Kerri Smith Majors
Editor
Writing stuff: I have an MFA from Columbia University, and some of my own writing can be found in “Guernica,” ” So To Speak,” “Ellipsis,” and “Poets and Writers.” I’ve been the recipient of the Carolyn Doty Memorial Scholarship to the Squaw Valley Writers Community, and I’m currently a writing professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University. My YA novel, “Dream Traveler,” is represented by Penn Whaling of the Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency.
Personal stuff: While I’m still a California girl at heart, the fact is I’ve lived most of my life on the wrong coast. My parents whisked me away to Massachusetts right after I was born, so I spent the first 8 years of my life there, before the family moved back to California. After graduating from UC Berkeley, I moved to Brooklyn, NY, where I spent 6 years doing various jobs to support my writing habit (working as a nanny, bookstore clerk, personal assistant, manager of an olive oil shop…). While in grad school, I met my now-hubby Mike and made the more permanent move to Greenwich, CT. When I’m not writing, grading papers, or YARNing, I’m probably reading, cooking, or hanging with some friends. I might also be traveling, gardening, wasting time on Facebook, or watching something from the ol’ Netlflix queue.
Shannon Marshall
Assistant Editor
I am the only child of two community theater stars who met while acting the parts of Stanley and Stella in a production of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” My parents’ love for theater was so infectious, I ended up studying drama at the California State School of the Arts, San Joaquin Delta College, and Yale University prior to graduating from the University of California Los Angeles School for Theater, Film and Television. Then, I rebelled. Upon discovering that acting was more my parents’ dream than my own, I ditched theater to become a high school English teacher and married an astrophysicist.
I realized that what always drew me to theater was my love for storytelling–and by teaching high-school English, I get to share phenomenal literature with my classes every single day. In addition to the classics I teach, I am a die-hard fan of literature for teens. My goal is to read enough to recommend books to each of my 150 students every year! When I’m not reading, teaching, or traveling, I am writing. Presently, I’m writing a screenplay guided by the fabulous instructors at my alma mater, UCLA.
Colleen Oakley
Poetry Editor
I have taught writing workshops for young people for over a decade, including poetry, drama, and narrative non-fiction courses for Johns Hopkins’ Center for Talented Youth (ages 10-18), and, most recently, composition at Fairleigh Dickinson University and CUNY. A frequent judge for high school playwriting contests, I have an MFA from the Yale School of Drama; my plays have been produced in New York and at high schools around the country. I’m such a fan of poetry, that one of my writing instructors once suggested I write it professionally so I didn’t keep inserting it into my plays.
I’m also the mother of two beautiful boys, the second a very recent addition to the family. With my older son, I love to read and work in my urban garden, a terrace affixed to our Hoboken apartment. He likes watching hockey with his dad, but I have yet to introduce him to my favorite guilty pleasure: car chases in thriller movies.
Lourdes Keochgerien
YA Consultant & Reader
Formal Information: Currently, I am a senior at Fairleigh Dickinson University who has for the past three years and half learned the ins and outs of English literature, is co-editor of the campus’s literary magazine, “Knightscapes,” and is working on an undergraduate thesis about YA literature. Also for three years, I worked at a local public library where the teens reminded me how much YA literature I have not yet read and never stopped hassling me for my lack of knowledge concerning the “Twilight Saga.” My favorite pastimes at work included: shelving, recommending books, cataloging and shelving some more.
Random Factoids: Bergen County, New Jersey was not my first home. I used to live in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where, I came to later find out, the library has a fantastic YA collection. However, I did not know this because I was not a reader. It was not until my father bought me “Goblet of Fire,” which I originally used as a door when I played with my Barbie, that my love for literature began to bloom. Now, my parents have to tell me to stop reading and I currently have 25 books out on my library card. I know for a fact only ten of them will be read, but just in case I take out the extra 15. You never know. My favorites pastimes in my daily life include: going to bookstores to see what is new in YA, writing short stories in my journal, reading Wired, and eating margarita pizza.
YARN Readers
Bronwyn Nahas
I am a former assistant director for public affairs for economic development for New York State. Recently, I began substitute teaching in Bergen County New Jersey where I live with my three children and husband. In addition to teaching, I am currently working on several writing projects including a series of essays and short stories. I enjoy reading, writing, jogging, spending time with my family and the process of learning new and different things about the world.
Cathy Parilla
I have been teaching on the college level for more than 20 years, and I am presently on the full-time faculty of Fairleigh Dickinson University teaching in the writing program. My scholarship in literary theory and dramatic texts always shared a place with my creative writing which was the short story. Not until a colleague asked me to give her feedback on her poetry, did I ever feel inspired to write poetry. This inspirational moment came about ten years ago, and I never turned back. My poems have appeared in “Poem,” “Wisconsin Review,” “Compass Rose,” “descant,” and forthcoming in “Eureka Literary Journal.”
Carlos Rivero
I am a college graduate, musician, teacher (in the ways of finger painting and the construction of massive LEGO structures), writer, diner enthusiast, lover, comedian and proud resident of the ever glorious state of New Jersey (sans the cold). I am, however, not a fan of paper cuts. Seriously, they are the worst.
Andrea Suria
I am currently a sophomore at Fairleigh Dickinson University, majoring in biology. Though my goal is to work in the marine biology field, I find nothing beats escaping into a good story. I’ve been nursing that love for literature by serving as an assistant editor for the campus literary magazine, “Knightscapes,” for the past two years and working at my local independent bookstore during breaks. I started writing poetry in middle school, during science class no less, and have found myself scribbling stanzas in the margins of my lab notebooks ever since. Showing my reverence to nature through research and art seem to have come hand in hand. When I’m not reading, writing, or staring into microscopes, I also enjoy knitting, cooking, and creating stuffed animals.
Ivana Viani
I was born and raised in beautiful Croatia where I started writing poetry, articles, short stories and essays. Some of my poems in Croatian have been published in “Ka Domu Svom,” collection of Croatian emigrants’ poetry. I continue to write both in Croatian and English and I highly value ethnic literature. I read a lot of both new and classic poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Some of my favorite authors are J. D. Sallinger, Dobriša Cesarić, Malcolm Gladwell, Franz Kafka, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. I am a strong believer in lifetime learning and my formal education thus far has been in psychology and biology.
