Meet our talented family of teachers—each an accomplished writer and trustworthy guide. Leaf through our faculty bios, profiles, book excerpts, and writing advice articles. You’ll like the people you meet.
Esther Hayes

Faculty Profile

Meet Esther Hayes

“Writing a novel is like you’re given a jigsaw puzzle,” Esther says, “and you don’t know the image, but you know it’s vaguely about the beach, and you are expected to do the puzzle while holding all the pieces in your hand at the same time.”

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Kashawn Taylor

Faculty Profile

Meet Kashawn Taylor

“Write truthfully and don't shy away from brutal vulnerability.”

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The instructor was a constant source of inspiration, a supportive and perceptive critic. Thanks again for a course that has been very important to me...as a person, as a student, and as a teacher.

Harvey-Ann Ross, teacher

Faculty Excerpts

<em>This Is Why They Hate Us</em>

This Is Why They Hate Us

Aaron H. Aceves
The following is an excerpt from Aaron H. Aceves' YA novel, This Is Why They Hate Us***My thumb hovers over the exit button on the remote, poised to strike as soon as I hear the jingling of keys that means...
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<em>Where Lost Girls Go</em>

Where Lost Girls Go

Kody Keplinger
The following is an excerpt from the prologue of Kody Keplinger's novel, Where Lost Girls Go.***The new girl, with her too- large, too- round, too- green eyes, looks right at me. And maybe it’s just a draft of cold air...
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Faculty Articles

Teresa Wong

Why Write Your Family’s Story?

Teresa Wong
For much of my childhood in the 1980s, my mother served up Chinese fast food from a stand in a second-rate suburban mall. Her customers were mostly teens from the local high school and elderly regulars who mall-walked throughout winter,...
Robert Repino

The Essential Storytelling Device that Fuels Superman and The Matrix

Robert Repino
I am both proud and slightly horrified to say that my first published novel took over a year to write, and three long years to rewrite. And that’s not counting the failed book projects that preceded it over the previous...