2016 Be Writing Presenters

Jacquelyn Mitchard

Jacquelyn Mitchard is the number one New York Times bestselling author of nine novels for adults, including The Deep End of the Ocean—which was the inaugural selection of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club, and was made into a major feature film. The editor of a realistic Young Adult imprint, Merit Press, she is also the author of seven novels for Young Adults. She has won the Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson award, as well as the UK’s Talkabout Prize, and her work was short-listed for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. Mitchard is a professor of Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction at Vermont College of Fine Art and a contributing editor for More magazine. She grew up in Chicago, and now lives on Cape Cod with her family. Learn more about Jacquelyn here.

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Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Over the past thirty-odd years, Nina Kiriki Hoffman has sold adult and YA novels and more than 300 short stories. Her works have been finalists for the World Fantasy, Mythopoeic, Sturgeon, Philip K. Dick, and Endeavour awards. Her fiction has won a Bram Stoker and a Nebula Award.
Nina teaches writing through Lane Community College and does production work for the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. She has taught at the Clarion Science Fiction Workshop, at Odyssey, at Write on the Sound, Mythic Worlds, and Wordcrafters in Eugene. She lives in Eugene, Oregon. Learn more about Nina here.
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Carola Dunn

Carola Dunn is the author of 25 historical mysteries published by St Martins Minotaur, as well as 32 Regencies and 4 collections of Regency novellas from a variety of publishers. Her work has been translated into many languages. She was born and grew up in England, where most of her books are set, and now lives in Eugene, Oregon. Learn more about Carola here.

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Melissa Hart

Melissa Hart is the author of the middle-grade novel, Avenging the Owl (Sky Pony, 2016) and two memoirs for adults–Wild Within: How Rescuing Owls Inspired a Family, and Gringa: A Contradictory Girlhood. Her essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Advocate, Hemispheres, Woman’s Day, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and numerous other publications. She teaches for Whidbey Island’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program and writes a monthly column for The Writer Magazine. Learn more about Melissa here.
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Kathleen Kerr

Kathleen Kerr has worked with books all her life-first as a reader, then in a bookstore, and for the past ten years in the publishing industry. A senior editor with Harvest House Publishers and the author of several books, Kathleen has a passion for finding new voices and encouraging authors to develop their craft. When not writing, shaping manuscripts, or scrawling ideas on the backs of grocery lists, she enjoys exploring the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two daughters. Learn more about Kathleen here.

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Eliot Treichel

Eliot Treichel is the author of the YA novel A Series of Small Maneuvers and the story collection Close Is Fine, which received the Wisconsin Library Association Literary Award. His writing and photography have appeared in a variety of publications, including Canoe & Kayak, Narrative, Beloit Fiction Journal, CutBank, and Passages North. He’s been awarded a Fishtrap Writing Fellowship as well as residency fellowships at PLAYA. He thinks riding bikes uphill is fun, sandwiches are better with potato chips, and that no one should go to bed without a cookie. Recently, he stopped wearing black socks in favor of ones with more color. His favorite dance move is the moonwalk. He cannot parallel park. Originally from the Northern Wisconsin, he now lives in Oregon. Learn more about Eliot’s work here.

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Cai Emmons

Cai Emmons is the author of the novels His Mother’s Son, and The Stylist. Her short work has appeared in Arts and Letters, Narrative Magazine, The Santa Monica Review, The New York Post, and Portland Monthly, among others, and she has a selection in Now Write: Writing Exercises from Today’s Best Writers and Teachers.

Before turning to fiction Emmons wrote for theater, film, and television. She wrote for the TV show The Trials of Rosie O’Neill, and has optioned numerous feature-length screenplays. She received her B.A. from Yale University, an M.F.A in Film from New York University, and an M.F.A. in Fiction from the University of Oregon. She teaches at the University of Oregon in the Creative Writing Program and the Cinema Studies Program. Her most recently completed novel is called Weather Woman. Learn more about Cai here.

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Sarina Dorie

Sarina Dorie is the author of award-winning, YA paranormal romance novel, Silent Moon. Her Puritan and alien love story, Dawn of the Morning Star, is due to come this year with Wolfsinger Publications. She has sold about 100 short stories to markets like Daily Science Fiction, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Orson Scott Card’s IGMS, Cosmos, and Sword and Laser.
By day, Sarina is a public school art teacher, artist, belly dance performer and instructor, copy editor, fashion designer, event organizer and probably a few other things. By night, she writes. As you might imagine, this leaves little time for sleep. Find out more about Sarina here.
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