Christine Anderson has an eclectic work background including nonprofit and government. Her writing background has been mostly comprised of grant writing. Now that she’s retired, she looks forward to more time to develop her writing. She appreciates the encouragement from other WMC members, many of whom are highly skilled.
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Kelly Barett is a researcher, writer, and artist living in Mendocino, California and Taos, New Mexico. She holds a Masters in Consciousness and Transformative Studies. Her writing has appeared in the 2025 Womancraft Compendium, Weaving Our Way Beyond Patriarchy, Hello Goodbye Apocalypse, Women on Art, and the Creative Magic podcast.
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Michelle Blackwell is a writer, journalist, and reader. She contributes to the KZYX News program and publishes in the Fort Bragg Advocate and the Mendocino Beacon regularly. She developed, hosts, and produces the KZYX radio show and podcast “Upwelling” Her fiction pieces have appeared in several Writers of the Mendocino Coast anthologies.
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Aron Lee Bowe aka Sharon Bowers is an artist, illustrator and graphic designer. She was the first place winner of the Rosalie Fleming Memorial Humor Prize from the National League of American Pen Women. Her graphic novel, Amazed & Elated, Depressed & Deflated, won an Independent Publisher’s Silver Medal in 2016. Her next book, Alpha Ding, was published in 2018. Her third graphic novel: Journey to the Anthropocene was published in 2022.
Visit her website at http://www.aronleebowe.com/ |
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Notty Bumbo is a writer, artist, and poet living in Fort Bragg, California. He has been published in a number of small journals and presses, including the Amphigoric Sauce Factory, Words Without Walls, Poesis, Telling Our Stories Press, Peacock Journal, Calabash Cadence’ Taisgeadan, Word Fountain, Poetry South and others. His novella, Tyrian Dreams, is available through Kindle via Amazon Publishing. He is working on a new collection of poetry with hopes of publishing by 2022.
https://www.bumpintheroad.net |
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Newly published in 2024 writer and artist Sally Carter resides with her husband and 2 dogs on the beautiful and creative Mendocino coast in Fort Bragg, California. When not holding a pen or brush her hands are embedded in the soil at home and in local community gardens.
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Tansy Chapman was born in England. She received a BA in English literature at Leicester University, and in 1983, after moving to American and starting a family, she was ordained as an Episcopal priest. In June 2020, Wipf&Stock published Rose Gray. You can find more at Tansy's website: www.tansychapman.com
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Linda Cloonan is a native California Artist, author & instructor. Her paintings have attracted national awards and are collected Internationally. Linda's first book "My Summer Of La Dolce Vita", was published in 2012. She was a contributing author for the book series “Sisters Rising”, published in 2020 and commissioned to paint the cover for the book series.
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Priscilla Comen wrote and sold confession stories to Modern Romance magazines sixty years ago. Now she writes fiction, creative non-fiction, poems, and memoir. She is in the Writers of the Mendocino coast League of Women Voters, and works at the Mendocino Community Library. She writes a weekly book review column for the Mendocino Beacon and the Fort Bragg Advocate News, and reads constantly. Three grown children, six grandchildren, and one great grand child supply her ideas.
Molly Dwyer's debut novel, Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein, was nominated for the 2009 Northern California Book Award in Fiction; was Winner of the 2008 Independent Publishers Book of the Year Award, and the 2008 Indie Book Award for Historical Fiction. Molly teaches Critical Thinking at Mendocino College and runs private critique groups. Her second novel, The Appassionata, is set in 19th century Paris, and her third novel, Point of Departure, she describes as a “paranormal cosmological romance that’s sort of sci-fi and sort of autobiographical.” Website: http://www.mollydwyer.com/
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Maureen Eppstein’s most recent poetry collections are Daughter (Finishing Line Press 2024) and Horizon Line (Main Street Rag 2020). Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2018), and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
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Daniel Fiddler, a longtime visitor to the north coast, the award-winning southern California author and artist made the decision to make Fort Bragg his permanent home this fall, just in time to see his seventh book go into publication. “Writing that first book helped get me through a very rough time in my life. I became a storyteller more than a writer. Writing humor came easy, I was hooked. I had to write more.”
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Nanette Fynan. Like any other writer, I plod. I have days where every word is a grind, others where I fall into flow and can’t stop. I have written and self-published a Tween: Deceiving Mr. Bevison. I’m currently doing research for a historical novel dealing with the gossip and scandal-dogged life of Mary Islam Randolph.
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Sid Garza-Hillman - author of:Approaching the Natural: A Health Manifesto, Raising Healthy Parents: Small Steps, Less Stress, and a Thriving Family , Six Truths: Live by these truths and be happy. Don’t and you won’t. Ultrarunning for Normal People: Life Lessons Learned On and Off the Trail. He is a public speaker, certified nutritionist, running coach, and breathing instructor.
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Writing big and little stories in all genres is Earlene Gleisner’s greatest joy. Reiki In Everyday Living was translated into four languages and published in five countries. Short stories, essays, and poems have been published in USA and Canadian anthologies. She is working on the third novel of her Sacred Bundle Series and a new novella. To promote WMC, she offers monthly writing prompts thru their website and is teaching Prompts for All Reasons and Seasons in Mendocino County libraries.
Rob Hawthorn is a husband, a father, a writer, a podcaster, and a bookseller who lives on Northern California’s Mendocino Coast. He began writing seriously at the age of nineteen. Currently, he’s working as a book seller and events coordinator for Gallery Bookshop, one of the best independent bookstores on the planet. Rob has two podcasts, one of which is about music, and the other is a book club that examines 1960s comics through a modern lens.
Susanna Janssen is a foreign language educator and author of Wordstruck! The Fun and Fascination of Language, winner of five national awards in Humor and Education. She writes with heart and humor on everything related to words, language, cultures, travel, and human experience. Coming in 2025: Once Upon a Continent: A Memoir of South American Adventures Unplugged.
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Lynn Kiesewetter came to the coast for a 2 week vacation in 1970 & just thought to leave. For all these decades she has performed jazz piano & vocals, as well as teaching same. In recent years she has also begun reading her poetry & stories in public. A novel & memoir are in the works, as well as a new cd of jazz standards and original compositions
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Elizabeth Kirkpatrick-Vrenios’ third book of poetry, A Concerto for an Empty Frame, was released by Kelsay books and her fourth, Ra-ven, coming in July. Nominated for Pushcart and Best of Net numerous times, she has poems published in anthologies and journals, is Professor Emerita from American University and spent much of her life as a singing artist.
Karen K. Lewis lives near Albion between the forest and the sea. She holds an MFA from Antioch Los Angeles. Karen leads workshops with California Poets in the Schools and is a former Director of the Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference. Her fiction, essays, and poetry appear in journals including Literary Mama, Minerva Rising, Weave, Six Words About Work, and Iron Horse. A poetry chapbook Peace Maps is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press (2020). https://www.wordjourneys.org/
Gene Lock moved to California to see the ocean daily. A hillbilly white grandson of a moonshiner, then a graduate of Missouri's black college, he used his journalism degrees to run his Sacramento ad agency. This was after he endured combat duty in Vietnam. Writes quirky memoir stuff.
Susan Lundgren has an undergraduate degree in English and a doctorate in Educational Psychology. Since retiring to Mendocino in 2011, her stories have appeared in You’re Doing What? Older Women’s Tales of Achievement and Adventure, Art Ascent, All in a Day's Shopping, Short Takes: Secrets, Persimmon Tree, Redwood Coast Senior Center Gazette, California Writer’s Club Literary Review, and WMC anthologies.
www.SusanLundgrenWriter.com
www.SusanLundgrenWriter.com
Ericka Lutz is a novelist, poet, nonfiction writer, and performer. Her publications include eight books plus many short stories, poems, essays, and columns. She’s received two fellowships to the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and was nominated for a 2021 Pushcart for poetry. She lives on the Mendocino coast where she writes, edits and coaches writers, walks on the beaches and bluffs, rehabs an old cottage, and cooks up a storm. She hangs her virtual hat at erickalutz.com.
Barbara Mackay
Barbara MacKay has been published in various haiku, tanka, and literary journals including American Tanka, Mariposa, Bryant Literary review, and Thema. She has placed 1st in several of the UkiaHaiku annual haiku contests as well as in the CA Quarterly monthly haiku/tanka contests. Her poem Luke will appear in the forthcoming Finishing Line Press Horse anthology. She earned a Master’s degree from the University of New Hampshire and taught English at the Manchester Campus of UNH. A native of San Francisco, she has lived on the Mendocino Coast for 15 years.
Bill Mann - I was born and raised in North Dakota, educated in Ohio (M.A. American History,
Secondary Ed. Certificate). But most of my learning has come from listening and
learning along the sounds and seams and textures of adventure.”
Secondary Ed. Certificate). But most of my learning has come from listening and
learning along the sounds and seams and textures of adventure.”
Catherine Marshall spent thirty years working with nonprofits as either an executive director or a consultant. She’s published two non-fiction books, Field Building: Your Blueprint for Creating an Effective and Powerful Social Movement and The Easter Moose: One Family's Journey Adopting through Foster Care. Her creative nonfiction short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. She continues to write memoir and serve as a co-president of the WMC.
Nancy Harris McLelland divides her time between a historic Finnish homestead near Mendocino, California and her high desert retreat in Tuscarora, Nevada. After teaching language arts and literature for two decades at Mendocino College in Ukiah, California, she has time to write. McLelland served on the board of directors of the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference and was on the initial steering committee to establish the Writers of the Mendocino Coast.
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Loré McLaren is a retired health-care worker, in the process of rediscovering her spirituality and
her love of writing. She is a Quaker, attending the Mendocino Friends Meeting. In her writing, she strives to examine the deep spirituality present in the most quotidian of experiences. She lives in Fort Bragg. |
Marinela Miclea is a fiction writer, journalist, and digital marketer. Her writing has appeared both online and in print publications - most recently in The Mendocino Beacon, Fort Bragg Advocate-News, and Prime Political. Visit her author website: https://marinelamiclea.com/
In her day job, she runs Mendo Digital. Visit her business website: https://mendo-digital.com/
In her day job, she runs Mendo Digital. Visit her business website: https://mendo-digital.com/
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Ron Morita earned a Masters in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve and became an electronics design engineer in Greater Boston. He lives among the redwoods in the off-grid house he designed. His stories appeared in Pleiades, Vine Leaves, and other literary magazines. website: ronmorita.wordpress.com
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Current Point Arena Poet Laureate, poet Blake More is an artist of multiple paths including performance, video, media arts, painting cars and teaching. She is a longtime Mendocino Area Coordinator and poetry teacher with California Poets in the Schools. She hosts the monthly Point Arena Third Thursday Poetry & Jazz event and two radio shows: Be More Now on KZYX FM Mendocino County Public Broadcasting and Cartwheels on the Sky on KGUA FM Gualala. Her most recent book is Dystopia Unplugged: Please Talk Back. Learn more at bmoreyou.net.
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Susan Nash recently moved to Mendocino from the Bay Area. A former civil litigator, she also represented indigent convicted felons on appeal, defended that practice at cocktail parties, and raised two sons. Now a freelance journalist and writer, her work has appeared in Next Avenue, Biostories, Allium, and other publications.
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Sonya Nesch is the author of Advocating for Someone with a Mental Illness, and WWII
Pilot, Betrayal, Then Congressional Gold Medal: A Great Ride for WASP, Jean Landis. She moved to a Comptche cabin in 1988 and built a house on the Albion River. She worked for IBM and Amdahl in the Bay area but her heart lie in helping victims of violent crimes and advocating for people with severe mental illness. She teaches Healthy Living classes for a nonprofit in Fort Bragg. |
Journalist/photographer, consummate storyteller, Lisa Norman has worked as reporter and sports editor (first woman) for the Fort Bragg Advocate-News and Mendocino Beacon. She holds degrees in English and Communications from the University of Pennsylvania. She’s edited (and written for) the Real Estate Magazine, 26 stories a year—about Mendocino County. Her projects: memoir, cookbooks, illustrated children’s book, self-help/inspiration, and The Mendocino Review--Mendocino’s first journal of literature, music, and art, acquired in 2010.
Jonathan Pazer is a poet, artist and abstract photographer. He is a graduate of Syracuse University, with an MS in Education and a law degree from Union University’s Albany Law School. Jonathan became a member of CAPS, Calling All Poets, a Hudson Valley poetry organization that was hosted at Roost. He was later invited to contribute poems and images to Ekphrasis 2017 (Volume 1), a poetry collection published by CAPS
Born and raised in a Northern California farming town, Katy Pye moved to the Mendocino coast and turned one form of environmentalism into books. In April 2013, her debut novel, Elizabeth's Landing, earned four book awards. Her passion for pollinators created a gardener’s workbook called, I Spy! Who’s Using My Garden.
Phillip Regan’s passion for bowling led to writing a weekly sports column for the Alameda Times-Star beginning at the age of twelve. As an adult he spent a combined ten years in radio as editor, writer, producer and news stringer. His story “The People of People’s Park” was picked up for national distribution by Associated Press Radio News. In recent years he has assisted in editing stories for WMC anthologies.
Sallie Reynolds. Two things hold me: the longing to communicate with beings not like me—as different as an oak tree or another human being. And my brain, which, at 82, is still developing. Today I live on a small farm in the Sierra foothills with my husband, a writer, painter, and mechanic. Together, we’ve learned to join while keeping our selves. I thank him for this gift. And look forward, now, to this new community of writers—bless you for taking me in!
Mary Rice is an educator, arts advocate, world citizen, and writer living in Fort Bragg, California. Mary was educated at UC Berkeley, SF State University, Freie Universität Berlin, in humanities, art history, dance, social psychology and languages. She has lived in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, and Hawaii.
Ginny Rorby is the author of How to Speak Dolphin, Lost in the River of Grass, a Sunshine State Young Readers Award winner, Hurt Go Happy, a Schneider Family Book Award winner, The Outside of a Horse, Dolphin Sky, Freeing Finch, Like Dust, I Rise and Girl Under Glass, May ’24.
Steve Sapontzis is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, California State University, East Bay. He is the author of Morals, Reason, and Animals and Subjective Morals and the editor of Food for Thought, the Debate over Eating Meat. He co-founded, “Between the Species, A Journal of Ethics, and was its philosophy editor for over a decade.
Mailyn Motherbear Scott's poems and stories have appeared in journals, anthologies, and chapbooks. She is published in Edward Searl's anthology, Beyond Absence (2006), in Circle Round (1998) by Hill/Baker/Starhawk; in a hand-bound book The Dragonslayer's Daughter (2009) and in a poetry chapbook, Love's Journey. She has been featured at poetry readings in Ukiah, Point Arena, Mendocino, Sonoma County and Oakland, CA.
Donald Shephard has written two novels, one hundred or so short stories and an equal number of poems. His short story, "Never Surrender," was published in the anthology Let the Clock Run Wild. When he grows up he wants to be a humorous writer.
Website: DonaldShephard.com
Website: DonaldShephard.com
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Logan Silva is an educator, curriculum writer, playwright, and father. His work is grounded in Mendocino County, where he was born and raised. His favorite poet is Emily Dickinson, and he is currently working on a fantasy novel, amongst other things. Someday he will finish Ulysses.
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Nona Smith writes humorous personal essays, short fiction stories, and is working on her first
novel. She is the author of Stuffed, Emptying the Hoarder’s Nest. Her work has been published in numerous periodicals, magazines and anthologies including the California Writers Club Literary Review and St. Petersburg Times. She is currently co-President of the Writers of the Mendocino Coast, a chapter of the California Writers Club. |
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Holly Tannen writes satirical songs about Mendocino, the internet, and natural selection. Her best-known songs include Bonobo Wannabee, Brownies for Breakfast, Rime of the Ancient Matriarch, Sheltering Tree, Downstream from Dylan, and Eat Your Triceratops. Since lockdown, Holly Tannen has been writing sploems: songs that also work as poems and/or plays.
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Joycelyn Trigg moved to Mendocino and joined the local writing community in 2014 after a career in scholarly publishing in the South. She holds an MA, and an MFA in poetry from the Ranier Writing Workshop. Her publications include the forthcoming book Vital Records: Poems, due out in 2025.
Karin Uphoff is author of Botanical Body Care; Herbs and Natural Healing for your Whole Body (2007) and various articles on health and nature. She has published poetry and story in Noyo River Review, Writers of the Mendocino Coast anthologies, California Writers Club Literary Review and Lake County Bloom. www.karinuphoff.com.
Norma Watkins grew up during the civil rights struggles in Mississippi. She is the author of three books: The Last Resort (2011), That Woman from Mississippi (2017); and In Common (2022). Watkins has a Ph.D. in English and an MFA in Creative Writing, and is Professor Emerita at Miami Dade College. She taught creative writing at College of the Redwoods and Mendocino College. She lives on the northern California coast with her woodworker husband and three cats. Website: www.normawatkins.com
windflower recently moved with her wife and two dogs to the verdant meadows of Western MA on unceded homelands of the Pocumtuc, Nipmuc, and Nonotuck people. She co-founded the Feminist Arts Program at the University of Massachusetts Women’s Center where she published and edited, Chomo Uri, a women’s multi-arts magazine and produced the first National Women’s Poetry Festival in 1976. Her poetry has been published in numerous journals and anthologies, including international publications. Her chapbook “Age Brings Them Home to Me” was published in March 2024 by Finishing Line Press.
windflower is also a photographer celebrating the poetry in nature.
windflower is also a photographer celebrating the poetry in nature.
Leslie Wahlquist moved from Wyoming to the Mendocino Coast in 2000 and has been writing ever since. She works freelance for a Mendocino County travel magazine and her work has appeared in the Mendocino Coast anthology as well as being published online. Leslie is currently working on a novel.
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Art Weininger is a retired architect, contractor, and jeweler who moved to Mendocino twenty years ago. When friends invited him to join their writing group to give critique, he readily agreed, if only for the comradery. Eventually, they encouraged him to try his hand at writing. To date, he's had three personal essays published.
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Marnie White has a B.A. degree from SFSU in English and Creative Writing. She wrote the autobiography, “Echoes from an Open Space Ranch” about her life as a park ranger’s wife; and recently the novel “Revilo” based on her grandfather’s adventures. She also enjoys writing poetry and short stories about nature and the history of the Mendocino Coast.
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Mike Winn is a Fort Bragg resident, by way of Boston and Sacramento. Now retired, he has written three novels—fiction and historical fiction—which he continues to the refine and workshop in a writers group. The Noyo River River and literary anthologies have published his short stories and essays.
Philip Zwerling has authored or edited six books: Nicaragua: A New Kind of Revolution, After School Theatre Programs for At Risk Teenagers, The CIA on Campus: Academic Freedom and National Security, The Theatre of Lee Blessing and Eyes on Havana; Memoir of An American Spy Betrayed by the CIA, Locked. Coming in 2024: In Search of The Thin Man: Dashiell Hammett, William Powell, and the Classic Film Series and Drama in Plague Time: An Anthology.
