#MWW Faculty
Paula D. Ashe is a writer of dark fiction. Her debut short fiction collection, We Are Here to Hurt Each Other, was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award and won a Shirley Jackson award. Paula is a member of the Horror Writers Association and an Associate Editor for Vastarien: A Literary Journal as well as The North Meridian Review. She is represented by Lane Heymont at Tobias Literary Agency. Paula lives in the Midwest with her family.
Nancy Christie is the author of seven books, including her two most recent: the award-winning Reinventing Rita (the first in her Midlife Moxie Novel Series™), published by BookBaby, and her third short story collection, Mistletoe Magic and Other Holiday Tales, published by Unsolicited Press—both released in 2023. Her two other short story collections include Traveling Left of Center and Other Stories and Peripheral Visions and Other Stories, both published by Unsolicited Press. Her fourth collection, The Language of Love and Other Stories, is scheduled for release in 2025 also by Unsolicited Press. Her nonfiction books include the inspirational/motivational book, The Gifts of Change (Atria/Beyond Words) and two award-winning books for writers: Rut-Busting Book for Writers and Rut-Busting Book for Authors (both by BookBaby).
The host of the Living the Writing Life podcast and founder of the annual “Midlife Moxie” Day and “Celebrate Short Fiction” Day, Christie teaches writing workshops at conferences, libraries and schools. She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA), and the Florida Writers Association (FWA).
Melissa Fraterrigo is the author of the novel Glory Days (University of Nebraska Press, 2017), which was named one of “The Best Fiction Books of 2017” by the Chicago Review of Books as well as the story collection The Longest Pregnancy(Livingston Press, 2006). The University of Nebraska Press will publish her forthcoming collection of essays, The Perils of Girlhood. She founded the Lafayette Writers’ Studio in Lafayette, Indiana, and also teaches creative writing at Purdue University. Melissafraterrigo.
Helen Frost writes for children, teens, and adults. Her books include novels-in-poems for middle school and young adult readers (All He Knew, When My Sister Started Kissing, Applesauce Weather, Salt, Blue Daisy, Hidden, Crossing Stones, Diamond Willow, The Braid, Room 214, Keesha’s House), picture books (Monarch and Milkweed, The Mighty Pollinators—and six other collaborations with photographer Rick Lieder), poetry collections (as if a dry wind; Skin of a Fish, Bones of a Bird), as well as anthologies, plays, and a book about teaching writing. She has worked extensively with children and teens, often in collaboration with other artists. Her awards include a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in poetry, the Scott O’Dell award for historical fiction for children, and an Indiana Author Award. She lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
(head shot credit Tim Andersen)
Lucrecia Guerrero‘s short stories and nonfiction have appeared in literary journals and have been anthologized, most recently in “Puro Chicanx Writers of the 21st Century,” and “Indomitables / Indomables.” “Chasing Shadows,” linked short stories, was published by Chronicle Books. “Tree of Sighs,” a novel, was honored with the Christopher Isherwood Fellowship Award and Premio Aztlan Literary Award. “On the Mad River,” her recent novel, was published in February 2024. Guerrero is an experienced creative writing teacher and workshop facilitator who enjoys interacting with writers of all levels.
Piper G. Huguley’s biographical historical fiction, By Her Own Design: a novel of Ann Lowe, Fashion Designer to the Social Register (William Morrow Publishing) tells the inspiring story of the Black fashion designer of Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress. By Her Own Design was a Booklist top 100 Editor’s Choice selection for 2022, was named one of the top 100 books of 2022 in Canada by the Globe and Mail newspaper and was selected as the historical fiction winner for 2022 by the American Library Association’s Reading Council.
She is also the author of Sweet Tea by Hallmark Publishing and the author of two historical romance series: “Migrations of the Heart”, about the Great Migration and “Home to Milford College”. Her next historical fiction book, American Daughters (2024), is the story of the decades-long interracial friendship between Alice Roosevelt and Portia Washington, the rebel teenage daughters of President Theodore Roosevelt and Booker T. Washington, respectively. She is a literature professor at Clark-Atlanta University and blogs about the history behind her novels at http://piperhuguley.com . She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and son.
Keenan Jones, a Twin Cities (MN) based author originally from northwest Indiana and south suburban Chicago, is a passionate educator and literacy advocate. He believes in the transformative power of literacy to inspire and empower young minds. Having always possessed a natural ability for writing, Keenan’s journey led him from the hardwood (basketball court), to the classroom as an elementary school teacher, and now back to his true passion of creating stories.Keenan is also a 2022 Mirrors and Windows fellow from The Loft Literary Center which is based in Minneapolis, MN and is one of the nation’s leading independent literary centers. His debut book, “Saturday Morning at the ‘Shop,” is scheduled for a fall 2024 release by Beach Lane Books (Simon and Schuster) and illustrated by Ken Daley, beautifully captures the essence of the local barbershop and its significance in Black culture and community.
Sean Lovelace lives in Indiana, where he chairs the English Department at Ball State University. He wrote Fog Gorgeous Stag (Publishing Genius Press), How Some People Like Their Eggs, and other flash fiction collections. He has won numerous national literary awards, including the Rose Metal Press Short Short Prize and the Crazyhorse Prize for Fiction. He writes about nachos at https://nachosonly.wordpress.com/
Saundra Mitchell (she/they) has been a phone psychic, a car salesperson, a denture-deliverer and a layout waxer. She’s dodged trains, endured basic training, and hitchhiked from Montana to California. The author of nearly twenty books for tweens and teens, Mitchell’s work includes Edgar Award nominee SHADOWED SUMMER and Indiana Author Award Winner and Lambda Nominee ALL THE THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK. She is the editor of four anthologies for teens, DEFY THE DARK, ALL OUT, OUT NOW and OUT THERE. She always picks truth; dares are too easy.
Lylanne Musselman is an award-winning poet, playwright, and visual artist. Her work has appeared in Pank, The New Verse News, Flying Island, Rose Quartz Magazine, Last Stanza Poetry Journal and The Ekphrastic Review, among others. Recently, one of her poems was selected as the featured poem in Tipton Poetry Journal, Issue # 48 Spring 2021. Musselman’s work has appeared in many anthologies, including The Indianapolis Anthology (Belt Publishing, 2021). She is the author of six chapbooks, including Paparazzi for the Birds (Red Mare 16, 2018) and is the co-author of Company of Women: New and Selected Poems (Chatter House Press, 2013), and is author of the full-length poetry collection, It’s Not Love, Unfortunately (Chatter House Press, 2018). Musselman is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, and her poems are included in the Inverse Poetry Archive, a collection of Hoosier poets, housed at the Indiana State Library. Musselman is currently working on several chapbooks and a new manuscript.
Keynote Speakers
Jane Friedman has 25 years of experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in business strategy for authors and publishers. She’s the co-founder and editor of The Hot Sheet, a paid newsletter for authors, and has previously worked for Writer’s Digest and the Virginia Quarterly Review. In 2023, Jane was awarded Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World; her newsletter was awarded Media Outlet of the Year in 2020.
You might know Jane because of her experience with AI book fraud, which she wrote about in August 2023. Here’s a roundup of the extensive coverage and interviews about what happened.
Jane’s latest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press), which received a starred review from Library Journal. Publishers Weekly said that it is “destined to become a staple reference book for writers and those interested in publishing careers.” In collaboration with The Authors Guild, she wrote The Authors Guild Guide to Self-Publishing.
In addition to being a professor with The Great Courses, Jane has been featured across countless media outlets, including The New York Times, CNN, Wired, BBC, The Guardian, CBC, The Washington Post, NPR, and Fox News. She offers a free newsletter, Electric Speed, published since 2009, that has more than 25,000 subscribers. Her paid newsletter, The Hot Sheet, has more than 2,400 subscribers.
Since 2001, Jane has delivered keynote talks across the globe, including the Writer’s Digest annual conference, Stockholm Writers Festival, San Miguel Writers Conference, The Muse & The Marketplace, Frankfurt Book Fair, and Digital Book World.
She’s also served on grant panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Creative Work Fund, and is currently a board member at The Facing Project. And for a while she even flirted with academia, holding positions as a professor of writing, media, and publishing at the University of Cincinnati and University of Virginia.
In her spare time, Jane writes creative nonfiction, which has been included in the anthologies Every Father’s Daughter and Drinking Diaries. If you look hard enough, you can also find her embarrassing college poetry and secret newsletter.
Tamara Winfrey-Harris is a writer who specializes in the ever-evolving space where current events, politics and pop culture intersect with race and gender. She says, “I want to tell the stories of Black women and girls, and deliver the truth to all those folks who got us twisted—tangled up in racist and sexist lies. I want my writing to advocate for my sisters. We are better than alright. We are amazing.”
Tamara is the author of two books: The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America (Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2015) and Dear Black Girl: Letters From Your Sisters On Stepping Into Your Power (Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2021). The award-winning Sisters, now in its second edition, has been optioned by Wise Entertainment and Gabrielle Union’s production company I’ll Have Another to be turned into a dramedy for television.
Tamara’s work has been published in media outlets, including including The New York Times, The Atlantic, Cosmopolitan, New York Magazine and The Los Angeles Times. And her essays appear in The Lemonade Reader: Beyonce, Black Feminism and Spirituality (Routledge, 2019); The Burden: African Americans and the Enduring Impact of Slavery (Wayne State University Press, 2018); Black in the Middle: An Anthology of the Black Midwest (Black Belt Publishing, 2020); and other books.
Tamara is co-founder of Centering Sisters, LLC, an organization that unapologetically addresses the needs and issues of Black women and girls; and the Black Women’s Writing Society, a monthly virtual space for Black femme creatives. She is also a certified yoga teacher who focuses her work on the healing and well-bring of her sisters.
Tamara is a native of Gary, IN, and a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority, Inc. She graduated with a BA degree from the Greenlee School of Journalism at Iowa State University.
