Brenna Womer (she/they) is a queer, Latine prose writer, poet, and artist. She is the author of Honeypot (Spuyten Duyvil, 2019), Unbrained (FlowerSong Press, 2023), and two chapbooks. Her work has appeared in North American Review, Redivider, Indiana Review, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She is the Creative Nonfiction Editor of Shenandoah and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Washington and Lee University in rural Virginia, where she lives with her partner and pitbulll. Currently, she’s at work on an experimental nonfiction project called Dear Mom, which is an artistic erasure collection of letters written by her mother during her tenure in the military in the late 80s and early 90s.
Writing: A Life
Each semester the College welcomes a visiting author to host a reading on campus as well as other events that may include writing workshops or classroom visits.
“Writing: A Life” broadens our students’—all students, not only those in Creative Writing and English—exposure to exciting, vibrant artists and allows them to make connections that will serve them as professionals and as practitioners of their craft, as well as understand the way the arts intersect across all disciplines.
LVC will welcome two visiting writers to campus this spring. Their public readings will take place either via Zoom or in person and will be available free to the campus community and the public. Copies of the writers’ books will be available for purchase and signing at the readings.
Green Blotter editorial staff members Rachael Speck ’20 and Paige Bryson ‘20, in collaboration with genre editors Sydney Fuhrman ’18 and Jackie Chicalese ’18, published a guide to undergraduate literary magazines for Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies under guidance from visiting writer and reviewer Renee d’Aoust.
As a result of Renèe d’Aoust’s in-class discussion of the value/professional development merit of publishing book reviews, Sydney Fuhrman ’18 published a book review in Alternating Current Press’s literary magazine The Coil. Fuhrman wrote the review for ENG 254 Fiction Workshop.
Cheyenne Heckermann ’17 is now a book reviewer for Anomaly, focusing particularly on works by writers of color and LGBTQ2IA writers. Her reviews are online here.
Read what some of our students have to say about the “Writing: A Life” series.
“The opportunity to meet one-on-one with Adam Tavel and discuss my work was incredibly beneficial, as I was able to receive unique advice and encouragement from a knowledgeable and award-winning poet. As a mentor, Adam was insightful and sincere, and offered his personal experiences and support to assist in preparing me for a transition from undergraduate writing to graduate.” ~ English major
“Another section that I thought was really relatable to me was the ‘real writer’ conversation. Being a musician, when Tom McAllister talked about the set of habits, it made me understand why writers have to practice with workshops and lectures just like musicians have to sit down and play…. he inspired me as a musician to treat music different and to experiment.” ~ music education major