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Mandie is a single mom, writer, and laugh-lover. She calls out BS, and owns up to hers. She writes essays in pursuit of social change. She also gladly shares homemade salted caramel blondies and high-fives in pursuit of surviving (maybe even thriving in) yet another day of the Trump Presidency. |
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Lia is born and raised in the Philippines. At 5 years old, she would always find herself writing stories on pieces of paper, stapling them together and later on, giving them away to her friends. Now, a graduate from De La Salle University with a BA in Literature, she continues to write and hopes that one day, she would make a novel. |
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Tanya Castro, Poetry '21 Tanya is a LA born pisces, raised in the Bay. She loves to travel, the show Friends, and dreams of working as a storyteller whether that be in movies or publishing books in the future.
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Eric Christiansen, Poetry '21 Eric Christiansen is a poet from Northern New Jersey currently living in Oakland, California. His writing has been featured in the Brick City Speaks series and can be found in Small Orange Literary Journal. When Eric is not writing or working, he enjoys playing soccer, skateboarding, hiking, and making music. |
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Anneke, a mother of three gifted and challenging boys, is a fifth generation San Franciscan. She holds bachelors degrees in psychology and creative writing from Seattle University. She is a cancer survivor and dog person. |
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Caeden is a queer poet from the East Coast. They graduated with a BA in English from East Carolina University. After a long day, they enjoy listening to lofi music and playing video game. |
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Mikaela Dunitz, Creative Nonfiction '21 Mikaela is from California, but spent her twenties zig-zagging the country for school and for love (with stints in DC and New York). When not writing—or teaching writing to teens—Mikaela can be found attempting overly ambitious kitchen projects, swimming in Lake Anza, or swinging in her backyard hammock. |
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Natalie Dunn is a writer living in Berkeley. Her work can be found in the Kenyon Review, Siglio Press, Pithead Chapel, and the Atticus Review. She likes swimming in the bay in the mornings. |
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Sterling is always tinkering with something: his prose, a song, or some retro gaming console in desperate need of repair or modification. When his MFA is complete, he plans to teach, and of course, he hopes to write, and write, and write. His work has been published in Dragon Poet Review and Diablo Valley College's Ink. |
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Rachel (@starrymouth) writes Young Adult Fiction about witty/sarcastic/dorky characters trying to figure out life. When she’s not writing or reading or attempting to be an adult, she games. She has a weakness for fantasy RPGs. |
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Julia Gardner is a poet and former teacher from the DC area. She organized the Liquid Arts writer’s workshop in Busan, South Korea where she performed spoken word. She is passionate about education, mental health, and feminist issues. When she’s not writing, she can be found running or discovering new music. |
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I used to teach A.P. English, now I study poets who are still alive. I used to serve volleyballs, now I serve as Poet Laureate of San Ramon. I like the mic and 12 bar blues, for joy does not need expertise. I am incurably curious about beginning again. |
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Sage received their BA in Creative Writing from Elms College. Their poetry appears or will appear in a number of journals and reviews. They like hiking, biking, and the sound of this fountain they are sitting next to right now. |
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Self-proclaimed (and frequently mentioned) nerd - Nick loves books, movies, sports, history, being weird, and poor timing with laughs. Some authors he likes are Stephen King, Kurt Vonnegut, and J. R. R. Tolkien – just some underground authors. He lives in Oakland and works for a NPO in Alameda. |
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Daisy He was born in a town along the Yangtze River, China. She studied in Beijing and Texas, and worked in Shanghai. She believes writing is to communicate with one's inner self. |
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Kathleen loves The Beach Boys, Mister Rogers, chocolate cake, middle-of-the-day showers and being an enneagram 7. If you meet her, she will probably ask you to list five things that you love too. |
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Joe has been reading and writing poetry for over 25 years. His poems have rarely left his journal. Now they want out. Some favorite poets are W.S. Merwin, Denise Levertov, Kenneth Rexroth, Heather McHugh, Jim Harrison. In addition to writer, he’s a dad/husband/friend/teacher/musician/hiker/cyclist. |
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Marrion is a Black, queer writer based out of Oakland, California. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Marrion uses story to examine the complex realities facing Black communities, including displacement, queerness and Black joy. Much of Marrion’s work touches on themes of memory, masculinity and intimacy which he expresses through fiction. |
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Elli Levin loves cats and magic, but mostly cats. They’re five-foot-two, but if you ask, they’ll tell you five-foot-three. When Elli isn’t writing, they are probably running, climbing rocks, or making "bad" puns. |
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Connor grew up in Austin, Texas, an aspiring engineer by all accounts - robotics, programming, the works. However, an inciting incident occurred along the way, and now he has BAs in Theatre and Creative Writing from Colorado College. He likes stories, perspectives, and the most implausible and insurmountable of conflicts. He blames his grandmother. |
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Ambereise studied English and Creative Writing at Saint Mary's for four years, and it wasn't enough, so she's back for two more. If she isn't with her cat Jupiter, she's probably somewhere laughing or liking pictures of other people's cats on Instagram. |
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Andrew is a second year student trying to be a poet. He enjoys buying books that pile on his desk, his anxious, super near sighted shepherd, and exploring new places with his incredibly talanted partner. Originally from Carson City, NV, he received his BA in English and History from Gonzaga. |
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Courtney is a mother and wife. She took the windy road – getting her BA in Studio Art at UCSB before pursuing her true passion in life: writing. A lover of fantasy and science fiction, she found her way back to the written word by playing Dungeons and Dragons. |
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Charlie is a tall artist that writes short poems to compensate. They are published in Transfer magazine and are working to get to the point where lines from their work are tattooed out of context. They currently work as an editor for Foglifter journal and a deputy editor for MARY. |
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Born and raised in the hottest, most humid province of Argentina, Florencia migrated with her family to the San Fernando Valley right before turning 15. She’s lived in San Diego, Mexico City, Cuzco, New York and now resides in the East Bay. She rarely misses an opportunity to put her foot in her mouth. |
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My name is Joey. I am from Dublin, California and have lived there my whole life. When I’m not hitting the books, I like to swim, play baseball, or do anything else sporty. I’m also very passionate about music and playing guitar. I love people and making new friends, so say “hi” or start a conversation with me! |
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Théodore Fahey Pavlich is a writer, theatre artist, and storyteller local to fourteen US ZIP codes. They’ve worked as a dog-walker, a baker, a stage-manager, a bookseller, a barista, a tailor, an electrician, a painter, a gift-wrapper, a nanny, and some jobs he shouldn’t mention legally. Thus, few things elude them more than briefly answering where he’s from and what he does. |
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Will Preston was born in Oakland where he now teaches. He's been a writer all his life, and is a huge fan of realistic sci-fi and fantasy. |
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Lizette Roman-Johnston, a 6 foot giant from Connecticut, graduated from Skidmore College in 2018, where she double majored in English and Psychology. She played softball and went on to coach in the northeast. Lizette started her writing career as an esteemed writer of gay One Direction fanfiction. David Sedaris said he was excited to read a book of hers one day. She is now hoping to write a book before David Sedaris dies. |
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Kiran Bains Sahota is a California native who just recently graduated from UC Berkeley with her Bachelors in English and a minor in Creative Writing. She’s the creator of SunsetDahlia.com, a personal portfolio in which she hopes to encourage acceptance and exploration of the self through the written word. Kiran loves traveling, painting, and her family––which also happen to deeply inspire her writing. |
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Stella Santamaría is a poet & writer. Stella has been recently published in Cathexis Northwest Press, The Brooklyn Review, Pennsylvania English, The Bohemian, The Courtship of Winds and Juked. Her poem is forthcoming in The Rumpus. Santamaría is listed in the Poets & Writers Directory as well. |
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Natalie received her MA in English from UC Davis and her BA in architecture from USF. She likes places without bees and tidy spaces. She watches a lot of TV, and if you ask, she might say TV before bed is what keeps her grounded. |
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Katie Schwarz received her BA from the University of California at Berkeley and her LLM at the University of Glasgow. She’s worked as a paralegal, a journalist, a guitar teacher, and a bookseller. Throughout it all, she’s been writing...and perfecting her bop-it game. |
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Ryan Shepherd, Fiction '21
Ryan is an SMC double alumnus and a WAC Fellow. He seeks to write heartfelt, character-driven fiction and works that revitalize fantasy and science fiction for the 21st century. He believes strongly in the power of imagination, and that works of the creative mind have the potential to speak deep truths of the human condition while also being engaging and accessible. |
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Jacqueline Hughes Simon lives, works, and writes in Berkeley, California. But she would rather be in the mountains. |
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After graduating from SMC with a Bachelors in Integrated Studies, Kasandra is returning for a Masters in Creative Writing. She’s pursuing a career in creative writing. She found inspiration for her poems The Shape of Women and Applaud the Teenage Mother during her studies abroad in Ireland. She is a dedicated, enthusiastic, and passionate wordsmith and teller of tales. |
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Caitlin Thomas drives stick, has seen John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum three times, has a dying orchid, considers cheeseburgers to have the most reality, and is obsessed with reflections, water, and shadows. Writing is her desert water. |
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Dakota received her BA in English from St. Mary’s in 2017. She enjoys writing poetry and memoir. Dakota is a high school English teacher in the Bay Area, as well as a local artist. She paints bridal jackets, bakes a mean dessert, and always has a quote for every occasion. |
All readings are free and open to the public.
Caeden Dudley (Poetry), Rachel Feinberg (Fiction), Théo Pavlich (Creative Nonfiction), Debbie Weiss (Creative Nonfiction)
Mandie Caroll (Creative Nonfiction), Charlie Neer (Poetry), Will Preston (Fiction), Stella Santamaria (Poetry)
Sarah Dane (Fiction), Nick Golden (Creative Nonfiction), Andrew Mercer (Poetry), Katie Schwarz (Creative Nonfiction)
Sarah Benjamin (Poetry), Elli Levin (Fiction), Vicky Quistgaard (Creative Nonfiction), Rachel Telljohn (Poetry)
Sterling Farrance (Creative Nonfiction), Melissa Landucci (Creative Nonfiction), Natalie Savio (Fiction), Clayne Zollinger (Poetry)
Lis Arevalo Hidalgo (Creative Nonfiction), Lia Castro (Fiction), Sage Giordano (Poetry), Florencia Orlandoni (Creative Nonfiction),
Thank you to this year's Graduate Student Reading Series Committee.
