Cas Taylor (she/her, they/them) is an award-winning Pacific Northwest-based queer indigenous creator with ties to the Nisqually Valley and the Iñupiat people of Alaska’s north slope. They are also the Writing Academy’s creative content consultant. They grew up in Olympia, WA, where long soggy weekends meant days spent inside watching old films on a small television that only received three channels. This meant they quickly acquired an appreciation and interest for movies, e

Joy Van Stralen lives in the interior of British Columbia with her wife and their cat, Lordo Gordo. An avid mucker-abouter, Joy dabbles in a lot of things that pique her interest. When she comes across something excellent, she sticks to it, which is how she became the Writing Academy video manager years ago. Joy graduated from the academy in 2016. She has since published stories in anthologies and is still working on the novel she started in the WA. She believes in the J.R.R.

Finnian Burnett is a professor, a writer, and a lifelong learner. They’re a doctoral student at Murray State University and an MFA instructor with Southern New Hampshire University. Finn has run the Golden Crown Literary Society’s Writing Academy since 2015 and served as the Director of Education for several years. Under their former name, Beth Burnett, Finn published several books with Sapphire Books Publishing, including two Rainbow Award winners and self-published book, Co

Karelia has taught writing for fifteen years, including ten years as tenured faculty at Linn-Benton Community College in Oregon. She loves watching her students find their voices. She believes in the power of writing to transform lives. She writes every day and encourages her students to do the same. Her mantra as a teacher and a writer comes from Mary Oliver who said, “Writing is like going on a date. Nothing happens if you don’t show up.” Karelia has a BA in comparative lit

Anna Burke is the Writing Academy Director of Education. She is also the award-winning author of Compass Rose, Thorn, Nottingham, Night Tide, and Spindrift. Her latest novel, Sea Wolf, will be released by Bywater Books in July 2021. She teaches creative writing at Emerson College, where she received her MFA. When she is not reading, writing, or teaching, she can be found walking the woods with her dog. She and her wife live in Massachusetts. Link Twitter Instagram #biography

Let’s give a warm welcome to Sheree L. Greer! Sheree will be joining the Writing Academy during the 2021-2022 academic year! Sheree L. Greer is a text-based artist and educator living in Tampa, Florida. She is a Yaddo and Ragdale Rubin Fellow, Astraea Lesbian Foundation grantee, and is the author of two novels, Let the Lover Be (a Rainbow Award Finalist) and Black Lives Matter-inspired A Return to Arms, as well as a short story collection, Once and Future Lovers and student w