Instructor

Cassandra is tickled pink to be working with Writopia Lab in LA after starting with them in Chicago! Cassandra earned her BA in playwriting from Columbia College Chicago and did an MFA alternative program at Chicago Dramatists as a Tutterow Fellow. Recently, she completed Upright Citizens Brigade’s sketch writing program and UCLA’s Professional Program in Writing for Television. As a playwright, she’s had over 300 of her short plays performed across the country. Her longer plays include The Amen Trilogy, The Battle of Charlottesville, Billy to His Friends, and The Volunteer. Her work has been developed and produced by Broken Nose Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Jackalope Theatre Company, The New Colony, and Stage Left Theatre. As a screenwriter, her first pilot, The Great Desire, made it to the second round of the 2020 Sundance Episodic Lab. She loves helping young writers with their scripts, their essays, and their creative writing in general.

Dungeon Master

Peter Quinn-Jacobs is enthusiastic to be a Dungeon Master at Writopia Lab! He has played role-playing games since he was seven years old and has run many games both in-person and digitally for decades in a variety of fantasy and science fiction settings, using myriad systems of rules. In his free time, he designs his own board games and murder mystery parties. His science fiction has earned an honorable mention in the Writers of the Future competition (2008) and his scholarly work won the William Hamilton Prize at William & Mary Law School (2018) and was a finalist in the American Indian Law Review Competition (2018). He's excited to work with Writopia to spur the imaginations of writers and players through fantasy gaming!

Instructor

Di is thrilled to join the Writopia team! She is a Sri Lankan New Yorker, currently living in beautiful DC. Words are her life. In addition to being a creative writer, she is a communications professional who works with literary, arts, and immigrant and racial justice nonprofits. She has mentored and taught youth since she herself was a teenager, and is so excited for the opportunity to unite her passion for writing and youth mentorship at Writopia. Her fiction and prose poetry have appeared in Unbroken Journal, Ginosko Literary Journal, Fiction Fix, and The Albion Review. She is currently at work on a collection of autofiction.

Instructor

Carmen Rodrigues lives and plays in the great urban wilds of Northern Virginia, where she is a writer by day and a writing instructor by night (and afternoon). She has worked with hundreds of students along the east coast, specializing in enrichment education and executive function. Teaching creative writing to the next generation remains one of her greatest joys. As such, she is thrilled to be in her third season at Writopia Lab, where she has the honor of shepherding stories set in worlds both real and fantastical, profound and comical. In the workshop space, Carmen embraces Writopia Lab’s process-based approach that enables young writers to embark on a unique journey that expands their individuality in storytelling. Carmen earned her MFA in Fiction from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington and BA from Florida State University, where she majored in English and minored in Theater. She is the author of three young adult novels—The Universal Laws of Marco (a “best read of 2019,” Seventeen Magazine), 34 Pieces of You (“a haunting read,” Publisher’s Weekly), and Not Anything. For more, visit CarmenRodrigues.com.

Instructor

Anney Bolgiano earned her MFA from George Mason University. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in A Velvet Giant, District Lines, Oblong Magazine, and The Greenleaf Review. She primarily writes short stories and prose poems and is currently working on a novel. Anney loves teaching and writing equally and has taught creative writing, literature, and composition to first graders through college seniors. She loves the unique, funny, surprising, and insightful stories young people write.

Instructor

Alexa Salvato has worked at Writopia Lab on-and-off in many capacities since 2013, and she’s so excited to rejoin the team this summer. She has a BA in journalism from Ithaca College and is beginning her Master’s of Arts in Teaching at Northeastern University. Her journalistic work and creative writing have previously been published in Stillwater Magazine, River River Literary Journal, BUST.com, Chronogram magazine, Buzzsaw magazine, and various other publications. She was awarded a Scholastic Outstanding Educator award for her young writers’ regional recognition in 2017. She is passionate about empowering young people to be stronger readers and more compassionate citizens.

Dungeon Master

Alex Cooper is thrilled to be a part of the Writopia Lab team as a Dungeon Master for D&D workshops. Born and raised in midtown Manhattan, he comes from a family of actors and writers. Alex has worked in public education in New York City as well as in the entertainment industry. He has been an enthusiastic player and Dungeon Master for several years, playing and running games with a variety of groups. He believes Dungeons & Dragons offers a unique and collaborative, improvised method of storytelling. He looks forward to creating new adventures with young writers at Writopia Lab.

Program Coordinator
Instructor

Tasnim Hussain is a creative writing and essay writing instructor at Writopia Lab, where she offers support to young writers throughout their writing process. Tasnim graduated as salutatorian from Hunter College, where she majored in English with minors in Education and Sociology. She has taught in public schools throughout the city, working with students in many different contexts and settings in English classrooms. In awe of the creative genius of Writopia Lab writers, she finds herself constantly learning from their passion and enthusiasm. In her free time, Tasnim enjoys writing short fiction and free verse poetry, and she has been published in GRLQUASH, a bi-annual literary magazine, and Hunter College's The OliveTree Review.

Dungeon Master

Sarah Brackett (Williams) is overjoyed to be a part of the Writopia Lab team! Sarah is a Dungeon Master for Writopia, teaching all the children about crazy monsters, fantasy worlds, and how to roll dice with ease. Sarah graduated from Reinhardt University in 2017 with a degree in Musical Theatre. She is an Atlanta native, newly transferred to New York City with her husband, Chase. She has performed all over the country over the last few years. Some of her favorite credits include Belle in Beauty and the Beast, a performer at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, Belle in A Christmas Carol, and Kalliope Darkwalker, a dark elf, in She Kills Monsters (a Dungeons and Dragons themed play). She loves that she gets to use something she is passionate about to help children explore their imagination, learn problem solving skills, expand on social skills, and so much more in this fantastical immersive role-playing game.

Instructor

Samantha has been involved with Writopia Lab in various capacities since its inception in Rebecca's studio apartment in 2007 and is so excited to now come onboard as an instructor. Having begun her Writopia journey as a student and later having worked as a WriCampia counsellor, Samantha has witnessed first-hand the incredible impact Writopia Lab has on its young writers and is a passionate believer in its mission to empower children and teenagers through the medium of storytelling.

Samantha’s own writing career kicked off when she was 11 years old when a short story of hers was published in the Anthology of Short Stories by Young Americans. She has since gone on to write essays and opinion pieces that have been published on websites such as Girl With Pen and Forbes.com. After attending drama school in Boston, Samantha graduated with a BA in English Literature with Journalism from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. Samantha now lives in Bath and has most recently been working with high school students on short story and essay writing while completing an MA in Law.

Instructor
(and D & D Dungeon Master)

Jared Wilson started as an intern at Writopia Lab in March of 2018. He soon became an Assistant Instructor, began leading graphic novel workshops, and recently emerged as a Writopia Lab Dungeon Master. Jared is an aspiring graphic novelist and a college student finishing his last semester at Hunter College. Jared is very excited to share his passion for writing and teaching with others. He is well versed in illustration and comic book storytelling and is currently working on a graphic novel of his own. Jared is beyond excited to continue working alongside the creative minds at Writopia Lab and can't wait to experience more of the amazing stories that our imaginative students tell!

Instructor

Madeleine Cravens is very happy to join Writopia Lab as an Instructor. She began at Writopia as a Write to Recognition Mentor, where she worked with youths, guiding many aspects of their creative writing. Madeleine is a graduate of Oberlin College, where she studied Creative Writing. In fall 2020, she will be the Max Rivto Poetry Fellow at Columbia University. Her work can be found or is forthcoming in Best of the Net, the Adroit Journal, IMAGE Journal, Folio, Frontier, and the New Ohio Review. Madeleine lives in Brooklyn and looks forward to continuing to work with the inventive and dedicated writers at Writopia.

Instructor

Victoria Collins (she/they) is an essay writing instructor at Writopia and a writer and teacher currently residing in the South Bronx, by way of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. They graduated from The New School with their MFA in Creative Writing.

Instructor

María is very excited to join Writopia lab. Teaching and writing are her two passions, and she is overjoyed to be a part of the Writopia Lab community! María Alejandra Barrios is a Pushcart Prize nominated writer born in Barranquilla, Colombia. She has lived in Bogotá and Manchester where in 2016 she completed a Master's Degree in Creative Writing from The University of Manchester. She was selected for the Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program: Performing & Literary Arts for the city of New York in 2018. Her stories have been published in Hobart Pulp, Reservoir Journal, Bandit Fiction, Cosmonauts Avenue, Jellyfish Review, Lost Balloon, Shenandoah Literary, Vol.1 Brooklyn, and El Malpensante. Her poetry has been published in The Acentos Review. Her work has been supported by organizations like Vermont Studio Center, Caldera Arts Center, and the New Orleans Writing Residency. She is the 2020 SmokeLong Flash Fiction fellow.

Instructor

Kristi is thrilled to join the Writopia Lab team as a creative writing instructor. She is the best-selling author of more than a dozen novels for both adults (writing as Kristina Cook) and teens (writing as Kristi Cook). Her YA debut, Haven, was released by Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse in 2011, was a National Readers Choice Award finalist for Best YA novel, and was selected by the International Reading Association as a 2012 Young Adult Choices novel. Kristi's other YA novels include Mirage, Eternal, Magnolia, and Mischief & Magnolias. Kristi has taught creative writing classes for both teens and adults at Sarah Lawrence College and the Center for Literature and Theatre at Miami-Dade College, as well as leading workshops at libraries and conferences nationwide. Kristi earned a B.S. in History (with a minor in English) from the University of Southern Mississippi. She lives in New York City with her husband and two college-aged daughters (when they're home from school, that is).

Instructor

Charlotte Nicole Davis is thrilled to be a part of the Writopia Lab team. A 2016 graduate of The New School's Writing for Children MFA program, Charlotte is the author of the young adult fantasy novel The Good Luck Girls (Tor Teen, 2019), which was honored with a starred review from Kirkus and selected as a Kids Indie Next List pick. Her most recent work is a short story featured in the anthology A Phoenix First Must Burn (Viking Books for Young Readers, 2020). Charlotte has attended book events and conferences nationwide to talk shop about the writing process, and she cannot wait to share her love of the craft with the young people who have always inspired it.

Instructor

Nicole Flippo is thrilled to join the Writopia Lab family! She is currently an MFA in Writing candidate at Sarah Lawrence College, as well as the Blog Editor of Lumina. She received her BFA in Dramatic Writing with a minor in Creative Writing from New York University. Her short fiction has appeared in Grimm Tales. Her scripts have received awards with the Bare Bones International Film and Music Festival, Fusion Film Festival, Oklahoma State One Act Festival, Oregon Short Film Festival, Talent Factory’s Script and Storyboard Showcase, and Tulsa City Smashers. Previously, she worked in production on Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer. She was also a primary cast member on WNYU’s American News Now (seasons 1-3).

Instructor

Reuben is ridiculously excited to join the Writopia Lab team! Reuben is a children’s author and the ghostwriter of ten books in the iconic Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mystery series for Simon & Schuster. While Reuben loves writing for kids and young adults, his storytelling experience spans a variety of genres and media. He is an award-winning independent filmmaker and screenwriter whose work has appeared in film festivals around the world. Reuben graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he majored in Media Production and minored in Journalism and Mass Communication. When he’s not writing, you can often find him helping other writers as a university guest lecturer and freelance editor—and now as a Writopia Lab instructor.

Instructor

Zakiya Harris is thrilled to be an instructor at Writopia Lab, NYC! Zakiya joins us from Penguin Random House, where she worked as an assistant editor on both nonfiction and fiction books. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from The New School in 2016, where she focused on nonfiction writing and crafted personal essays revolving around topics such as identity and her childhood growing up in Connecticut, and she received her BA in English literature from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 2014. Zakiya was first published in 2006 by American Girl Magazine after winning a contest whose prompt was to write a short story based on a simple illustration, and she’s excited to encourage a love of creativity and storytelling within other young individuals. When she isn’t working on her workplace-sci-fi novel, she’s writing book reviews for The Rumpus or falling down the deep, irresistible rabbit hole that is Spotify.

Instructor

Sanina L. Clark has been with Writopia Lab since January 2020 and is the editor of Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve (longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature) and All City by Alex DiFrancesco (2020 Ohioana Book Awards Finalist in Fiction). Their bookcase is filled with YA, fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, horror, plays, and queer literature. They’re addicted to ramen, cat photos, tea, and Doctor Who paraphernalia. A perfect day to Sanina involves lots of green tea while relaxing with a good book or anime and cuddling their cat... They really love cats.