RBWG 2012 Judges, Young Writers Contest
Anne Colwell, Poetry, ages 10 - 13
Anne Colwell writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction; she is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Delaware. In 2007, she received an Emerging Artist Award in Fiction from the Delaware State Arts Council. She also received the Dogfish Head Poetry Prize for 2007 which included publication of her chapbook Father’s Occupation, Mother’s Maiden Name.
Her work has appeared in several journals, including: California Quarterly, Mudlark, Evansville Review, Eclectic Literary Forum, Southern Poetry Review, Stickman Review, Poetry Bay , and Octavo. An online chapbook of her poems appears in The Alsop Review. Her first book of poems, Believing Their Shadows, has been a finalist for the University of Wisconsin ’s Brittingham Prize, the Anhinga Prize, New Issues Poetry Prize and the Quarterly Review of Literature. She received the Delaware State Arts Council’s Experience Artist in Poetry Award in 1999. Her critical book, Inscrutable Houses: Metaphors of the Body in the Poems of Elizabeth Bishop, was published by the University of Alabama Press . She lives in Milton , Delaware with her husband James Keegan and son, Thomas.
James Keegan, Poetry, ages 14 - 17
James Keegan is an associate professor of English at the University of Delaware's Georgetown campus and he is a Resident Company actor at the American Shakespeare Center, where in this coming summer/fall season he will perform the roles of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Henry II in The Lion in Winter, Antonio in Two Gentlemen of Verona, Cymbeline in Cymbeline, and Hubert in King John. He has published poems in Southern Poetry Review and Poet Lore as well as other journals, and his chapbook Of Fathers and Sons was awarded the 2003 Dogfishhead Poetry Prize. He lives in Milton, Delaware, with his wife Anne Colwell.
Cheryl somers Aubin, Fiction 10-13
Cheryl Somers Aubin has been writing and publishing for over twenty years, and her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Foundation Magazine and other newspapers, magazines, and on-line journals. She has a Master of Arts degree in Writing from Johns Hopkins University. She teaches memoir writing to senior citizens and is a featured speaker at personal history writing symposia, writing conferences and workshops. Her book, The Survivor Tree: Inspired by a True Story, is available on-line at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Cheryl authored two essays in the book, From the Heart: A Collection of stories and Poems from the Front Lines of Parenting. She teaches memoir writing to senior citizens and has been an instructor at Johns Hopkins University. Cheryl is a featured speaker at personal history writing symposia, writing conferences and workshops. Her non-fiction and fiction work can be seen on her website: http://www.cherylaubin.com. Her author interview video is also on YouTube.
Lauren Fasnacht, Fiction, ages 14- 17
Lauren Fasnacht currently lives in Hershey, PA and Rehoboth Beach, DE where she enjoys participating in RBWG classes and events when possible.
She holds degrees in Graphic Design and Spanish, most recently returning to school to earn her K-12 teaching certification in the later. She has taken novel classes with the Guild, and is the recipient of the 2011 First Place Award for Fiction in the Adult Writer's contest. Lauren enjoys yoga, reading, cooking, travel, spending time with family in friends, and is both excited and honored to serve as a judge for the RBWG 2012 Kid's Writing Contest.
Cheryl Sacra Paden, Nonfiction, ages 10 - 13
Writer and editor Cheryl Sacra Paden worked as a magazine editor in NYC for 15 years, most recently as a senior editor at MORE magazine. She also worked on-staff for magazines including Self, Health, Country Living's Healthy Living, and YM (Young and Modern).
She left the publishing business to freelance (for magazines including Ladies' Home Journal, Parenting, Redbook) and to raise a family, which includes her 11-year-old son, Matthew, and 10-year-old triplets, Amanda, Dustin, and Jason. Being the mother and homework helper of four children in the 10- to 13-year-old age range gives her a perfect perspective for reading the creative works of young people.
Ethan Joella, Nonfiction, ages 14-17
Ethan Joella teaches creative writing and literature at Albright College.
His fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in The Robert Olen Butler Fiction Prize Anthology (forthcoming), Best New Writing 2008, The International Fiction Review, The American, The Collagist, Journal of Microliterature, SNReview, Perigee, Tiferet, Product, and Paradigm.
He lives in Pennsylvania and Delaware with his wife and daughters.