2021 Writing Mentors
KATE BUCCA
Kate Bucca (she/her/hers) holds an MEd from the University of Prince Edward Island and a dual-genre MFA in Writing (poetry and fiction) from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She spent two years reading fiction for Hunger Mountain and a year as a second reader of fiction and nonfiction manuscripts for literary agent Damian McNicholl of the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency. Kate is the author of a novel, Companion Plants (Fomite, 2014), and was a finalist for the Hillary Gravendyk Prize and semifinalist for the Iron Horse Literary Review Chapbook Competition. Her essays, short fiction, poetry, and paintings have appeared in On the Seawall, The Masters Review Anthology VIII, Chestnut Review, Glass, Timber, Half Mystic, and elsewhere. Currently, Kate is a PhD student at UPEI, where she focuses on progressive and place-based education, writing instruction, and arts-based research. As a neurodivergent individual, she is particularly interested in narratives of inclusion within educational systems and disrupting structural barriers to participation. She has taught high school English and creative writing, and loves working with writers in all genres.
You can find Kate’s work here.
Who’s your favorite artist, and why?
Impossible to choose one, so I’ll list three. Cecily Brown, for the vivid, gestural liveliness of her paintings. Bisa Butler, for the vibrant, story- and history-imbued portraiture quilts so complex with emotion and movement and celebration. And Cy Twombly, mostly because I spent an inordinate amount of time at the Cy Twombly Gallery in Houston, enjoying feeling small in the presence of his massive works.
What's the soundtrack to your life, and why?
The soundtrack is ever-changing, really. Lately, I’ve been listening to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ Watchmen soundtrack on repeat for the utter brilliance with which they created songs specific to the characters yet cohesive and compelling as a whole. (Also, I love the series.) More generally, my life is soundtracked eclectically, mimicking how my brain jumps around and latches onto various sounds/threads/ideas. My current playlist includes Billie Eilish, Orville Peck, Fiona Apple, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Sugarcubes, Cut Chemist, Lizzo, Bibio, Radiohead, Janelle Monáe, and too many more to list.
THERESA SENATO EDWARDS
Theresa Senato Edwards has published two full-length poetry books, one, with painter Lori Schreiner, which won The Tacenda Literary Award for Best Book, and two chapbooks. Poems from her newest manuscript not yet published, "Fragments of Wing Bones," can be found in Stirring, Gargoyle, The Nervous Breakdown, Thrush, Diode, Dialogist, 3Elements Review, SWWIM, Harbor Review, Verse Daily, The Shore Poetry, PANK, The Hunger and other fine journals. Edwards was nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize, recently for a Best of the Net and Best Small Fictions Anthology, received creative writing residencies from Drop Forge & Tool and Craigardan, is a poetry editor for American Poetry Journal and a poetry mentor for COUNTERCLOCK Arts Collective, Summers 2020 and 2021.
You can find Theresa’s work here.
Why do you make art, in a few words or sentences?
I make art by writing poetry because I realized at a young age that writing my thoughts/feelings down helped me process my fears and worries, even my hopes. Writing also helped me positively guide my creativity and imagination. Formally, I first studied and wrote avant-garde music for creative expression; then I studied academic writing and fiction writing but settled in on poetry and all its subtle possibilities, always keeping in mind what I had learned from studying musical composition. I felt most comfortable in the poetry medium because the structure felt more succinct and inspiring to me. Also, poetry connected me to music, the medium in which I first realized how much being creative helped me.
Who's your favorite artist, and why?
Way too many to name. 😊
What's one thing you're looking forward to, post-COVID-19?
Seeing movies with special effects on the BIG SCREEN. First new movie I saw last Friday, May 28, 2021, was A Quiet Place, Part II. I LOVED seeing it in the theater!
KYLIE GELLATLY
Kylie Gellatly is a visual poet and the author of The Fever Poems, forthcoming from Finishing Line Press (Summer 2021). She works mainly with conceptual found/collage poetry to explore the ways in which process articulates vision. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Action Spectacle, DIAGRAM, Gasher, Iterant Magazine, La Vague Journal, Literary North, Palette Poetry, Petrichor, SWWIM, and elsewhere. She has received support from the Vermont Studio Center, the Juniper Writing Institute and Disquiet International. Kylie is the Editor-in-Chief of Mount Holyoke Review, Reviews Editor for Green Mountains Review, and a Frances Perkins Scholar at Mount Holyoke College.
You can find Kylie’s work here.
Why do you make art, in a few words or sentences?
I was raised by artists and thus grew up believing that one I needed to find an outlet for expressing myself — which I understood to mean or else you won’t be able to. It took many years and trials across the disciplines to find that poetry—the manipulation of the very thing I felt was holding me back—was the most freeing.
What was your childhood nightmare?
I’ve had this recurring nightmare for as long as I can remember: Anything can be happening in the dream, but if I hold up a camera to try to capture something, either the scene changes or the camera malfunctions. Ultimately, I cannot take the photo.
What's one thing you're looking forward to, post-COVID-19?
KARAOKE!
HEATHER LAUREL JENSEN
Heather Laurel Jensen is a sophomore at the University of Arizona studying Cognitive Science, Creative Writing, and Arabic. She served as National Student Poet of the Southwest 2018 and is co-president of Creative Youth of Arizona, an organization that administers the Phoenix Youth Poet Laureate program and develops creative opportunities for young Arizonans. Her poetry, short stories, and photography have been published by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, Best Teen Writing of Arizona, diode poetry journal, Polyphony HS, and the Live Poets Society of New Jersey, among others. She is nineteen years old.
You can find Heather’s work here.
What’s your hottest artistic take?
Eyes forward, head down. Essentially, the time you spend comparing yourself to others is time wasted; keep your eyes on your own paper and on your own goals and your work will improve. (Obviously, reading/enjoying other’s art is still important, but you shouldn’t be comparing your own work/progress).
What’s one thing you’re looking forward to, post COVID-19?
Dinner parties!
What’s the soundtrack to your life, and why?
“I’m Afraid to Talk to Men” by Chris Fleming. I feel like the title sums it up.
JULIA M. WALTON
Julia M. Walton is a recent graduate from Princeton University, where she studied fiction under Joyce Carol Oates, A. M. Homes, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Idra Novey. Her senior thesis, a novella entitled The Smart One, examines academic burnout, endless striving, ambition, work, and depression from the perspective of Beatrice, a student who begins to fail out of her university program. While at Princeton, Julia served as Editor-in-Chief for Princeton’s historic literary magazine, The Nassau Literary Review.
Julia’s creative work has been featured in COUNTERCLOCK, The Nassau Literary Review, Figments, Arch & Arrow, and The Best Teen Writing of 2016. When she was in high school, Julia was awarded a Gold Medal from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for her short story, “In the Summer, My Brother.” She is an alumna of the Susquehanna Advanced Writers Workshop and the New England Young Writers’ Conference (NEYWC) at Bread Loaf. This summer, she is also teaching fiction as an Assistant Workshop Leader with the Lamplighter Literary Arts Summer Writing Institute at Northfield Mount Hermon.
Julia enjoys writing realistic fiction, surreal fiction, lyrical fiction and prose poetry, personal essays, and creative nonfiction. She is also a published scholar of literature and culture, making her a good resource if research is at stake in your creative process.
You can find Julia’s work here.
What's your hottest artistic take?
It’s okay to take breaks. It’s important to force yourself to write, especially at the very beginning of a project, but it’s important to give it a rest sometimes, too. A writing block might be a sign you need to re-evaluate your direction, or it might be a sign you need a dose of inspiration. Often enjoying something you really want to enjoy (a movie, some music) will give you ideas that will help you move forward.
Still, it’s not unusual for writing to be painful, so don’t be afraid of that.
Why do you make art, in a few words or sentences?
Writing makes things real. Emotions, experiences. And it helps me think when I have a question I need to work through.
What's one thing you're looking forward to, post-COVID-19?
I miss going to movies, concerts, plays, and live shows. There’s nothing like being in a space with a large group of people, experiencing something together. If things continue to improve through the fall, I think I might buy myself a ticket to a show on Broadway.
What was your childhood nightmare?
I spent a long stretch of childhood afraid of improbable disasters, including an asteroid armageddon, tsunamis, shootings, and so on. It’s been a relief to discover that existential fear tends to subside once you gain more agency within your own life.
What's the soundtrack to your life, and why?
I have a soft spot for video games and always have. Literature likes to dwell on painful topics, but video games express so much joyful creativity. I like to listen to soundtrack music while I’m working on something—it gives me so much energy.
LYDIA WEI
Lydia Wei lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in The Adroit Journal, The Margins: Asian American Writers’ Workshop, DIALOGIST, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She loves making carbonara.
What's your hottest artistic take?
I think the art should speak for itself. No artistic statements necessary.
Why do you make art, in a few words or sentences?
I think it’s a brilliant way of making a little strangeness. I like art as a strange sensation, and the best art feels like growing an extra limb or a brief fainting spell.
Who's your favorite artist, and why?
Andy Warhol, mostly because he wore a silver wig and survived an assassination attempt.
What's one thing you're looking forward to, post-COVID-19?
Seeing people again and going to cool places! I have long dreamed of going out to Assateague Island and seeing the wild, wild horses so I might finally do that this summer.
What was your childhood nightmare?
Mostly had nightmares about being tied to four horses (one horse for each limb) and then slowly stretched to death as the horses walked in opposite directions.
What's the soundtrack to your life, and why?
Is This It by The Strokes. Literally a perfect album.