meet our faculty.

We’re a small team of experienced writers, coaches, and teachers committed to excellence in our craft.

Though we share the same professional values, we offer different skill sets to our clients.

 Administrators

 

 
 

founder + C.e.o. | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Brady Gilliam

 

Brady is the founder of Gilliam Writers Group. He is currently pursuing a Master’s of Education in Philosophy and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Learn more about Brady’s background and approach here. You can find his essays on educational philosophy and schooling at Pedagogy of the Distressed.

 
 
 

enrollment manager + Faculty | oakland, california + Online

Tadeh Kennedy

 

Tadeh holds an MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. His work has been published in The Ana and Transfer Magazine. In 2021 Tadeh recieved the Joe Brainard Fellowship award. He has led fiction workshops in Armenia and serves as fiction editor of the award-winning magazine Fourteen Hills.

As an Enrollment Manager at the Gilliam Writers Group, Tadeh enjoys connecting great minds, combining his industry experience and academic background to further the company’s mission of developing strong writers and lifetime lovers of the craft. His approach ensures that GWG excels in both administrative efficiency and its core aims in literature and education.

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As a writing coach and tutor, Tadeh tailors his approach to each client he works with, providing a wide range of readings, techniques, and exercises to inform and broaden their work. He believes in the importance of expanding the imagination, addressing process issues, and developing a consistent, long-lasting writing practice.

Tadeh's versatile approach serves writers who are just starting out as well as lifelong writers; he is passionate about helping his clients find the heart of their stories and providing encouragement as they achieve their desired goals. When Tadeh isn’t writing, he enjoys making ice cream and music.

 
 
 

Enrollment Manager + Faculty | Chicago, Illinois + Online

Misha McDaniel

 

Misha is an English Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago specializing in Black Atlantic speculative literature, Caribbean Studies, and enslaved resistance. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in creative writing from the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds a Master of Arts in English from the University of Chicago.

For the past three years, Misha has assisted student clients with developing their grammar, vocabulary, and essay writing skills. With her adult clients, she has proofread and edited non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and memoir projects; she has also collaborated with corporate and higher education professionals on email marketing campaigns and communications materials to help develop successful writing practices. Outside of this, Misha works as a digital marketer, social media manager, and content creator for nonprofits, developing email copy, website copy, graphic assets, and grant applications.

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In the classroom, Misha has taught rising 9th grade English Language Arts (ELA) and creative writing at the Berkeley Academy in Tampa, FL. She has also served as a Teaching and Course Assistant for undergraduate and graduate level English and Africana Studies courses at both UPenn and UChicago. Outside of the classroom, Misha is a fiction writer, specializing in novels, flash fiction, and prose-poetry.

Misha is deeply engaged in storytelling as an historical practice that cultivates collective memory and as a resistance practice that pushes against oppressive world orders. She studies, reads, and writes speculative literature because she finds the relationship between imagination, possibility, and reality a crucial aspect to understanding the current world and envisioning a new future, one that is able to survive within and beyond climate collapse, beyond white-supremacy, and equitably provide fair societies to all humans, regardless of their ability to labor. In order to think about the future, however, Misha believes it's just as important to think about the past, specifically the stories we tell and are told by one another about times that have passed but are not past and moments in our national memory like colonization, slavery, and Reconstruction.

 
 
 

Faculty advisor + Faculty | Norfolk, Connecticut + Online

David O’Neill

 

David O’Neill is a writing coach, editor, and author specializing in nonfiction, art writing, and cultural criticism. He was an editor at Bookforum magazine for fourteen years, working with Jesse Barron, Melissa Febos, Molly Fischer, Sheila Heti, Chris Kraus, Lauren Oyler, Charlotte Shane, Jeff Sharlet, Jennifer Wilson, Audrey Wollen, and many other well-known authors. He was an associate editor of Jason Moran’s Loop magazine and has over a decade of experience as a freelance editor of essays, art books, novels, book proposals, and pitches.

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His writing has appeared in or is forthcoming from Affidavit, Artforum, 4Columns, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Yorker’s Page Turner, the Paris Review Daily, and the Times Literary Supplement. In 2018, he co-edited the book Weight of the Earth: The Tape Journals of David Wojnarowicz, published by Semiotext(e). He’s taught writing at the School of Visual Arts, the New School for Social Research, and Catapult. A resident of New York City, he lives to help writers reach their full potential.

 
 
Abigail Britt is the Business Assistant at Gilliam Writers Group.
 

Business assistant | Harrogate, Tennessee + Online

Abigail Britt

 

Abigail (Abby) Britt is the Business Assistant at Gilliam Writers Group. She earned her Bachelors of Science in Healthcare Management from Appalachian State University, and is a Certified Medical Practice Manager. At GWG, she spends most of her time working on finances, accounting, running reports, and interacting with the administrative team.

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When Abby is away from her desk, you can find her surrounded by her pets and other friends; she is proudly becoming a "crazy cat lady." When weather permits, she prefers to be outdoors, getting in a good hike or kayaking.

Abby genuinely enjoys being of service to others and will go above-and-beyond to do so, both in and out of the office.

 
 
 

Workshops Coordinator | New York, New York + Online

Sebastian Del Principe

 

Sebastian is an educator and writer based in Manhattan, currently pursuing a Masters of Arts in Philosophy and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Starting his career in Advertising, Sebastian worked at two agencies as a consultant in industries ranging from entertainment to consumer packaged goods. Finding fulfillment in education, Sebastian shifted to working in schools as a writing consultant, elective teacher, substitute teacher, and private tutor. While at the Cathedral School, St. John the Divine, he founded and taught a Philosophy elective for 5th-8th grade students. 

Within both personal and professional spheres of life, Sebastian studies existential and post-modern thought through philosophy and literature, exploring what it reveals about individual and collective potential. He is passionate about learning, running, and the pursuit of a meaningful life. 

 
 
 

Partnerships Coordinator + faculty | Richmond, Virginia + Online

Erin Mackie

 

In May 2024, Erin left her position as Professor of English Literature at Syracuse University and moved to Richmond, Virginia. A practiced teacher and mentor, she has decades of experience working with writers at every level, from first-year students mastering the elements of fiction and the rigors of the critical essay, to Ph.D. candidates engaged in the sustained elaboration of a dissertation thesis. Recently, she has been working as a writing coach and editor for academics in the Humanities and Social Sciences. She collaborates with these professors and researchers on books, articles, presentations, reports, applications, and proposals. With students, Erin focuses on advancement through the foundational skills of reading, writing, and textual analysis. Accompanying them every step of the way, Erin serves as a guide as students generate ideas, draft outlines, and revise and refine their writing. With all her clients, Erin identifies practices that help transform their experiences, ideas, achievements, and aspirations into compelling texts resonant with the originating voice of their author.

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In Richmond, Erin tutors at the READ Adult Literacy Center and is a docent at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. From her undergraduate studies in Classics at The Johns Hopkins University, her Ph.D. in English Literature from Princeton University, and on through her lengthy academic career, Erin’s professional, volunteer, and leisure activities have centered on language, literature, culture, and history. A long-time student of Spanish, Erin has traveled extensively in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Spain. She brings to all her coaching and editing work an active awareness of cultures and histories as well as a dedicated engagement with language and literature.

Erin has published books and essays on English and Latin American literature and served as an editor and referee for academic presses and journals. Her academic writing focuses on fashion and gender, the popular periodical and the public sphere, the West Indies, masculinity and criminality, satire, and the novel.

 

 

Faculty

 

 
 

writing instructor, editor | San Francisco, california + Online

Naomi Krupitsky

 

Naomi Krupitsky is a writer and editor. Her debut novel, The Family, was an Instant New York Times bestseller, a TODAY Show Read With Jenna Book Club Pick, a Book of the Month Pick, and a Barnes and Noble Discovery Pick when it was published in 2021. She has edited work for clients ranging from high school students applying for college to faculty at Harvard University. She lives in San Francisco with her partner and son, where she is at work on a second novel. 

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Iowa City, Iowa + Online

Yen Pham

 

Yen Pham is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop MFA, where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow. Prior to Iowa, she graduated from Harvard with a BA in English and from Oxford, where she studied on a Rhodes Scholarship. In addition to fiction, Yen has written as a journalist for publications including The New York Timesn+1, Bookforum, Literary HubThe White Review, and the London Review of Books website. Writing across literature, culture, and politics, she has interviewed and profiled writers such as Sally Rooney, Ottessa Moshfegh, Ocean Vuong, and Elif Batuman, and won prizes for her longform journalism. She has taught at the University of Iowa and the University of Melbourne, as well as in creative writing programs for high schoolers. 

 
 
Writing Coach & Writing Tutor Paul Corning
 

writing instructor, editor | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Paul Corning

 

Paul Corning is a writer and editor in Brooklyn. His work has received scholarships from the Bread Loaf Workshop and the St. Joseph's MFA, a PEN award nomination, and been shortlisted for the DISQUIET prize and Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center fellowship. He has served as editor of the Writer's Foundry Review and fiction reader for The Rumpus. His theatre work includes Sleep No More (Punchdrunk) and Romeo and Juliet (Lincoln Center Education). 

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With over a decade of collaboration in NYC theatre and across mediums, Paul loves helping writers connect their passion to their work and celebrate their personal style. He's trained in a variety of pedagogies, is a meticulous and melodic line editor, and enjoys working with both poetry and prose.

 
 
Trinie Dalton, a professional book editor, writing coach, & writing tutor online
 

writing instructor, editor | Grass Valley, california + Online

Trinie Dalton

 

Trinie Dalton embraces all storytelling forms and enjoys considering genres and their functions. Her projects are often collaborative and her books vary by form, graphic design, and publishing venue. Prose books include a limited-edition, risographed, self-illustrated microessay collection, Destroy Bad Thoughts Not Your Own (The Pit); short story collections Baby Geisha (Two Dollar Radio) and Wide Eyed (Akashic); an abject fairy-tale novella, Sweet Tomb (Madras Press), and an illustrated children’s book, A Unicorn Is Born (Abrams). She’s now writing longform essays about motherhood, queerness, PTSD, grief, climate anxiety, and wilderness. She has curated two conversational anthologies with attendant art exhibitions, film festival events, and workshops: Dear New Girl or Whatever Your Name Is (McSweeney’s) was a 50-person transformation of her archive of confiscated high school notes; and Mythtym (Picturebox), was a 50-person art/fiction anthology based on mail-art correspondences and a zine series rooted in mythological monsters and horror. Her multimedia, expanded research-and-publishing projects populate her DIY, quasi-design studio called Language Barrier. 

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Trinie writes frequently about art, most often contributing monograph essays to exhibition catalogues and retrospective “coffee table” books (David Altmejd/Damiani; Chris Martin/Skira; Laura Owens/Rizzoli). As a cultural critic, she spent years writing articles for magazines like Bookforum, Artforum, Brooklyn Rail, The Believer, Modern Painters, Paper, LARB, and the countercultural music newspaper, Arthur Magazine.

Trinie is twenty years into teaching, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing in Cal State East Bay’s English Department. For a decade prior, she served as the founding Faculty Chair of the MFA in Writing & Publishing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and was Core Faculty in VCFA’s low-residency MFA in Writing program. She has taught fiction, creative nonfiction, art critical writing, poetry, and printed matter courses at SVA, Columbia, Bard, USC, Art Center, NYU, Pratt, and University of Redlands. She’s worked with people in all stages of life and age range (she started out teaching in LA-Unified high school intervention and SPED programs) and her coaching styles are highly individualized but always rooted in positive reinforcement, humor, joy, and resilience-building. She aspires to discover, inspire, and locate “voice” through mirroring peoples’ intrinsic strengths, while shoring up foundational knowledge in a student’s likeminded traditions, trends, and practices. She likes to trade professional development tips. She can coach, edit, and tutor on a single-page or a book-length manuscript, always within ethics of decolonized, non-hierarchical, culturally candid, coalition-based learning models.

Trinie lives in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills, in an historic Gold Rush town called Grass Valley; prior to this she lived in the Mojave Desert. She lived between LA, NYC, Portland, Oregon, and Vermont prior to her decision to live in totally awesome geological and botanical zones.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Los Angeles, california + Online

Julian Delacruz

 

Julian Delacruz teaches English at Viewpoint School in Calabasas, California. He earned his M.F.A in poetry at Arizona State University, where he was a June Jordan Teaching Fellow under Poetry for the People, a workshop focused on poetry as a medium for telling the truth and building beloved community. While deeply attentive to craft, he loves mentoring writers who want to embrace more reckless and frayed modes of questioning.

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As a teacher, Julian seeks to balance his own sensibilities with attention to the problem areas his students have identified in their work. He is a firm believer in compassionate editing that amplifies a writer's strengths. Julian's specialties include Queer issues, issues of race and social justice, myth writing, and academic writing.

Having taught creative writing for multiple years, and also worked a series of editing internships at Roof Books (’11), The Paris Review (’12), PEN American Center (’14), The Iowa Review (’15-’17) and Catapult (’16), he is poised to give insightful editorial feedback to writers of many different persuasions.

During his time at ASU, Julian was the co-host of Equality Arizona’s Queer Poetry Salon, the largest queer reading series in the southwest. He had the pleasure to feature such esteemed poets as CA Conrad, Ariana Reines, Richard Siken, Eduardo Corral, and Tommy Pico, alongside queer indie poets across many identities. Delacruz was awarded the 2020 Mabelle A. Lyon award in poetry, and a Glendon & Kathryn Swarthout Award in writing at Arizona State.

He lives, teaches, and writes in Los Angeles, CA.

 
 
Michael Miller is a book writing coach & book editor online.
 

writing instructor, editor | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Michael Miller

 

Michael Miller is the editor in chief of Bookforum magazine. He began his writing career at the Village Voice, where he was a freelance reporter, a copy editor, and an editor at the Voice Literary Supplement. He has also worked at Spin and Time Out New York, where he was the lead book critic from 2005 to 2010. Michael has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle, has taught in NYU's Criticism and Cultural Reporting department, and has edited a number of books, both fiction and nonfiction. He enjoys working with writers of all levels.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Charlottesville, Virginia + Online

Laura McGehee

 

Laura is a writer and teacher based in Charlottesville, Virginia. She completed her MFA in Fiction at the University of Virginia in 2023 and previously studied film production and screenwriting at Northwestern University. After a brief stint in NYC video work, she lived and worked for many years at a remote wolf sanctuary in animal care and experiential education. She has taught all ages in and out of the traditional classroom; her creative writing pedagogy was recognized at UVA with the Sydney Hall Blair Excellence in Teaching Award. Her fiction has been featured in Outlook Springs, Sinister Wisdom, Spider Road Press, Gertrude Press, and Crab Fat Magazine. She currently teaches at a Montessori middle school and is at work on her first novel.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | West Lafayette, Indiana + Online

Matt Del Busto

 

Matt Del Busto is a poet and teacher from Indiana. He received his MFA from the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers Program, where he was a 2022-23 Postgraduate Fellow in Creative Writing. At Michigan, he was a finalist for three Hopwood awards, including the 2022 Hopwood Theodore Roethke Prize, judged by John Murillo and Traci Brimhall. His poems have appeared in The Cincinnati ReviewEcoTheo Review, and are forthcoming in Ninth Letter. Before Michigan, he studied at Butler University, then taught English at the Universidad de Málaga as a Fulbright grantee.

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Matt has held a variety of teaching and tutoring positions, including being a creative writing instructor at the University of Michigan, an English Teaching Assistant at the Universidad de Málaga, a mentor teacher for high schoolers at the University of Virginia’s Young Writers Workshop, and a faculty tutor for Washtenaw Community College’s Writing Center. Currently, he lives with his wife and son in West Lafayette where he works at the Purdue OWL as a Professional Writing Specialist.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Simone Polanen

 

Simone Polanen is an award-winning writer, editor, and storytelling professional with extensive experience crafting narratives that captivate and inform. Her work as a podcast host and producer has earned her recognition in the audio industry. She won the Gracie Award and the UCLA Anderson School of Management Excellence in Audio Journalism Award for her contributions to Gimlet Media's STARTUP series. And as the host of NOT PAST IT, her show was named one of The Atlantic's "50 Best Podcasts of 2021." Simone has built a reputation for delivering sharp, engaging stories with humor and heart. She now brings her expertise to coaching writers, helping them hone their voices and develop impactful stories that resonate.  

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Simone’s storytelling journey spans multiple mediums, from audio and film to live performance. As the host of NOT PAST IT, she explored how history shapes the present through cinematic audio and rigorous reporting. In 2023, she shared insights from her career as a TEDx speaker at Carnegie Mellon University. She has also launched her own podcast, PAST PERFECT, a time-traveling trivia show that blends humor with cultural deep dives.

In addition to hosting, Simone has worked as a producer on acclaimed shows like REPLY ALL, THE NOD, and STARTUP where she learned to master the editorial process from ideation to final product.

Simone loves collaborating with writers, whether it’s helping them refine their ideas, tackle the structure of their stories, or navigate complex feedback. She is passionate about sharing what she’s learned and empowering the next generation of storytellers to find their voices and bring their best work to life.

A Bay Area native now based in Brooklyn, Simone spends her free time playing tennis, drawing/painting, and immersing herself in the vibrant culture of New York City.

 
 
Richard Thomas, a novel & book writing consultant, author coach, and speculative fiction writer.
 

writing instructor, editor | Chicago, Illinois + Online

Richard Thomas

 

Richard Thomas is the award-winning author of nine books: four novels—Incarnate (Podium), Disintegration and Breaker (Penguin Random House Alibi), and Transubstantiate (Otherworld Publications); four short story collections—Spontaneous Human Combustion (Turner Publishing—Bram Stoker finalist), Tribulations (Cemetery Dance), Staring Into the Abyss (Kraken Press), and Herniated Roots (Snubnose Press); as well as one novella of The Soul Standard (Dzanc Books).

His over 175 stories in print include The Best Horror of the Year (Volume Eleven), Cemetery Dance (twice), Behold!: Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders (Bram Stoker Award winner), The Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors (Shirley Jackson Award winner), Lightspeed, PANK, storySouth, Gargoyle, Weird Fiction Review, Midwestern Gothic, Shallow Creek, The Seven Deadliest, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Qualia Nous (#1&2), Chiral Mad (#2-4), PRISMS, Pantheon, and Shivers VI. He has won contests at ChiZine and One Buck Horror, has received five Pushcart Prize nominations, and has been long-listed for Best Horror of the Year seven times.

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Richard was also the editor of five anthologies: The Best of Gamut (House of Gamut), The New Black and Exigencies (Dark House Press), The Lineup: 20 Provocative Women Writers (Black Lawrence Press) and Burnt Tongues (Medallion Press) with Chuck Palahniuk and Dennis Widmyer.

He has been a finalist for the Bram Stoker (twice), Shirley Jackson, Thriller, and Audie awards. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief at Gamut magazine and previously held the same title at Dark House Press. His agent is Paula Munier at Talcott Notch.

Richard received his MFA in 2012 from Murray State University, and has taught at the University of Iowa, Story Studio Chicago, LitReactor.com, and Writer’s Digest University, as well as his own classes at StoryvilleOnline.com (including such offerings as Short Story Mechanics, Contemporary Dark Fiction, an Advanced Creative Writing Workshop, and Novel in a Year.) While he primarily writes speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction and horror) he also writes, edits, teaches, and publishes other genres and sub-genres, such as neo-noir, thrillers, new-weird, Southern gothic, magical realism, and literary fiction.

He lives and works in Chicago. For more information visit www.whatdoesnotkillme.com.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Austin, Texas + Online

Emma Marie Duke

 

Emma Marie Duke is a writer and scholar based in Boston, MA. She completed an MPhil at Cambridge University, studying eighteenth-century English literature, Jane Austen, and the history of the book. She attended Cambridge as the King's-Yale scholar and graduated with distinction. During her undergrad at Yale Emma majored in English and concentrated in creative writing. She won several department writing prizes and completed senior projects in creative nonfiction with Verlyn Klinkenborg and Anne Fadiman. Emma also tutored fellow Yale students in both creative and academic writing. Her work in the Yale Writing Center inspired a love of mentorship that she is eager to share. Since then she has worked with many types of writers including high school students, college students, military veterans, and career journalists.

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Emma has a lively interest in personal essays, academic papers, poetic prose, and any mixture of the above. She delights in writing that crosses the borders between genres. Tutoring, for her, represents an opportunity to collaborate with new writers and explore new ideas. She is happy to work with writers at any stage of confidence, or at any stage of the writing process. Her approach is process-centered, empathetic, and attentive to detail. Her goal as a teacher is to help clients express their ideas with authority, simplicity, and clarity.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Los Angeles, california + Online

Scott O’Connor

 

Scott O’Connor is author of three novels—UntouchableHalf World, and Zero Zone—the novella Among Wolves, and A Perfect Universe: Ten StoriesUntouchable won the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, and stories from A Perfect Universe were shortlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Story Prize and cited as Distinguished in Best American Short Stories

His nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine and the Paris Review. As a screenwriter, his original scripts have been purchased by Universal Studios and FOX network. He teaches creating writing at the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as through collaborative workshops and private coaching. Originally from Syracuse, New York, he lives with his family in Los Angeles.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Liz von Klemperer

 

Liz is a writer and educator based in Brooklyn. Her book reviews and author interviews have been featured in Tin House online, LAMBDA Literary, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Full Stop, and more. She is a mentor for Girls Write Now, and has acted as a juror for the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Liz holds an MFA in fiction from Columbia University, where she acted as the Columbia Journal's Online Fiction editor. She was a participant in the 2022 Tin House YA workshop.

Liz has enjoyed working with a diverse range of students, from Columbia undergraduates writing fairy tales, to high schoolers applying to competitive college and graduate programs. Her clients have gained admission to top universities and institutions.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Mexico City, Mexico + Online

Mariana Roa Oliva

 

Mariana is a writer from Mexico City. Alongside media artist and programmer Qianxun Chen, Mariana co-authored the upcoming book Seedlings_: Walk in Time (Counterpath, 2023). Mariana graduated from Brown’s Literary Arts MFA, where their short stories received awards including the Feldman Prize and the Frances Mason Harris Prize. Their work has been published in collections and anthologies including Our Red Book (Simon & Schuster, 2022), Eleven Stories (The Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize Shortlist Selection, 2022), and Los cuerpos que habitamos (An.alfa.beta, 2021). Mariana has over ten years of experience teaching and tutoring in both English and Spanish at a variety of levels.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | St. Louis, Missouri + Online

Ally Findley

 

Ally Findley is a writer, teacher, and editor from Tallahassee, Florida. She received her MFA in Fiction from Washington University in St. Louis in 2023. Prior to her MFA, she worked as an editor at a small independent publishing house in Boston, and while at WashU worked as an intern for Dorothy, a publishing project.

As a teacher and editor, Ally has worked with writers on a wide variety of subjects, including poetry, fiction, and memoir, as well as nonfiction writing on anything from typography to collected letters and prose to history. She enjoys working with clients in all different stages of the writing process and has taught workshop-based creative writing courses at the university level.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Houston, Texas + Online

Dayna Wilmot

 

Dayna is a Data Scientist; her love for writing has been a mainstay through her years in academia and in industry, and grew with her through her career explorations. During her studies at MIT, Dayna concentrated in Writing, with a special love of short stories and poetry. Her academic writing experience includes co-authorship of papers, including one in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders, and posters in the field of neuroscience.

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During her time in economic consulting, Dayna co-wrote numerous expert reports for court submissions. In business school, Dayna has been a point of support for classmates in their writing endeavors, be they application essays, reports, or slide decks. Her corporate and academic experience has given her fluency in various professional dialects. As a teacher, Dayna is enthusiastic and loves to problem-solve, working closely with her students through any stage of the writing process.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Atlanta, Georgia + Online

Steven Duong

 

Steven Duong received his MFA in Fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. The recipient of fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, Kundiman, and the University of Iowa, he currently teaches undergraduate creative writing at Emory University, where he is the 2023-2025 Creative Writing Fellow in Poetry. His poems appear in The American Poetry ReviewThe Atlantic, and Guernica, among other publications. His fiction can be found in Catapult and The Drift, as well as The Best American Short Stories 2024, edited by Lauren Groff. Before pursuing graduate studies and becoming a university writing instructor, he worked in editing and communications for a literary arts nonprofit. His debut poetry collection, At The End of the World There is a Pond, will be published in January 2025 by W. W. Norton. 

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Carmel, Indiana + Online

Alexis Pitchford

 

Alexis Pitchford is a writing consultant and educator from Indiana. She received a master’s degree in educational psychology and a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with a concentration in language arts from Ball State University. She has experience teaching writing to students of all ages and all abilities, whether it’s a kindergartner learning how to write a sentence for the first time or a university student finalizing a dissertation. While she is very passionate about her work in writing centers, she also has experience as an elementary classroom teacher and private tutor. Additionally, as a Fulbright grantee, she gained international teaching experience as an English Teaching Assistant in Athens, Greece, where she taught middle school and high school students. Currently, she works as a Professional Writing Specialist at the Purdue OWL. As a teacher and writing consultant, Alexis aims to build self-efficacy and cultivate a love of learning in the writers she supports.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Chicago, Illinois + Online

Jovon M. Moses

 

Jovon M. Moses is a PhD candidate in English at the University of Chicago specializing in trans* and queer studies, Indigenous studies, Black feminist thought, and Black ecologies. They hold a B.A. in English and Linguistics from Emory University and an M.A. in English from the University of Chicago. Jovon’s tenure as an educator spans more than a decade and touches an array of fields and disciplines. She has taught ESL at an international school, instructed university courses in English writing, literary theory, and cultural criticism, and provided coaching services for both young and advanced writers to fine-tune nonfiction, fiction, and academic manuscripts. Alongside their academic work and coaching services, Jovon maintains an exploratory filmic practice and an emergent literary fiction practice.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Ariel Courage

 

Ariel Courage is the author of the novel Bad Nature. She is a graduate of the Brooklyn College MFA program, where she was editor-in-chief of the Brooklyn Review, and is currently an assistant fiction editor at Agni. Her short work has appeared in GuernicaNew Limestone Review, and The End. She was also a 2019 Kimmel Harding Nelson resident. 

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Ithaca, New York + Online

Seth Strickland

 

Seth Strickland is a photographer and writer living in Ithaca, NY where he also serves as the Joseph F. Martino '53 Lecturer in Undergraduate Teaching at Cornell University. He completed a PhD on book construction, medieval allegory, and questions of source integration in poetic compositions. He enjoys thinking about the relationship of writing to its material — how writing by hand, typewriting, or digital word processing and the writing environment changes the way we create.

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Seth returns often to the philosophy of connection and association - how when two works of literature are found in the same place, two objects, or two people, those things begin an intertwined life. Seth last published "A Certain Lie About the Phoenix" in Goodbye, Mexico, “Anchored in Malvern: Eremitic and Anchoritic Practice in Malvern Hills and Piers Plowman” is forthcoming in Philological Quarterly, and his other poetry and photography live in many places.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Jennifer Krasinski

 

Jennifer Krasinski is a writer and cultural critic who frequently contributes to 4ColumnsArtforum, Bookforum, the New Yorker (Goings On), and other publications. Her essays have been published in numerous books and catalogs including Reza AbdohJill Johnston: The Disintegration of a Critic, and Hilton Als's Andy Warhol: The Series. She was an art columnist for the Village Voice from 2014 to 2018, and served as both senior editor at Artforum and later as the magazine’s digital editorial director, launching their video series “Artists On Writers,” and “Under the Cover.” She was on faculty in the MA Art Writing department at the School of Visual Arts (2013–2021), and has taught at Art Center College of Design, New York University, Yale University, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of an Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant (2012), a Rauschenberg residency (forthcoming), and is a 2023–24 MacDowell fellow. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Sophie Cannata-Bowman

 

Drawing on her background in theatre development, Sophie promotes experimentation and play in the writing process without sacrificing clarity or professionalism. 

She's a graduate of New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study (BA) and worked as Associate Editor for Dramatists Play Service, where she edited hundreds of plays for publication, including those of Tony Award–winning playwrights. She is also a writer for the magazine SupplyChainBrain, in addition to her ongoing creative work.

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With six years of experience as a professional editor and over a decade of experience as a produced playwright, Sophie helps authors find joy in their process while crafting polished and powerful work.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Emma Horwitz

 

Emma Horwitz is a writer and educator from New York City, whose work in theater has recently been supported by Clubbed Thumb (2022-2023 Early Career Writers Group), The Playwrights Realm (2021-2022 Writing Fellow), and New Georges (2022 Audrey Residency with Bailey Williams). She has also worked with theaters like the Williamstown Theater Festival (Playwright-in-Residence 2020), The Brick, The Flea, The Tank, Dixon Place, and Two Headed Rep (Reno & Moll), among others. Her fiction has been most recently published by Two Serious Ladies and Vo1. 1 Brooklyn. Emma has taught at Brown University, Mount Holyoke College, and currently in the Liberal Arts Studies department at the Rhode Island School of Design. In addition, she is the College Assistant to the Rita and Burton Goldberg MFA Playwriting Program at Hunter College.

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She has held residencies with Arts Letters and Numbers, CAMP, and Erik Ehn’s Stillwright silent retreat in Texas. BA: Bard College, Fiction. MFA: Brown University, Playwriting. For more, visit emmahorwitz.com.

 
 
Donna Vatnick, a science author, writing coach, book editor, & writing tutor online.
 

writing instructor, editor | Providence, Rhode Island + Online

Donna Vatnick

 

Donna Vatnick is a researcher, writer, and educator based in Providence, Rhode Island. She was the selected teaching fellow at Washington University in St. Louis after graduating with her MFA in nonfiction. Before calling herself a creative writer, Donna worked in molecular biology labs and coordinated clinical trials in Boston. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles ReviewThe Millions, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Insight, and more.

Donna has years of experience editing dissertations, theses, and academic papers in the social and medical sciences. She has taught creative writing at the university level, designed curriculums and led workshops. Recently, she won the Newman Exploration Travel Grant to research her upcoming book about the human liver.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Derick Edgren

 

Derick received his M.F.A. from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop and has taught playwriting at the University of Iowa. Development includes La MaMa Umbria, November Theatre, Art Garage, Cherry Lane Theatre, Capital Repertory Theatre, and Rockford New Play Festival. University Awards: Lipkin Prize in Humanities, David Lindsay-Abaire Prize in Playwriting. Finalist: Campfire Theatre Festival, Rockford New Play Festival, Capital Repertory NEXT ACT New Play Summit; semi-finalist: The Playwrights Realm's Scratchpad Series, O'Neill National Playwriting Conference; long list: Independent International Award for Improper Dramaturgy. BA, Sarah Lawrence.

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Derick is an experienced tutor, nanny, and Waldorf teacher. Their holistic approach to education serves writers of all ages.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Claire Barnett

 

Claire Barnett is a writer-director from Little Rock, Arkansas based in Brooklyn, New York. She received her BFA in Film from the University of Central Arkansas in 2021, and is now a thesis student at NYU Tisch Graduate Film, where Spike Lee serves as Creative Director. 

Claire’s short film FREAK received a Special Mention in the International Competition at the 77th Locarno International Film Festival. Her work has also screened at festivals including Slamdance Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, and Vancouver International Film Festival. She is a Documentary Shorts programmer for the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival, and was a Narrative Shorts programmer for the 2024 season. At NYU, Claire is a recipient of the New York Women in Film Scholarship, the Alan Landsburg Documentary Production Award, the David Golden Scholarship, and the Steven J. Ross Fellowship.

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Her work is filled with taboos, often questioning what is forbidden in the pursuit of truth. She likes to explore themes of identity, spirituality, and isolation in her writing. At NYU, she was a teacher’s assistant to directors Todd Solondz and Carol Dysinger. As a writing coach, she empowers her clients to believe in their stories and helps them establish inspiring and consistent writing practices. She believes that everyone is creative, and her work is to help clients find and cultivate their own unique voice. Whether they are a seasoned writer or just starting their journey, Claire’s approach is great for writers who are looking for new and innovative ways to access their creativity.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | London, U.k. + Online

Annina Zheng-Hardy

 

Annina is a writer from New York and Sichuan, currently based in the UK. She graduated with degrees in Political Science and Environmental Science, before working in the graduate department of China Foreign Affairs University teaching seminars in Translation and Interpretation as a Princeton in Asia fellow. She holds an MA in Multilingualism, Linguistics and Education from Goldsmiths, University of London, where she graduated with distinction. She has taught English and creative writing to people of all ages and in settings ranging from grade schools to temporary accomodation centres for asylum seekers.

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In addition, authors whose writing projects she has worked with have had their books named as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and been given a Kirkus Starred Review, among other honors. Annina is a member of the Southbank Centre New Poets Collective, and her poems and short fiction have appeared in Joyland, Catapult, The Offing, bath magg, Honey Literary, and other publications.

 
 
Ryan Lawrence, online tutor for writing & professional writing coach
 

writing instructor, editor | Pennsylvania Furnace, Pennsylvania + Online

Ryan Lawrence

 

Ryan is a writer, teacher, and editor based in Pennsylvania. He earned his PhD at Cornell University, where he studied medieval literature and environmental history. Ryan is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor in English at Penn State University, where he primarily teaches courses in rhetoric and composition. He has served as an editor for multiple academic journals, and his work has been published in Philological Quarterly and The Literary Encyclopedia. In addition to academic writing, Ryan has written plays, translations, musical compositions, and poetry.

 
 
Yasmin Majeed, an author, book coach, writing coach & writing tutor online
 

writing instructor, editor | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Yasmin Majeed

 

Yasmin Adele Majeed is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and has taught creative writing to undergraduates at the University of Iowa. Her fiction appears in American Short Fiction, the Asian American Literary Review, and Best Debut Short Stories 2022, and other writing can be found in Electric Literature and the New York Review of Books Daily. She is the recipient of fellowships from Kundiman, the Periplus Collective, and Kweli, and the winner of the 2023 American Short(er) Fiction Prize. Prior to graduate school, she worked for five years as an editor for The Margins, a literary magazine published by the Asian American Writers' Workshop, where she edited fiction, creative non-fiction, and reported pieces. 

 
 
Jill Spivey Caddell is a freelance writing coach, book editor, and writing tutor.
 

writing instructor, editor | Crozet, Virginia + Online

Jill Spivey Caddell

 

Jill Spivey Caddell is an experienced researcher, teacher, and writer. Currently based in the Crozet/Charlottesville area of Virginia, she has held faculty positions at the University of Kent, American University, George Mason University, and Glenelg Country School and was a tutor at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Continuing Education. She is also a co-project director of Commemorative Cultures: The American Civil War Monuments Database, based at St. Andrews University.

In 2015, Jill received her Ph.D. in English at Cornell University, where her dissertation received the Guilford Prize for Highest Achievement in English Prose. Her scholarly work has appeared in New England Quarterly; the collection Literary Cultures of the American Civil War (University of Georgia Press, August 2016); J19: The Journal of Nineteenth-Century Americanists; and Visions of Glory: The Civil War in Word and Image (University of Georgia Press, November 2019). Jill is also is a regular contributor of essays, interviews, and reviews to Apollo: The International Art Magazine and has written reviews and criticism for JSTOR Daily, Longreads, CNN Opinion, The Conversation, and The Rambling.

 
 
Brent Michael Cameron, professional writing coach & academic writing tutor.
 

writing instructor, editor | West Lafayette, Indiana + Online

Brent Michael Cameron

 

In addition to his work at the Gilliam Writers Group, Brent Cameron is a Professional Writing Specialist at the Purdue On-campus and Online Writing Lab (OWL). He received a bachelor’s in English from Pace University and a master’s in English Studies at East Carolina University (ECU). At ECU, he worked both as a Writing Center Consultant and an instructor of Record, teaching several sections of First-Year Writing and Writing in the Disciplines. Brent also worked as a teaching assistant in the Engineering Communications program at Virginia Tech, where he co-taught several undergraduate technical writing courses and tutored students on a one-to-one basis. Beyond having a passion for teaching writing (and writing in general), Brent’s interests include, philosophy, psychology, creative writing, Writing Across the Disciplines, cultural rhetoric’s, and 19th-century literature.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Karen Maine

 

Karen Maine is an award-winning and acclaimed screenwriter and film and television director. Directing credits include NOBODY WANTS THIS (Netflix), STARSTRUCK (HBOMax), and the 20th Century feature film ROSALINE. Her debut feature film YES, GOD, YES, which she wrote and directed, premiered at SXSW and was named one of The New Yorker’s Best Movies of 2020. Karen co­-wrote OBVIOUS CHILD, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014 and was distributed by A24.

A former book editor, Karen also has over a decade of editorial experience in literary publishing -- overseeing both fiction and nonfiction titles. She has worked at Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, HarperCollins, The Paris Review, SLICE magazine, and Daunt Books Publishing in London. 

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Books Karen has worked on have been praised by the New York Times, New Yorker, New York Times Book Review, Wall Street Journal, New Republic, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Guardian, Chicago Tribune, Vanity Fair, NPR, Buzzfeed, Forbes, Discover, Nature, Scientific American, Newsweek, Bust, Bustle, Bookforum, Kirkus (), Publishers Weekly (), Library Journal (*), and New York Review of Books. Her titles have been selected as New York Times Critics’ Top Books of the Year, as well as awarded the BBC National Short Story Award.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Chicago, Illinois + Online

Chris Gortmaker

 

Chris earned a PhD in English at the University of Chicago, where he currently studies and teaches literary modernism, the history of the novel, critical theory, and intersections of art and philosophy. As a writing tutor trained in the University of Chicago Writing Program, Chris helps writers of all levels find depth, clarity, and intellectual excitement in their work—whether a school assignment, a journalistic essay, or a scholarly manuscript. His work has been published in nonsite.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Joshua Barnett

 

Joshua Barnett is a writer from Little Rock, Arkansas, based in Brooklyn, New York. He received his MFA in fiction from Hunter College, under the guidance of writers including Peter Carey, Adam Haslett, and Sigrid Nunez. While at Hunter, Joshua taught Creative Writing and Composition, as well as working as a writing coach. As a Hertog Fellow, he worked as a personal research assistant for writer Rivka Galchen. He earned his B.A. in Psychology from Hendrix College, where he was a fiction editor for The Ionian literary magazine. Before this, he studied at the University of Arkansas, where he served on the board of the Volunteer Action Center’s Literacy Program, a nonprofit committed to promoting children’s literacy in Northwest Arkansas.

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Joshua’s work explores memory, collective consciousness, and spirituality in the American South through impressionistic portraiture. His writing has been featured in the Southern Literary Festival, as well as in many readings around the city. His theatrical work has been produced through the ACANSA Arts Festival in Little Rock, Arkansas. As a teacher, Joshua is passionate about helping writers discover their unique voice while developing a consistent writing habit.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Oakland, california + Online

Jasmine Mosher

 

Jasmine Mosher is an MFA candidate at San Francisco State University where she has studied pedagogies specific to creative writing and English composition. With an emphasis on craft techniques and exploratory practices, Jasmine is experienced in teaching the fundamentals of fiction, poetry, and playwriting. As a tutor, she has worked with a wide range of undergraduate and graduate students on reading and writing skills. Taking a student-centered approach to coaching and teaching, she leads with methodologies that support inclusivity and accessibility for writers of all levels.

Jasmine also holds a BFA in Dance and is a fiction editor emeritus of Fourteen Hills. Her experience as an interdisciplinary artist greatly informs her work, which focuses on themes of gender, the body, sexuality, trauma, illness, and economic class. You can find her work in Sky Island Journal, Transfer Magazine, Apricity Magazine, BULL, and Not Ghosts, But Spirits: Volume IV.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | West Lafayette, Indiana + Online

Nathan McBurnett

 

Nathan is an interdisciplinary writer and educator with over six years of experience as a writing coach, editor, author and college-level instructor. He began his training as a consultant at the Purdue Writing Lab while pursuing a dual degree in philosophy and anthropology. He later received graduate training as a writing instructor at the University of Michigan’s Sweetland Center while completing his Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning.

Nathan’s editorial experience includes serving on the board of Agora Journal of Urban Planning & Design, a venue in which he has also published. At the Purdue OWL, he served as a copy editor and content creator, helping prep the website for its 2018 overhaul and relaunch. 

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With a background in both the humanities and social sciences, Nathan takes an interdisciplinary approach to writing and coaching. He emphasizes the importance of pragmatics, and admires writing styles that cross genres and prioritize semantic clarity. He enjoys working with writers of all ages, trades, and educational backgrounds, and has extensive experience consulting clients on both long-form and short-form nonfiction products including books, dissertations, theses, manuscripts, and mixed media. Outside of Gilliam, Nathan is a full-time urban planner who writes public policy and regulatory language that communities use to govern themselves. He enjoys baking, weightlifting, mixology, and science fiction.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Detroit, Michigan + Online

Robert Laidler

 

Robert Laidler is an assistant professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, a graduate of the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writing Program, and the author of a poetic libretto, The Fallen Petals of Nameless Flowers, which premiered at Chamber Music Detroit in 2022. Most recently he was a finalist for the 2023 National Poetry Series and the Adrift Chapbook Contest. His poems can be found in Missouri Review, Ilanot, Driftwood, Oxford, and elsewhere.

 
 
 

writing instructor, editor | Brooklyn, New York + Online

Irene Lee

 

Irene Lyla Lee is a journalist, fiction writer, and educator. Much of her writing has an environmental lens, whether it be art reviews for Hyperallergic and The Brooklyn Rail, book reviews for The Rumpus, or delving into seed diversity and agriculture in publications such as YES! Magazine, and many more. Her fiction writing is influenced by magical realism, science fiction, and folklore. She merges her research and mythmaking practice in What’s That Plant?!, her weekly publication. As a writing coach and editor, Irene develops programming and organizes with the Brooklyn Women’s Writing Group, a group that benefits over 3,000 writers. She is a co founder and editor for its literary magazine, Wild Garlic.

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Irene works independently with writers to help their work reach its highest potential, whether that be reaching agents, self publishing, or achieving their writing in other meaningful manifestations. After six years developing programming and teaching elementary school students at the “I Have a Dream” Foundation, Irene now dedicates much of her time working as a tutor and homeschool teacher in writing and literacy for students of all ages. As a book artist, Irene loves to explore the story as object. She is founder of the small fine art press, ilylali, and co-founder of Oreades Press. Irene graduated with distinction from the MFA in Writing program at Pratt Institute. She lives on unceded Lenapehoking, Brooklyn, NY.

 

 

Emeritus Faculty

 Faculty members who have moved on from the Gilliam Writers Group stay involved with our community in various ways, and our administrators continue working to support their careers in literature and education long after their formal employment with us has ended.

Take a walk through company history on our Emeritus Faculty page.

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