A little about me …

I'm a personal essayist and journalist. You can find my work in Brevity, Under the Gum Tree, Nieman Storyboard, and more. My personal essays have placed in the Rose Post Creative Nonfiction Competition as well as the RCWMS Annual Essay Contest. In 2022 I was named an Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artist by the Durham Arts Council and my work has received fellowships and support from the Norman Mailer Center and the Durham Arts Council. I'm currently working on a memoir.

I'm a creative writing instructor. I earned an undergraduate degree in English from Duke University, an MFA in creative nonfiction from The New School and a Graduate Certificate in Publishing from the Denver Publishing Institute. For nearly a decade I’ve been teaching writers who are working on memoirs, personal essays or other types of creative nonfiction. I’m skilled at asking the right questions to unlock a new layer of understanding, locating the heart of your story, infusing play and ease into workshop, and providing feedback in a way that honors the vulnerability of the writing process. I instruct two ongoing writing critique groups independently and also teach classes locally and on zoom. Since 2016 I have also been teaching creative writing to adults in nontraditional spaces, such as the Durham County Library, the Durham Arts Council and the Osher Lifelong Learning Center (OLLI) at Duke University. Check out my offerings here.

I was born with an upper limb difference, so I work hard to make sure disabled voices are not only included but centered, and advocate against the systemic barriers that keep disabled writers from making art and being heard. In response to my time in an MFA program, I'm consistently refining a social justice informed and trauma informed workshop model that I believe supports both disabled and non-disabled writers better than the traditional MFA workshop.

I think one of the best things a writer can do to set themselves up for success in a writing class is to work with people they can learn from. To learn a little bit more about how I approach teaching writing, check out “Can Writing Be Taught?” 

Want to stay in touch? Subscribe to my mailing list, where I send two dispatches a month on everything from the writing life to writing prompts and reading recommendations.