermont Studio Center, and Juniper Summer Writing Institute. Arya teaches and works as a developmental editor and creative coach to help memoir writers unearth the deeper story.
Presentation: How to Find The Story Beneath the Story: A Revision Workshop
Venue: D5 (24)
Time: 2.00pm – 3.15pm
Megan Tady is the author of Bluebird Day, a Washington Post Noteworthy Book, and Super Bloom, which was awarded an IPPY Gold medal for Best Regional Fiction in the Northeast. She runs the freelance writing and editing company Word-Lift and offers book coaching and ghostwriting. Her writing has appeared in Oprah Daily, People, L.A. Parent, Woman’s Day, Writer’s Digest, The Huffington Post, and Ms. Magazine, among others. Megan lives in Western Massachusetts with her family.
Presentation: Three-Act Structure for Novels
Venue: D5 (24)
Time: 9.45am – 11.00am
Gail Thomas has published seven books, most recently This World. Her poems have been widely published in journals and anthologies. Among her awards are the A.V Christie award from Seven Kitchens Press for Trail of Roots, the Charlotte Mew Prize from Headmistress Press for Odd Mercy, the Narrative Poetry Prize from Naugatuck River Review, the Massachusetts Center for the Book’s “Must Read” for Waving Back, and the Quartet Journal’s Editor’s Choice Prize. She has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony and Ucross, and several poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She teaches poetry with Pioneer Valley Writers’ Workshops, visits schools and libraries with her therapy dog, and supports immigrant and refugee families in Western Massachusetts.
Presentation: Publishing Your Poetry
Venue: D6 (60 +)
Time: 9.45am – 11.00am
Pamela Wax is the author of Walking the Labyrinth (Main Street Rag, 2022), Starter Mothers (Finishing Line Press, 2023), and Every Single Beast of My Heart (Sheila-Na-Gig, 2026). Her poems have been published in over 60 literary journals and have received several awards and three Best of the Net nominations. An inveterate researcher and collector, Pam keeps a running computer file of her favorite poems (over 1200 pages worth!) which she sifts through when she teaches poetry. Pam is a poetry student at The Writers’ Studio, an ordained rabbi, and a resident of North Adams, MA.
Presentation: The News Only You Can Bring: Some Nuts and Bolts of Poetry
Venue: D3 (28)
Time: 11.15am – 12.30am
Marisa Williams is a PhD student in Afro-American Studies at UMass Amherst. Marisa grew up in Texas and Louisiana. They received an undergraduate education at Ball State University, as well as earned a Master of Arts in English from Oregon State University. Their academic interests encompass Horror Noire, Southern Gothic Literature and Postcolonialism.
Presentation: What Haunts You?: Writing Ghost Stories in the 21st Century
Venue: Atrium
Time: 2.00pm – 3.15pm