Faculty Bios

We proudly offer the bios of our accomplished teachers.

María Alejandra Barrios is the author of the novel The Women of Caminito (Lake Union Publishing, forthcoming). Her short stories have appeared in Fractured Lit, The Offing, The Citron Review, Cosmonauts Avenue, Jellyfish Review, Bandit Fiction, Lost Balloon, Reservoir Journal, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Fresh Ink, El Malpensante, WaxWing Mag, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Shenandoah Literary and been anthologized in Best Small Fictions. She has taught for the Universidad Del Norte Barranquilla, Paragraph New York, and the Beaubourg Theatre in New Orleans. She holds a BA from the Universidad de los Andes and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Manchester.

Scott Alexander Hess is the author of five novels, including Skyscraper, a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, The Butcher's Sons, named a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2015 (both Lethe Press), and a pair of novellas The Root of Everything & Lightning (Rebel Satori Press). His work has appeared in HuffPost, Genre Magazine, The Fix, and Thema Literary Review. He co-wrote “Tom in America,” an award-winning short film, and curates Hot Lit, an LGBTQ+ themed monthly newsletter. He holds a BJ from the University of Missouri-Columbia and an MFA in Fiction from The New School.

Z Kennedy-Lopez has published fiction and essays in Foglifter, Autostraddle, Hobart Pulp, Storm Cellar, A Velvet Giant, among many others. They have taught at the University of California, Davis, Rutgers University-Camden, and the Cooper Street Writing Workshops. They hold a BA from Southern Oregon University, an MA in English from the University of California, Davis, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University-Camden.

Jeremy Wechter is the writer and director of the feature film e-Demon, and the short films “Shake Things Up,” “Popcorn,” “Skewed,” “Hand Off,” “Big Decisions,” and “Bad Connection.” He has directed numerous commercials, and written and directed numerous plays, including the Off-Broadway musical Little House on the Ferry, and he served as artistic director for Directors ‘n’ Actors Collaborative. He has taught at the New York Film Academy, 3rd Ward Art Center, and the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. He holds a BFA from NYU.