Board of Directors

Vice-Chair: Kate Marshall-Flaherty

katemarshallflaherty.ca

Kate Marshall Flaherty’s sixth book of poetry, “Radiant,” launched in 2019 with Inanna Press. She was shortlisted for Arc’s Poem of the Year 2019, and for Exile’s Gwendolyn MacEwen Poetry Prize 2018, and won the 2018 King Foundation Georgian Bay Project Award for her nature poetry. She has been published in numerous Canadian and International Journals and Anthologies, such as Vallum, Malahat Review, CV2, Grain, Saranac Review, and was shortlisted for Descant’s Best Canadian Poem, the Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize, the Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred Prize, the Robert Frost Poetry Award and others. She was in-house editor for Quattro Books and edited Best New Poets in Canada 2018. She was Toronto Rep. for the League of Canadian Poets 2012 -2018, and inaugurated Toronto’s “Poetry in Union” in 2018, and “Poetry and Healing” for Sick Kids in 2019. She guides StillPoint Writing Workshops and Editing Circles in the AWA Method in schools, youth shelters, universities and hospitals. She was on the Canadian Team of AWA Trainers in 2017 and 2018. See her performance poetry to music on her website.

Secretary: Carla Hanson

jockoriverwriters.org

Carla Hanson retired from teaching English in public schools—both high school and college—and served as the Writing Coordinator for her California school district.  She holds a master’s degree in Composition and finds the subject of writing endlessly fascinating. As a Teacher Consultant with the California Writing Project, she designs and provides professional development workshops for school faculties.  She teaches free workshops for low-income high school students, focusing on the essays for the SAT, ACT, and college admissions. Carla has led an AWA-based writing group for eleven years and gives workshops that focus on personal and spiritual growth.  Carla reads voraciously and is fascinated by creative nonfiction, writing about place, and the impact of writing on healing.

Treasurer: guy howard klopp

– really does write his name in lower case – perhaps it is a core belief he must accomplish great deeds to deserve capitalization. He fell in love with language as a child actor going on to earn his Equity card and performing in classical theater all over the country.

Guy has written with AWA groups for over seven years now and was certified as a facilitator in 2018. He has facilitated two ongoing AWA groups, one through Bread of Life in Sacramento California. Most recently, he has been hosting a group for writers working on their novels or memoirs. He spent twenty years in social services working in alcohol and drug services, senior and adult services, and finishing with 10 years managing in child protective services.

Guy writes poetry, memoir, short stories and fiction.

Jan Haag

janishaag.com

Jan Haag leads writing workshops using the Amherst Writers & Artists method in Sacramento and is the editor of AWA Press. She began writing as soon as she could hold a pencil, her mother says, eventually completing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and English at California State University, Sacramento.

Jan worked as a reporter and copy editor for newspapers and an international wire service, before serving as editor of Sacramento magazine. She has been a professor of journalism and English at Sacramento City College since 1993, where she launched the campus literary journal Susurrus and created a class using the AWA method, “Writing as a Healing Art.” She is currently the chair of the journalism department, where she advises the campus newspaper and journalistic magazine.

Jan is the author of a book of poems, Companion Spirit, published by Amherst Writers & Artists Press, has written two novels as well as a history of Sacramento City College, and has had her poetry and prose published in many journals and anthologies.

Sarah Kerr

quillandquirewriting.ca

Sarah Kerr lives near Ottawa, Ontario. After decades of unschooling her own children, Sarah now works with Brave Writer to design, write and teach Language Arts classes to families, middle schoolers, and teens. She also facilitates AWA workshops both online and in her community.
After first experiencing the AWA method for herself a few years ago, Sarah takes deep pleasure in sharing the transformative power of this work with others, which led her to join the board. Sarah is particularly interested in writing about chronic illness, nature, and working with teenagers. In her spare time, you can find Sarah in the woods, foraging for edible and medicinal plants, or surrounded by her rescue animals, a mug of coffee in hand. You can find her writing, and information on upcoming writing sessions at quillandquirewriting.ca.

Meadow Jones

meadowjones.com

Meadow Jones, Ph.D., received her doctorate from the University of Illinois. Her dissertation, Archiving the Trauma Diaspora: Affective Artifacts in the Higher Education Arts Classroom, is an interdisciplinary investigation and extended case study into the role of material and artistic practices in the redress of trauma. She has participated in and facilitated arts and writing practices and groups in both formal and informal education environments and has worked with undergraduates, artists, activists, teachers, teenagers, trauma survivors, prisoners, physicians and friends. Her words have been published in literary journals, peer reviewed research journals, and poetry anthologies and chapbooks. She became and AWA certified affiliate in 2011. She writes with others because she must. Some work doesn’t happen unless others are close.

Kimberly Lee

kimberlylee.me

Kimberly Lee left the practice of law some years ago to focus on motherhood, community work, and creative pursuits. A graduate of Stanford University and UC Davis School of Law, she is an Amherst Writers & Artists facilitator and serves on its board of directors. She is also trained and certified by The Center for Journal Therapy, The Center for Intentional Creativity, The Path Meditation, and SoulCollage®. A teaching artist with Hugo House, The Writing Salon, Women On Writing, and The Loft, Kimberly has led workshops at numerous retreats and conferences. Previous collaborations include Creative Mornings, Arts and Healing Initiative, The Expressive Therapies Summit, Zest Wellness, The International Women’s Writing Guild, Story Circle Network, The Transformative Language Arts Network, and Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center. A former editor and regular contributor at Literary Mama, Kimberly has also served on the staffs of Carve and F(r)iction magazines. Kimberly’s writing has appeared in publications and anthologies including Minerva Rising, LA Parent, Words and Whispers, Toyon, The Ekphrastic Review, I Am Woman: Expressions of Black Womanhood in America, and elsewhere. She writes SleepTales for the Better Sleep app. Kimberly trusts in the magic and mystery of miracles and synchronicity, and believes that everyone is creative and has unique gifts to share. She lives in Southern California with her husband and three children.

Consuelo S. Meux, Ph.D.

consuelomeux.com

Dr. Consuelo first experienced the AWA method with Patricia Schneider at the Pacific School of Religion and was later certified as an AWA Facilitator.  She has a Ph.D. in Human and Organization Systems, is a Certified Creativity Coach, and a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV). She is published with Jossey-Bass, Peregrine Literary Journal, and other sources. During her years as a university business professor, she created AWA writing workshops to encourage diverse students to own their voice and to improve their writing skills.

Consuelo provides workshops on nonprofit diversity, equity, and inclusiveness (DEI) issues and partners with a nonprofit consulting firm to provide strategic planning and board governance trainings for national and international nonprofits. Her AWA workshops include an affinity group for African American/Black women writers. She also uses the AWA method to support web writers with various forms of online content creation.

Raquel Ruiz

Raquel Ruiz has been an independent multimedia journalist, content creator and marketing expert for more than 30 years. She has received awards for her journalism, including the Jose Marti National Silver Award in Education and Immigration, for her articles in Viva Colorado, and (on numerous occasions) “best story of the week” for the Associated Press.

Her articles have been published on assorted journalism platforms in Germany, Spain, Canada, Colombia, Argentina, London, and in other countries. The Guardian, in the UK, hired Raquel to tweet about boxing during the 2012 Olympic Games in London. She is a women’s boxing writer pioneer; recently the Colombian Institutional Channel made a 30 minutes show about her life.

Raquel trained as AWA Facilitator in 2010 in Amherst Massachusetts, at the Pat Schneider home. She now leads groups in Spanish and Bilingual: English/Spanish and is working to make her dream a reality: developing a strong Spanish AWA Chapter and taking the method that changed her life as a writer to Latin American and Spain.

Mary Simmering, Ph.D.

Mary Simmerling is a philosopher, poet, and writing workshop facilitator. She holds graduate degrees in applied psychology and philosophy, and is an active volunteer and advocate with a number of nonprofit organizations that provide direct support and services for sexual assault and domestic violence survivors in the US and Canada. 

Mary is passionate about the Amherst Writers and Artists method because of the many ways in which it empowers participants to harness the healing powers of the creative self and provides opportunities for writers to connect not only with their own unique voices and stories, but also with the voices and stories of others. A longtime advocate for victims of sexual assault and violence, in 2022 Mary established an ongoing series of writing workshops through RAINN (Rape and Incest National Network) for sexual assault survivors. In 2023, she created an additional series of workshops for the staff and volunteers who provide care and services to sexual assault survivors through the National Sexual Assault Hotline (operated by RAINN). As one of Mary’s workshop participants recently said, “I love coming to these workshops because they allow me to discover what it is that I have to say.”

Mary joined the AWA board in 2023.

Andrea Vassallo

Andrea Vassallo joined a weekly AWA group at her local library in 2014 and became a workshop leader in 2018. She lives on the coast of Maine, where she is a writer, nonprofit development director and founder of Damariscotta River Writers. She is a recent graduate of the Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing at The University of Southern Maine. She was nonfiction co-editor for The Stonecoast Review and is a current reader for The Maine Review. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, named a Maine Literary Awards finalist and cited in Best American Essays notable essays. Andrea is passionate about making more room for women’s voices on the page.