Bio

Hillary Leftwich is a published author of two books, once multi-genre collection and one memoir and has numerous publications both in print and online. Coming from a blue-collar and corporate background, she has a deep understanding of work/life/school balance having pursued her education while working full-time and raising her son on her own. She has a deep understanding of the writing world, trends, traditional and hybrid publishing, and how to market yourself as a professional writer in the world.

Education

Hilary earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Regis University.

Bio

Emily Vizzo is a writer and educator whose work has appeared in FIELD, Blackbird, jubilat, North American Review, the Los Angeles Times, Next American City, and other publications. Her published books include Giantess and Starflower: The Making of a Poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay, co-written with J.M. Farkas.

Education

Emily earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, San Diego and her Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Professional Background

Emily currently is the Editorial and Communications Lead at Whetstone Media. She previously covered Congress for the Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C. She translates from Spanish and Italian, served as the social media editor for University of Southern California’s Air/Light Magazine. Previous involvements include artist in residence for the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California Coastal Fund grant recipient, and Nobel Teacher Summit panelist. Her essay “A Personal History of Dirt,” was a Best American Essays notable essay.

Bio

Traci (Trai) Cartwright, MFA, is a 30-year entertainment industry veteran and creative writing specialist. She teaches, produces, and writes screenplays. Her filmmaking and creative writing expertise spans all genres and mediums, and her background as a business development and marketing consultant elevates creatives’ professional enterprises.

While in Los Angeles, she was a screenwriter, independent film producer, and story consultant and development executive for multiple studios. She was the Assistant Director of Leonardo DiCaprio’s online endeavors and the Manager for 20th Century Fox’s Mobile Studios. Trai currently teaches creative writing, screenwriting, and producing for a range of Colorado colleges. She is the screenwriter of Secret Ellington, and producer of docu-web series Hidden Tigers, and short film Sundown Road.

Whether as a studio level development executive or as a professor at Colorado’s top writing programs, her greatest pleasure after writing is in the development of writers. Trai has spent her entire professional life dedicated to elevating the craft and creating opportunities for filmmakers and writers of all mediums and genres. Creators are the single most important force in forging understanding and an illuminated pathway through this world.

Education

Trai earned her B.S. from New York University and her MFA from the University of California Riverside.

Bio

Annie Dawid teaches writing, edits manuscripts, and makes art in the Wet Mountain Valley of South-Central Colorado, where she also writes fiction and non-fiction. Her sixth book, Paradise Undone: A Novel Of Jonestown, was published in 2023 by Inkspot Publishing.

Annie’s previous books include Put Off My Sackcloth: Essays, the poetry chapbook Anatomie Of The World, a collection of linking short stories titled And Darkness Was Under His Feet: Stories Of A Family (winner of the 2008 Short Fiction prize), Lily In The Desert, and her first book, York Ferry: A Novel, which was well reviewed in the New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, and went into a second printing.

An English professor and director of creative writing for 15 years at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, Annie left full-time teaching for full-time writing. Her stories and reviews, poems and essays have been published by many outlets, including the Denver Post, High Country News, the Oregonian, Glimmer Train Stories and Sequestrum.

Education

Annie earned her B.A. in Journalism and her M.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University, and her Ph.D. in English from the University of Denver.

Bio

Joseph (Joe) Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate (2014-2019), is the award-winning author of 20 poetry collections, most recently Cliff Swallow at Mesa Verde; Under Sleep’s New Moon; The World As Is: New & Selected Poems, 1972-2015; and Marked Men (narrative poems focused on the aftermath of the Sand Creek Massacre). A selection of his poetry appears in the first ever collection of poems by Colorado Poets Laureate, Begin Where You Are: The Colorado Poets Laureate Anthology, published in 2025.

Joe’s poetry, short fiction, essays, reviews, and interviews have appeared in over 100 journals, including American Poetry Review, the Berlin Review, the 20th anniversary issue of Cutthroat, Tar River Poetry, and Poetry Salzburg Review, as well as numerous anthologies. His narrative sequence Bed of Coals was chosen by Wanda Coleman for the Colorado Poetry Award.

As Colorado’s poet laureate, Joe worked to promote poetry throughout the state, participating in nearly 100 events such as poetry readings, workshops, interviews, and gatherings such as the Poetry Out Loud state finals. He has co-edited three poetry anthologies and worked tirelessly to bolster the craft by teaching, leading poetry workshops, and addressing the craft at literary conferences and conventions.

While making the bulk of his living as a commercial writer and editor, Joe has taught elementary through high school-age children for Poets in the Schools programs in Colorado and Oregon, undergraduate writing and literature classes at a variety of institutions, and graduate students at the College of Professional Studies.

Education

Joe earned his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and his B.A. in English and Education from the University of Northern Colorado.