The Loft Literary Center has announced the winners of the 2015-2016 Loft Mentor series in poetry and prose.
The 12 winners will work closely with six nationally-acclaimed writers in their craft.
Special admiration goes to writer Rachel Macdonald, who did not win, but who was a finalist in all three genres. Impressive!
The winners are:
Nonfiction
Isela Gomez
Elizabeth Horneber
Jody Lulich
Glenda Reed
Honorable mentions went to Victoria Blanco and Lori Saroya. Finalists are Sharon Albers, Kristin Boldon, Kimberly Brown, Claire DeBerg, Elizabeth Fletcher, Megan Gavin, Claire Hardin, Tracy Harris, Kelsey Jennen, Ann Kempke, Rachel Macdonald, Caryn Mohr, Susan Triemert and Hillary Wentworth.
Poetry
Gabriella Anais Deal-Marquez
Michael Kleber-Diggs
Jeanne Lutz
Sagirah Shahid
Honorable mentions went to Brett Elizabeth Jenkins and Hallie Wiederholt. Finalists are Micki Blenkush, Lisa Brimmer, Zachary Czaia, Tammy Darrah Wenberg, Brianna Flavin, William Johnston, Ruth Johnston, Rachel Macdonald, Ali O'Reilly, Alexander Renshaw, Sonja Sharp, Elizabeth Tannen, Roy White, Hallie Wiederholt, and Sara Zettervall.
Fiction
Beth Mayer
Lynda McDonnell
Kasey Payette
James Stephenson
Honorable mentions went to Pamela Bosch and Nina Hamza. Finalists are Nigar Alam, Lucia Cowles, Mary Dunnewold, Patrick Hansel, Amy Hanson, Nancy Scott Hanway, Tina Higgins Wussow, Aaron King, Jennifer Kirkeby, Rachel Macdonald, Melissa McNallan, Paul Ruge, Debra Stone, and Elizabeth Tannen.
This year's mentors are Carolyn Holbrook and Joni Tevis for nonfiction; Sean Hill and Sherry Quan Lee for poetry; and Marisha Chamberlain and Cristina Henriquez for fiction.
(And yes, I know it's unlikely that any of these writers will be typing their stories on an old manual typewriter. But isn't it a cool image?)
