Robert E. "Bob" Ingle is a New York Times Best Selling Author, veteran, award-winning journalist, radio talk show host, Radio/TV News Analyst. His first NYT Best Seller, "The Soprano State" was made into a motion picture that premiered in New York. His column/blog (bobingle99.com) is read in 75 countries. He also has a huge following on Facebook and Twitter, especially among other authors and people connected to the news media. He currently is working on finishing a book and doing prep work for a second. He can be heard on the radio over the air in the Northeast and on the Internet around the world. The show has been broadcast from the African bush, Paris, Rome, London, middle of the Atlantic, and San Francisco cable car, among others.

Tony Eprile is a South African writer & photographer now living in Vermont. His novel, The Persistence of Memory, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, longlisted for the Dublin Impac Prize, and won the Koret International Jewish Book Award for Fiction. His writing has appeared in O Magazine, The New York Times, Details, The Nation, Gourmet, and the Washington Post. His photographs have appeared in Discover Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, National Geographic (online), Gourmet, Pacific Standard, and elsewhere. Awards include National Endowment for the Arts, Ingram Merrill Foundation, Djerassi Foundation, MacDowell Colony and other fellowships.

Karina Muñiz-Pagán is a writer, literary translator, and organizer, born to a Scandinavian mother and Mexican father in San Francisco, California. She has an MFA in Prose from Mills College where she was the Community Engagement Fellow and taught creative writing to members of Mujeres Unidas y Activas; a Latina immigrant rights base-building organization where she also served as Political Director. As a result of the generative workshops, Karina co-founded the writers’ group, Las Malcriadas, and edited and translated the bilingual anthology Mujeres Mágicas: Domestic Workers Right to Write, published in 2019 by Freedom Voices Press. She has also earned MAs in Urban Planning and Latin American Studies from UCLA and has written and led campaigns focused on place-based storytelling and the power of understanding the social history of the built environment. 

A native of the Washington, D.C. area, D. Gause currently resides in Las Vegas. Performer, composer, educator, writer, consultant, advocate, grant writer, coach are some words to describe her 
daily work. In her spare time, she reads, cooks, bakes, and volunteers.

“I am a sphere, not a slice.” ~D.G.

Lora Hyler is an award-winning Wisconsin-based author whose traditionally published middle-grade children’s book series features multicultural superheroes, science, and spy gadgets. She’s also written a book to help children cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Her essay about her uncle’s 1955 fight to build his dream home in an all-white suburb just won the Wisconsin Writers Association competition in the non-fiction category. Her extensive record collection dating back to the 1930s has inspired her next book on lyrical resilience and how challenges from the past century still resonate today. Each line of pain and sorrow also carries joy and inspiration. Planned for teens and adults.

Avra Kouffman is a poet and writer who focuses on memoir and creative nonfiction. She is also a features journalist. Originally from New York City, she lived abroad and traveled widely before moving to California in 2005. She currently participates in Laguna Beach's Third Street Writers and, thanks to Zoom, the UK's New River Writers. Her creative pursuits include travel, nature photography, and exploring obscure music. 

Thea Pueschel is a nonbinary writer and multimedia artist in Southern California and the winner of the TAEM Flash Fiction Summer 2020 Contest. Thea dances between the shadows and plays with the psychosocial aspect of the human condition with a hint of nostalgia, a dash of hope, a skosh of whimsy, and a heaping dose of suffering. Thea has been published by The Abstract Elephant, and Short Édition, among others.

Lisa Eve Cheby’s poems and reviews may be found in journals such as The Rumpus, Entropy, The Citron Review, Tidal Basin Review, Ruminate, A cappella Zoo, and TAB: Journal of Poetry and Poetics, which nominated her poem for a 2015 Pushcart Prize, and in the anthologies Drawn to Marvel, The Burden of Light, and Coiled Serpent. Her chapbook, Love Lessons from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dancing Girl Press) was featured in The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed. Lisa holds an MFA from Antioch and an MLIS from SJSU. 

Combining her science and engineering education with design practice and enterprise, Heidrun Mumper-Drumm has developed a unique sustainability curriculum for art and design students. At ArtCenter College of Design, Prof. Mumper-Drumm teaches, conducts research, and serves as the college’s Director of Sustainability Initiatives. Her academic classes and studio courses challenge designers to create sustainable product-service systems that improve environmental performance while considering social and economic impact. Her research interests include methodologies that incorporate life cycle thinking and lead to design innovation. Her art-making, as a typographer, letterpress printer, and visual and book artist, reflects her lifelong exploration of earthlings and earth systems.

Often described as Movie Music, ​Don Rochlin's sound ranges from enthralling Jazz improvisations and soaring ballads to lively musical theater productions and even a foray into country and world beat music. His mission with his music is to “refresh the spirit, inspire others and leave some beauty behind”.

Jade Rosina McCutcheon was born in Melbourne, Australia and now lives in Oregon, USA. Her poetry has been published in Australian poetry journals such as SCARP, ‘Leaves’ and ‘Wiradjuri’ as well as in an anthology 'Terra Incognita' (Bob Hill publishing 2019, Oregon). Her poem 'Fair Art' won second place in the Kay Snow Awards 2019 and 'Australian Bush Solstice' was awarded an honorable mention in the Kay Snow Awards 2017. Jade’s first chapbook, 'SMALL FEATHER’ was published by Finishing Line Press in October 2020. Jade holds a Doctor of Creative Arts from the University of Technology, Sydney, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Melbourne.

Nancy VanKanegan After being raised in a big family in a small town in northern Illinois, VanKanegan earned a BFA from Illinois Wesleyan Univ and an MA in Interdisciplinary Arts and Education from Columbia College Chicago. Her multi-disciplinary art involves making and doing inspired by dreams and yoga. These works address personal and social enigmas and narratives derived from myth, legend and ritual as they weave into contemporary life. She has exhibited and performed locally, nationally and internationally. At present she teaches art and yoga courses at Columbia College, Northeastern Illinois University and DePaul University.

Angela Briggs, drawing from the myriad of cultural, social, and spiritual aspects of gourds, metals, wood, clay, organic and recycled materials I create personal shrines, spirit dolls, wearable art, instruments, masks, prints, artist books, and public works of art that have history and purpose. The journey of creating art starts from deep in my soul, from my ancestors. I come from a culture that respects nature, asking permission to plant and harvest. Therefore it is important for me to create functional art, such as a shrine an altar, or art to wear embellished with natural objects which have specific meaning. If the art creates an emotional response then I've done my job.

S. Pearl Sharp creates "cultural art for eye, ear, and heart" with The Evening News - Essays and Commentaries From NPR And Other Clouds (2015), Black Women For Beginners (For Beginners LLC), a short story audiobook, Uncertain Rituals, the poetry w/jazz CD's Higher Ground and On The Sharp Side and four volumes of poetry including Typing in the Dark (Harlem River Press). Her essays and commentaries have been broadcast on NPR and she is a segment producer/host with KPFK-FM, Pacifica Radio.  S. Pearl lives in Los Angeles where she connects language and wellness, creates rituals, is a creativity coach, and instigates through art and activism.

RESIDENTS: 2021

October - December Residents

Lena Valencia’s writing has appeared in Epiphany, Joyland, BOMB, the anthology Tiny Nightmares, and elsewhere. She is the director of educational programming and managing editor of One Story. She received her MFA in fiction from The New School and has been a fellow at the Vermont Studio Center and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She is the recipient of an Elizabeth George Foundation grant. www.lenavalencia.com

Carolyn Peter is a writer and curator. She is the author of numerous art historical publications including the book A Letter from Japan: The Photographs of John Swope (2006) and the essay “The Many Lives of the Getty’s Bayard Album” (February 2022). She is now venturing into the realm of fiction with her first novel. As a curator and art historian, she has expertise in nineteenth-century French art and the history of photography. She has been fortunate to work with amazing art collections in museums across the United States and in London. She is a proud fourth-generation Californian.

Jarohn Johnson is an emerging fiction writer born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He recently graduated from the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL), where he received his MFA in Creative Writing. During his tenure at UMSL, he worked as an assistant editor for Natural Bridge magazine and was awarded the Mary Troy Prize in Fiction. His short story "On the Red Line" will be published this year in Obsidian Magazine.

Christina Clancy's debut novel, The Second Home, was recently published June 2, 2020, and was named the Amazon "Book With Buzz" for June. The novel received a starred review from Booklist, and was named an "Indie Next" pick in June, and was one of ten "Indies Introduce" selections for summer and fall 2020 by the American Bookseller's Association. Her second novel, Shoulder Season, will be published by St. Martins Press in summer 2021.

Shilpa Agarwal is author of the internationally-published novel, Haunting Bombay. She is the host of a forthcoming radio show, set to premiere world-wide in March 2019 and she has been a freelance writer for the forthcoming Disney animated TV show, Mira, Royal Detective. She was featured on the United Nations’ album, Music to Inspire – Artists UNited Against Human Trafficking. She served as Fiction Editor at LA-based, Angels Flight • literary west, a literary and cultural journal focused on Los Angeles and its stories, and a hub of justice, voice, and community. She is currently working on a TV pilot, and on a novel trilogy that reclaims and resurrects the female body.

July - September Residents

Chris Bray is a historian and former newspaper reporter. He has a PhD in history from UCLA, and has written as a freelancer for Bookforum, the Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Wall Street Journal, and many others. He is the author of a 2016 history of the American military justice system, "Court-Martial: How Military Justice Has Shaped America from the Revolution to 9/11 and Beyond," published by W.W. Norton.

Sharon Calkin is a poet and creative non-fiction writer, combining memoir with family biography. Working with 400 pages of transcribed interviews with relatives now deceased, she is shaping the narrative for her book, Family Fiction. One chapter will be published in the first anthology of the Southern California Genealogy Society in June 2021.Her poems have been published in anthologies from the Altadena, Eagle Rock, and Durant Public Libraries. A poetry chapbook for the 20 Minute Poets is forthcoming in 2021.

Composer, conductor, pianist, bandleader, and performer - all of these are facets of Alia Kahn's musical passion. Alia is a social worker who has been a pianist since a very young age and has performed at festivals, recitals, and juries. Alia studied jazz at Berklee College of Music, led her own band "The Alia Band” and has composed and conducted film music. Alia is currently working in a duo act that will perform an eclectic mix of 70’s music and Broadway hits. She has come to Dorland to polish her classical and jazz piano and to do some songwriting. 

Kara Laurene Pernicano (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist and poet. She captures resonances in the porous mind for art and healing, routinely working in erasure, collage, comics, improv dictation, and poetic monologue. Kara has an MFA from Queens College and a MA from the University of Cincinnati. She has performed for Poetic Theater Productions and the Poetry Society of New York. Her work has been exhibited in various literary magazines and galleries, including Waccamaw, Full Stop, the Whitney Staff Art Show, and LIC Artists’ Plaxall Gallery. She teaches at CUNY and curates a creative series Why Open Pandora’s Box. 

Hayden Casey(@haydenmcasey13) is a writer, musician, and MFA candidate at Arizona State University. His fiction is forthcoming in Witness.

Claire Bowman’s career as a performing musician precipitated an uprootedness that has impacted much of her life. She and her twin sister form the acclaimed music duo, The Bowmans. They've toured extensively and recorded five albums. Painting serves as an antidote to a transient existence. In her figurative works, mundane interactions and ordinary objects are suffused with bold, immutable light. Her landscapes seek to preserve natural vistas despite the man-made structures that obstruct and encroach upon them. Bowman’s works have exhibited in New York, California, Switzerland, and Portugal, and she’s been selected for residencies in Tunisia, Switzerland, and Florida. 

Nancy K. Fishman is a fiction writer pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at San Francisco State. She is working on a novel, Lakeview, set in 1961 in a home for unwed pregnant Jewish women on Staten Island. She graduated from UW-Madison with a degree in English with an Emphasis on Creative Writing. She has been a resident at Starry Night Retreat (NM), Wellstone Center in the Redwoods (CA), and Write On, Door County (WI). She was in the writers’ pool at Playground, 2015-2019; her short play, Pageant, was produced as part of Monday Night Playground at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Andrew Oh is a writer, filmmaker, and recently turned cartoonist from Timonium, Maryland. He moved to Dallas, Texas to attend Southern Methodist University and received a Bachelor of Arts in Film & Media Arts. During that time, Andrew wrote and directed four short films and the feature film “The Book of Job.” The film premiered at the Texas Theatre and is currently in distribution. Andrew also self-publishes a weekly autobiographical comic series called Day and Age. Andrew’s film and comics work can be found on his website.

Morgan McGill is a Collage Artist from Louisville, KY. She graduated with her BFA in painting and B.A. in Spanish from the University of Louisville in 2018. She co-organized her first exhibition in Bilbao Spain, studying contemporary art. She recently received the Artist Enrichment Grant from the KY Foundation for Women to continue making work questioning the ethics of women and sexuality in religion. Her website (morganemcgill.com) is categorical based on concept and technique and includes her CV. In 2020 she completed her first mural and was accepted for artist residency through the KY Foundation for Women.

Cole W. Williams is the author of Hear the River Dammed: Poems from the Edge of the Mississippi (Beaver’s Pond Press, 2017) as well as several books for children. Her poems have appeared in Martin Lake Journal, Indolent Books online, Waxing & Waning, Harpy Hybrid Review, WINK, and other journals, as well as in a number of anthologies. Williams is a student in the MFA program at Augsburg University in Minneapolis. 

Ashunda Norris is an award-winning filmmaker, feminist, arkivist and poet living in Los Angeles. Born and raised in the heart of rural, red clay Georgia, Ashunda’s film work has screened nationally and internationally, including in Amsterdam, Berlin, Kenya, and London. She is the winner of the New Orleans Jury Award at the 2019 Black Film Festival of New Orleans for her film MINO: A Diasporic Myth. Ashunda's art and mind space Black futures, Black fugitivity and Black womxnhood as a freedom site. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Fence, [PANK], Trampoline, La Presa, and elsewhere. A proud alumna of Howard University and Paine College, the artist also holds MFAs in both Screenwriting and Poetry. Ashunda loves the ocean, obscure cinema, and the star Sirius. 

January - March Residents

Lindsey Doering is an emerging fiction writer with a bachelor’s in film, TV, and media arts from Chapman University. Having worked in management for sixteen years, she likes to write about real-world situations and human struggles.

Ann Voorhees Baker has published short stories in the Chicago Quarterly Review (25th Anniversary Issue, 2019, and an upcoming story in spring 2022) and the Noyo River Review (2019). She began writing fiction during her college years (encouraging rejections from The New Yorker and Ladies' Home Journal, but, alas, no publications) but suspended writing during her careers as an enforcement attorney for the USEPA, publisher of a regional parenting magazine, and communications director for a school district. She now works as a web designer, ghostwriter, and content writer. She has written several short stories and a novel and is currently working on a collection of essays.

Angela Morales is the author of THE GIRLS IN MY TOWN, essay, and winner of the River Teeth Nonfiction Prize and the PEN Diamonstein Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. Her work has appeared in Best American Essays and other publications. She is working on a second collection and a memoir. Currently, she teaches English at Glendale College and lives in Pasadena, CA.

Cybele Garcia Kohel is a writer living and writing in Pasadena, California. Born in Puerto Rico, Ms. Kohel writes poetry, fiction, and essays, in a loud voice from the margins. She is a mom, fierce dog lover, and a member of Women Who Submit Lit (Los Angeles Chapter). You can read her individual poems the Altadena Poetry Review (2017, 2018), New American Legends (2019), Screaming from the Silence Anthology (Vociferous Press, 2020), Women Who Submit anthology, Accolades (2020), and the Altadena Literary Review (2020). Her latest essay is Acknowledgement: On Race and Land, read it online at Cultural Weekly.

From an early age, Nedelle Torrisi studied the violin and voice, and after attending Berklee College of Music on a jazz vocal scholarship, she finished her bachelor's degree in music at San Francisco State University. Torrisi has written and released multiple albums on respected independent record labels and has been reviewed in the New York Times, Pitchfork, Stereogum, and The San Francisco Chronicle, among others. She has toured the world many times over as a solo artist, with her former band Cryptacize, and as a background vocalist/instrumentalist with Oscar-nominated musician Sufjan Stevens. 

Violinist Jeff Thayer is currently the concertmaster of the San Diego Symphony. Previous positions include assistant concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, associate concertmaster of the North Carolina Symphony, and concertmaster of the Canton (OH) Symphony. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Eastman School of Music, and Juilliard School Pre-College Division, his teachers include William Preucil, Donald Weilerstein, Zvi Zeitlin, and Dorothy DeLay.  Among his awards are the Stephen Hahn/Lillybelle Foundation Award in Violin from the Music Academy of the West, the Starling Foundation Award, the George Eastman Scholarship, and the Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music.

Soulaf Abas was born and raised in Damascus, Syria. She earned her BFA in painting in 2008, and her MFA in 2013 from Indiana State University. Soulaf’s work explores the effects of loss and trauma in painting and printmaking. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She is the recipient of multiple awards, grants, and residencies like the Social Justice Residency in Santa Fe, NM, and multiple ELCE Grants from Indiana State University. Soulaf lives and works in Terre Haute, Indiana where she teaches art at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology.

Sheryl Stradling is an award-winning artist and author. Her book, Faith, Power, Joy: Spiritual Guidance from 5 Generations of Remarkable Women, highlights her maternal ancestors. It was an Amazon bestseller and won the 2018 Body Mind Spirit book award for Spiritual Healing. Stradling is also a contributor to Journey of an Empath, a compilation of empaths’ stories. Stradling is a mixed media abstract artist. Her eclectic work is inspired by nature and symbols. Her work has won numerous awards. Stradling minored in fine art at Western Washington University and studied at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle, Washington. 

Sylvia Chavez writes across a variety of genres as a playwright, blogger, poet, fiction, and creative non-fiction writer. Her plays have been featured in the Teatro Frida Kahlo Theater 10-Minute Playwriting Festival (2013-2014) and at the Chicanas, Cholas, Y Chisme Theater Festival (2013-2019).  Her most recent poetry appears in Las Lunas Locas, I Rite To Live anthology, and in The Words of Women (ITWOW) International anthology published by Yellow Chair Review. Sylvia is a 2016 VONA/Voices Poetry Fellow where she studied at the University of Miami under the faculty leadership of award-winning poet and playwright, John Murillo

Lisa Eve Cheby’s poems and reviews may be found in journals such as The Rumpus, Entropy, The Citron Review, Tidal Basin Review, Ruminate, A cappella Zoo, and TAB: Journal of Poetry and Poetics, which nominated her poem for a 2015 Pushcart Prize, and in the anthologies Drawn to Marvel, The Burden of Light, and Coiled Serpent. Her chapbook, Love Lessons from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dancing Girl Press) was featured in The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed. Lisa holds an MFA from Antioch and an MLIS from SJSU. 

Marlyse Thayer is an active violinist, currently performing with the San Diego Symphony as a regular substitute. Marlyse received her Master of Music degree in Violin Performance at the Eastman School of Music, in which she studied with Mikhail Kopelman, and obtained her Bachelor’s from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University Long Beach under Andrea Byers. Thayer was also a student of Martin Chalifour, Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She participated in the Aspen Music Festival. Marlyse has also been a guest at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and participates in the Grand Teton Music Festival.

Jen Wyrauch Edson received her MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles in 2007. She writes fiction and poetry. She has taught English, ESL, and Conversation and Culture classes with the Tustin Unified School District and at UCI for over two decades, and ran the Poetry Slam Team at Beckman High School for many years. She was a judge at the International Poetry Slam at Berkeley in 2004. Currently, Jen teaches GED and High School Diploma classes for adults at the Tustin Adult School. She enjoys supporting dog rescue and spending time with her husband and grandchildren in Dana Point California.

Holly Mead is a pianist and composer hailing from Berkeley, CA. Her work has been featured at the San Francisco International Film Festival, Pixar Animation Studios, the Bay Area International Children's Film Festival, the Morris Graves Museum of Art, and with Bay Nature Magazine. Her most recent accomplishment was the release of a new album of original solo piano music, Solitary Animals (June 2020).

L.C. Bray is the owner/publisher of a popular community news website in Santa Barbara, CA. Her day, and often night, is devoted to the never-ending cycle of local news keeping her readers updated, informed, and entertained. She's contributed to other publications including Authentic Luxury Travel and LGBTQ-focused pieces for Curve Magazine and A Family Co. She's currently working on her debut creative nonfiction novel that focuses on uncovering family secrets, including her own. She lives in Santa Barbara with her wife and a small black cat, who technically belongs to the neighbor.

Sherri L. Smith is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction for young people, including the 2009 California Book Awards Gold Medalist, Flygirl, and the historical fantasy, The Toymaker’s Apprentice. Her newest novel is The Blossom and the Firefly is the winner of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Golden Kite Award. Sherri’s books appear on multiple state lists and have been named Amelia Bloomer and American Library Association Best Books for Young People selections. She teaches in the MFA Writing program at Goddard College in Vermont and the MFA in Children’s Writing program at Hamline University in Minnesota.

Tesia Blackburn is an artist, author, and teacher in San Francisco and Los Angeles. She has been a working artist for over 30 years. In 2014 her first book "Acrylic Painting with Passion" was published by Northlight Books. “It’s Only Painting” and It’s Only Painting - The Maker’s Book” were published in 2018. Her artwork is published by Wendover Art and hangs in hotels, hospitals, and offices worldwide. Her original paintings are collected both locally and internationally with patrons as far away as Tokyo. She received her BFA from the Academy of Art in San Francisco, studied lithography at the San Francisco Art Institute, and received her Master's of Art from John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California.

Sarah A. Chavez, a mestiza born and raised in the California Central Valley, is the author of the poetry collections, Hands That Break & Scar (Sundress Publications, 2017) and All Day, Talking (dancing girl press, 2014). Her new project, Halfbreed Helene Navigates the Whole received a 2019-2020 Tacoma Artists Initiative Award. Chavez serves as the poetry coordinator for Best of the Net Anthology and is a proud member of the Macondo Writers Workshop. Her micro chap, like everything else we loved, is forthcoming from Porkbelly Press in 2021

Anita Cabrera, work has appeared in The Berkeley Fiction Review, The Berkeley Poetry Review, Brain, Child Magazine, Colere, Acentos Review, and other journals. My short story That Thing won the 2017 New Guard's Machigonne Fiction Award. My fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Award and most recently, adapted for the stage by Word for Word Theater Group. Ms. Cabrera lives and teaches San Francisco, CA.

Nancy Mueller is a Seattle-based travel and lifestyle writer/photographer with an established media outlet at www.wanderboomer.com, "fun travel adventures for the young at heart." Her bags are always packed for day trips, weekend getaways, and global adventures. Stories explore destinations through small ship cruising, food & dining, arts & culture, health & wellness, outdoor adventures, and bucket-list experiences. Publications include her book, Work Worldwide: International Career Strategies for the Adventurous Job Seeker (Avalon Travel Publishers), travel articles featured in print publications such as Northwest Travel & Life Magazine, FWT Magazine, AAA Highroads Arizona, Hemispheres Magazine, and Meetings Management Magazines.

Edan Lepucki is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels California and Woman No. 17, and the editor of Mothers Before:  Stories and Portraits of Our Mothers as We Never Saw Them. Her nonfiction has been published in the New York Times Magazine, Esquire Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and The Cut, among other publications. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.

At Dorland, Steven Forry is completing his first novel, After Such Knowledge. Although the novel is set in Flagstaff during Prohibition, it has nothing to do with either and everything to do with Eliot’s “Gerontion”. He is a Whiting Scholar, Columbia University Regent Scholar and Columbia GSAS Research Abroad grant recipient. The University of Pennsylvania Press published his doctoral dissertation "Hideous Progenies: Dramatizations of Frankenstein in the 19th Century." In addition to a Ph.D. from Columbia University, he holds bachelor’s degrees in English and French from UC Santa Barbara and a language degree from Sorbonne University. He counts as his proudest achievement his lecture on the films of the great Buster Keaton, which he delivered at the Laguna Beach Museum of Art in August 2019.

Mailing address: P.O. Box 6, Temecula, CA 92593 ~ Physical Address: 36701 Highway 79 South, Temecula, CA 92592
(951) 302-3837 ~ www.dorlandartscolony.org ~ info@dorlandartscolony.org
A California 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization

Ryuko Laura Burges, a lay entrusted dharma teacher in the Soto Zen tradition, teaches classes, lectures, and leads retreats in Northern California. A teacher of children for 35 years, she now mentors aspiring teachers.  Laura co-founded the Sangha in Recovery Program at the San Francisco Zen Center and is the abiding teacher at Lenox House Meditation Group in Oakland. Shambhala Publishers will be offering two of her Buddhist children’s books next year, a collection of Jataka Tales reimagined for today’s readers, and a book about Zen for kids. Laura is currently working on a book about Buddhism and recovery. 

Christie Abel is an artist by trade and a humanitarian at heart. She is a graphic artist, exhibited photographer, sculptor, project manager, and teacher. In 2006, she was awarded a scholarship to Penland’s School of Craft and Design and 7 years later, she launched Laughing Hands Studios. Her ultimate desire is to spread hope, inspiration, joy, and a sense of worthiness to all of humanity. Christie believes we each have gifts to share and in doing so, we allow our true essence to shine, communities to thrive and a world to unite … as One.

Melody Nunez is a mixed-media artist who combines vintage textiles, found objects, and embroidery. Other mediums include assemblage, collage, and quilting. Her art, though autobiographical in nature, explores universal themes: joy, marriage, friendship, loss, death, and motherhood. She seeks to process her life experiences and translate them into a visual language. She is drawn to materials that are vintage, worn, and imperfect. Handmade textiles are particularly valued, and textiles act as substrates for her newest creations. Ms. Nunez earned an art degree from UC, Santa Barbara. Her art has been featured in magazines Where Women Create and Somerset Studio.

Patsy Creedy is a native Californian who lives and works in San Francisco. She received an MA and an MFA in creative writing from San Francisco State. She recently completed a memoir, The Blue Valiant. She has published poetry in Transfer 110 and 112 and was awarded their Mark Linenthal prize for poetry. She has also published poetry in Dragon’s Leap and Inlandia. She published a nonfiction piece, The Stud in a San Francisco Anthology and was awarded an honorable mention for a flash fiction piece, Burger, in Glimmertrain magazine. She was accepted to the Dairy Hollow Writer’s Residency 2019. She has been a member of the San Francisco Zen Center since 2000 and she co-leads a writer’s retreat several times a year, Writing the Way, with her teacher Laura Burges.

Luong Nguyen works at the intersection of films and social impact, striving to bring to global audiences films that prompt conversations and social changes. He is the executive producer of films that are both critically acclaimed and box office successes. He is also a Board Member of HKFilm, Vietnam's largest film studio. As a Board member, Louie works with senior management on strategic decisions and as well as with directors and screenwriters on creative content. He is currently writing scripts for concepts for NetFlix and Amazon, with the goal of shattering prevailing Asian stereotypes in the face of the current environment of AAPI hate.

Steven Morris is an award-winning artist, author, business consultant, and speaker. As an artist, Steven is a figurative abstract painter, that extends the lineage of the New York School of Abstract Expressionist and European Surrealist painters. As a writer, he has written two books. His newest book will be released in the fall of 2021 entitled “The Beautiful Business.” Much of his business consultancy work is centered around evolving businesses, brands, and cultures to be more conscious and sustainable. When he’s not working or doing artwork, Steven is an avid outdoor enthusiast, surfer, beekeeper, husband, and father of two young men.

Lauren Eggert-Crowe is the author of four poetry chapbooks, most recently Bitches of the Drought, which was a finalist in the Sundress Publications 2016 Chapbook Competition. In 2016, Hoa Nguyen selected her poem as runner-up in Black Warrior Review's poetry contest. She has also been published in Gigantic Sequins, Tupelo Quarterly, DIAGRAM, Sixth Finch, Hobart, and Puerto Del Sol, among many others. Her essays have appeared in Salon, The Rumpus, The Millions, and L.A. Review of Books. She serves on the leadership team for Women Who Submit, an organization seeking to break barriers in publishing for women and non-binary writers.

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and the author of Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge (Sundress Publications). A former Steinbeck Fellow, Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange winner, and Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grantee, she’s received residencies from Hedgebrook, Ragdale, National Parks Arts Foundation, and Poetry Foundation. She has work published in Acentos Review, CALYX, crazyhorse, [Pank], and American Poetry Review among others. Most recently her poem, "Battlegrounds" was featured at The Academy of American Poets, Poem-A-Day. She is director of Women Who Submit.

Emily Zeamer’s storytelling builds on serious research into the social history of early 19th century America and Europe, as well as a background in sociocultural anthropology. As an anthropologist, her work has focused on the relationship between religious traditions and urban modernity in Thailand. She currently teaches Anthropology at the University of Southern California.

Natalie Hirt is a writer with deep family roots in the Inland Empire, California. She grew up just down the street from the university where she earned an MFA from UC Riverside. She is the 2019 Oregon Literary Arts Fellow for women's fiction.

Farah Habib was born in Karachi, Pakistan, grew up in the west but considers home that space between cultures: eastern and western, religious and secular, conservative and liberal. After graduating with a journalism degree, she worked for a USA Today affiliate where she was recognized for her reporting on migrant workers. She earned her master's degree in English and writes creatively about the struggles of being a Pakistani, Muslim American in a post 9/11 world. Her day-to-day work focuses on inculcating a love for literature in her students while her creative writing captures the lived experiences of the hybrid self.

Ella Martinsen Gorham lives and writes in Los Angeles. Her story “Protozoa” was selected for Best American Short Stories 2019. Her fiction has appeared in New England Review, ZYZZYVA, and Carve, and she was named a finalist in the 2020 Raymond Carver Short Story Contest. She is at work on a collection of stories and a novel.

Laura Walker holds an MFA from Northern Arizona University and writes poetry and fiction. She currently teaches writing classes at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, where she lives with her wife. From Southern California by way of Flagstaff, AZ, she always finds herself wishing for a little more snow and a little less sun. Her work is featured or forthcoming in Zone 3 Press, Roanoke Review, Sugar House Review, and elsewhere.

Tammy Harris is an artist at heart, only lacking a few credits towards an art major besides her master's in special education. She is a prolific writer, artist, and photographer. Her passion for using her expertise to help others led her to create a thriving blog called TammysTeachings.com. Tammy is authoring a book that will serve as a resource for parents and teachers throughout their journey of raising successful children. In addition, she offers online courses teaching parents to love the child they have rather than the one they imagined

April - June Residents

Alexander Polinsky and Johnny Vallone are Make Magic. An acoustic, musical duo who write songs about love, folklore, the human experience and personal transformation. Alexander got his start in TV, film and Animation acting for the major studios. Johnny has performed as a featured extra in movies and was the muisc producer for a hit kid’s show on PBS. These two men have been writing together off and on for 15 years and have just begun to perform in Nashville and LA.

Trisha M. Cowen currently works as an Assistant Professor of English at Westminster College in Pennsylvania. Previously, she served as a Visiting Writer at the University of Central Arkansas. She received her doctoral degree in Literature and Creative Writing at Binghamton University (SUNY) after completing a BFA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing at Emerson College. She previously worked as the editor-in-chief of the literary journal Harpur Palate. Her creative work has appeared in The Portland Review, Bitter Oleander Press, and 2 Bridges Review, among many others. She is the author of the chapbook Mobiles in the Sky, published by Gertrude Press.

Melody Nunez is a mixed-media artist who combines vintage textiles, found objects, and embroidery. Other mediums include assemblage, collage, and quilting. Her art, though autobiographical in nature, explores universal themes: joy, marriage, friendship, loss, death, and motherhood. She seeks to process her life experiences and translate them into a visual language. She is drawn to materials that are vintage, worn, and imperfect. Handmade textiles are particularly valued, and textiles act as substrates for her newest creations. Ms. Nunez earned an art degree from UC, Santa Barbara. Her art has been featured in magazines Where Women Create and Somerset Studio.

Marj Charlier is the author of twelve novels and three novellas. Her historical novel, The Rebel Nun, was published by Blackstone Publishing in March 2021 and was listed as a Buzz Feed “most anticipated” novel for spring.  Her second historical novel, The Candlemaker’s Woman, will be published in 2022. She is currently working on a contemporary women’s novel and planning a tour of Midwest independent bookstores for the fall. She teaches writing and publishing workshops at libraries and adult learning programs in Southern California’s Coachella Valley and for Inlandia Institute.

Ky-Phong Tran and his family fled to the United States at the end of the Vietnam War. His mother was six months pregnant with him at the time. He holds a BA in History and MA in Asian American Studies from UCLA and an MFA in Creative Writing from UC Riverside. He has been awarded fellowships to writing conferences at Voices of Our Nation, Napa Valley, The Community of Writers Valley, and Bread Loaf. His writing has appeared in the Orange County Register, the San Francisco Chronicle, Hyphen Magazine, and the anthology Dismantle. He lives in southern California.

Amanda Hawkins is a Tin House and Bread Loaf Scholar, a three-time Pushcart nominee, and a recipient of the Editor’s Prize for Poetry at The Florida Review. Her work has been published in Boston Review, Massachusetts Review, Mid-American Review, Orion, The Mississippi Review, The Missouri Review, Terrain, Tin House, and Tin House Online. She holds an MA in theological studies from Regent College in Vancouver, Canada, and is currently an MFA candidate at UC Davis.

Courtney Young holds a Master’s Degree in Art Education from Adelphi University and an MFA in Visual Arts from The New Hampshire Institute of Art. She resides in N.Y. where she has been a high school art educator for over 13 years. In addition, she is an Adjunct Professor in both studio art and art education. Her studio practice currently focuses on the detrimental effects of plastic pollution on our marine environment. Her work has been featured in Pastel Journal Magazine and Artist's Magazine.

Dan Kwong is an award-winning multimedia theater artist who has been presenting his work nationally and internationally since 1989. He has performed in over 40 U.S. states and worked on theater projects in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Mexico, and England. Initially, he made his mark as a solo performance artist and has since gone on to write and direct ensemble theater works and produce documentary/art videos. He currently has ongoing teaching/lecturing engagements in Ho Chi Minh City, South Vietnam and Kobe, Japan

Kristen Fogle has been the Executive Director of San Diego Writers, Ink, a literary writers hub, since 2013. She is a former magazine writer, playwright, performer, producer, director, and author. An instructor for over a decade, this past year she taught with the San Diego Brain Injury Foundation, Liberty School San Diego, Wounded Warriors Project, ZACH Theater, the La Jolla Playhouse, Inked Voices, and for Writers, Ink. "Dare to Write..." her craft writing/prompt book came out in 2019. She has a M.A. in Rhetoric and Writing from San Diego State University.