Instructors for Writer's Studio

Randall is Professor/Chair Emeritus in the Department of Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago, was founding producer of the Story Week Festival of Writers and is a recipient of Columbia’s Teaching Excellence Award. His work appears in Writing in Education, TriQuarterly, Writer’s Digest, Brevity, and elsewhere. Two chapters from his novel-in-progress, All the World Before Them, have been nominated for Pushcart prizes.

Lauren is the author of three essay collections, including the New York Times Bestseller Daughters and Mothers, and a host of pieces in publications such as Chicago magazine. Her work has also been featured on NPR.

Kevin is a longtime journalist, magazine writer, and author of The Brain Defense: Murder in Manhattan and the Dawn of Neuroscience in America's Courtrooms, Defending the Damned, and The Wrong Man. 

Gina is Program Manager of the Writer’s Studio, Senior Writing Advisor for the Master of Liberal Arts Program, winner of the 2011 David Friedman Memorial Award for an excerpt of her memoir in progress, and a long-time writing instructor. Her work, including fiction and nonfiction, appears in Hair Trigger, Contrary, The Sun, and elsewhere.

Dina has published a memoir, Drawn from Water: an American Poet, an Ethiopian Family, an Israeli Story; a poetry collection, Apples of the Earth; as well as award-winning nonfiction pieces and poems. She is the recipient of the 2012 Graham School Excellence in Teaching Award for the Humanities, Arts, and Sciences.

Eileen is the author of the novel The Heroines, which has been translated into Finnish, Italian, Russian, and Korean. Her poetry and prose has appeared in many publications, including The Toast, Triquarterly, Folio, the Chicago Reader, Poetry East, and Diagram. Connect with her at eileenfavorite.com.

Mary is a Neo-Futurist; former editor of Quilty magazine; and co-host of PBS's Love of Quilting. Mary’s publications include Make+Love Quilts and essays in the Write Club Anthology and Madonna & Me. She edits F Newsmagazine at the School of the Art Institute and is a fierce slam poet. Visit MaryFons.com.

Stephanie has had work published in Michigan Quarterly Review, among other venues, and a “distinguished” story listed in Best American Short Stories. She holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and an MA in English from the University of Chicago.

Julie is a storyteller, teaching artist, and performer who has appeared on stages all over Chicago. She is a company member at 2nd Story, and her piece “When the Fairies Came” appears in their anthology, Briefly Knocked Unconscious by a Low-Flying Duck.

Esther serves on the board of advisors of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Her publications include Chicken Soup by Heart (winner of the Sydney Taylor Award) and The Confe$$ion$ and $ecret$ of Howard J. Fingerhut.

Susan is an award-winning screenwriter whose work has screened internationally. She co-wrote feature film Realization, and has pitched to Hollywood executives. She holds an MFA in cinema art & science. Her play, Thundersnow, was produced in Chicago in 2015.

Paul is the author of two novels and two short-story collections, and the co-author of a novella, a short-plays collection, an in-process scholarly film book, and—with Maya Kuper—the alt-rock musical “Unplugged”: A Survivor's Story in Scenes & Songs. He has won prizes in writing, performance, and filmmaking, as well as teaching awards from Northwestern (continuing ed) and National-Louis universities.

Jen, a freelance editor and writing coach, was formerly an editor for the New York Times Book Review, the national desk of the Times, and the Washington Post, and a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism, at Harvard University. Connect with her at jenbmcdonald.com.

Stephanie co-founded Indigan Storyteller and helped launch the International Storytelling Festival in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Her novel, The Lives of Things, was optioned by Totem Films. Her work appears in Feathered Flounder, Still Crazy, Persimmon Tree, Tues/Night, and Celebrating Animal Rescue.

Alice (MAT in English, University of Chicago) has extensive experience helping businesses, students, and individuals define and express themselves through the written word. She is a longtime writing instructor who leads multiple workshops on the North Shore. Her teaching style is personal, energetic, and innovative.

Ariana won the 2011 Philip Levine Prize in Poetry for her poetry collection Instructions for Preparing Your Skin, wrote the chapbook Our Blood Is Singing, and received a Helene Wurlitzer Fellowship and a Macdowell Colony residency. Her work appears in Painted Bride Quarterly, Southeast Review, and Cimarron Review, among other journals.

Cecilia has had her poetry and prose published in a variety of journals including Quarter After Eight, Fence, The Seneca Review, Triquarterly, and RHINO. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for poetry and an Illinois Arts Council award and won the Esquire short fiction contest. She is also a CAAP grant recipient. In 2015, she was voted a writer to watch by The Guild Literary Society.

Bio coming soon.

Sarah’s debut novel, Herself When She's Missing, was called “poetic and heartrending” by Booklist. She writes for publications and sites including Salon, The Chicago Sun Times, Curve Magazine, and Pop Matters. She was a 2011 recipient of Carve Magazine's Esoteric Fiction Award, 1st runner up for Midwestern Gothic's 2015 Lake Prize, and a finalist for Washington Square Review’s 2016 Flash Fiction Award. In addition, she was shortlisted for Zoetrope All Story’s 2016 Short Fiction Contest, receiving an honorable mention. In 2014, she founded the Truth or Lie Live Lit Series.

Linda is associate director of the University Writing Program at the University of Chicago, where she teaches academic and professional writing and supervises and trains a staff of writing instructors in the humanities and professional schools.

Natalie was a recipient of a 2015 Rona Jaffe Writer’s Award for her novel-in-progress Home Remedies. She co-authored A 52-Hertz Whale, a young adult novel recently released by Carolrhoda Lab (Lerner). Additionally, her work has appeared in TriQuarterly, Santa Clara Review, Cicada magazine, and Sudden Flash Youth, a fiction anthology by Persea Books. Other honors include first prize for fiction in The Atlantic's Student Writing Contest and a Magazine Merit Award from The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She received a MFA from Rainier Writing Workshop. She lives in Glenview with her husband and two children.

Tracy is senior associate director of the University Writing Program at the University of Chicago, where she teaches academic and professional writing and supervises and trains a staff of writing instructors in the humanities and professional schools. Weiner received the 2009 Graham School Excellence in Teaching Award.

Sandi is the author of The Sweetheart Is In; Holocaust Girls: History, Memory, & Other Obsessions; and The Adventures of Cancer Bitch.