Hollins MFA

Jessica Bell is a lyric essayist from Lynchburg, Virginia. Outside of writing, she enjoys the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art movements, baking, and loved the Percy Jackson series so much she named her dog after him. Coincidentally, said dog hates the water.

Erin Comerford is a fiction writer from Richmond, Virginia. She received a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Virginia in 2017. Her writing explores themes of addiction, the body, and sexuality, and has appeared in Glass, Garden and Southern Humanities Review. Erin’s favorite sound is the suck of a can of peaches opening under her thumb.

Emily Davis-Fletcher earned her BFA in creative writing from Stephens College and her MA in women’s studies from the National University of Ireland Galway. Her poetry has been published in journals and anthologies in the US, Ireland, and England. She has taught poetry workshops at the University of South Carolina Beaufort and the Pat Conroy Literary Center. In 2018, Emily was selected to read at the Cork International Poetry Festival Introductions Reading and her poem ‘Sow Calling’ was a finalist in the Sublingua Prize for Poetry 2019. She is currently transforming personal experiences into a poetry manuscript and her spirit animal for 2021 is the peacock, a symbol of rebirth, vision, wholeness.

Maggie Dillow grew up writing terrible teen poetry in Chicagoland. Later, she woke up in a tent surrounded by the Badlands of South Dakota. She moved there. She did many good things and many bad things. She wrote about them. Now, she writes poetry that is less bad than the poetry she wrote before, some mostly true nonfiction, and fiction by accident. When she’s not writing you can find her in the woods.

Annalee Fairley writes mainly poetry but likes to dabble in a variety of formats. Her subjects range from the dangers of the nuclear family to her extreme phobia of termites. She enjoys walking aimlessly.

Marin Harrington is a nonfiction writer from Omaha, Nebraska. Her essays often explore embodiment, illness, religious upbringing, and gendered experiences. She received her B.A. in English and Communication Studies from Central College in Pella, Iowa. In addition to writing, she deeply enjoys eating pasta and wearing oversized earrings.

David Heinen was born and raised in Milwaukee but went to college in the Shenandoah Valley, where he is thrilled to return to study fiction. His interests vary as widely as his characters’, who tend, these days, to be from countries outside the United States.

Pat Jameson is a fiction writer from Ligonier, Pennsylvania. He earned his BA in English (Creative Writing) from Allegheny College. His work explores themes related to technology, addiction, and toxic masculinity in Modern America. In his free time, he enjoys mountain biking, movies and hanging out with his girlfriend, Meg, and dog, Chief.

Chanlee Luu is a Vietnamese-American writer from southern Virginia. She received her B.S in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia. She writes mostly poetry, but is open to experimentation on form and genre. She likes to write on identity, pop culture, science, politics, and everything in between.

Garth Robinson grew up in Massachusetts and lived most recently in Brooklyn. He primarily writes short fiction. His work has appeared in Variant Literature and Glassworks Magazine.

Holly Rudolph is currently working on a memoir about mental illness and loss. She holds a B.A. (fiction) and an M.F.A. (screenwriting) from the University of California, Riverside. She won bronze in the 2019 Write to Film Awards, and has published in the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Lindsey Zawistowski was born in New Jersey and earned her undergraduate degree in creative writing at Bucknell University. She is primarily a fiction writer, but dabbles in poetry and critique writing. Her favorite authors include Benjamin Alice Sáenz, Madeline Miller, Sophie Kinsella, and John Green. When not writing, she is either reading, performing media criticism, or watching YouTube. If you meet her in real life, she’s probably going to be wearing a t-shirt.