Nandi Comer, Keynote ● Nandi Comer is the current Poet Laureate of Michigan. Informed by her experiences growing up in Detroit, Comer writes and performs literary pieces that incorporate the history of the city, while also examining race, gender, sexuality, and class. She is the author of American Family: A Syndrome (Finishing Line Press) and Tapping Out (Northwestern University Press), which was awarded the 2020 Society of Midland Authors Award and the 2020 Julie Suk Award. She is a Cave Canem Fellow, a Callaloo Fellow, and a 2019 Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellow. Her poems and essays have appeared in Callaloo, Crab Orchard Review, The Journal of Pan African Studies, and others. Nandi has served as a writer-in-residence in Detroit Public Schools and has worked in collaboration with organizations, including YArts and InsideOut Literary Arts Projects. She serves as a poetry editor for Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora and is the co-director of Detroit Lit.
Laura Apol ●Laura Apol served as the Lansing-area poet laureate from 2019-2021. She is an associate professor at Michigan State University and the author of several prize-winning collections of poetry, including A Fine Yellow Dust (winner of the 2022 Midwest Book Award for Poetry), and, most recently, Cauterized.
Erin Bartels ● The award-winning author of We Hope for Better Things (a 2020 Michigan Notable Book),The Words Between Us, All That We Carried, and The Girl Who Could Breathe Under Water, and Everything is Just Beginning. A part of the book publishing industry for 20 years, Erin is a professional copywriter and a freelance developmental editor. She also teaches writing workshops at retreats and conferences.
Andrea King Collier ● Andrea King Collier is a Lansing-based award-winning journalist, author and storyteller. Thanks to her TedX Lansing talk and becoming a member of the Moth family she has fallen in love with taking to the stage (big and small) to tell a great story in no more than 12 minutes.
Naomi V. Dunsen-White ● Naomi V. Dunsen-White is an award-winning, independent children’s book author who writes books that promote diversity, uplift self-esteem, and inspire discovery of one’s purpose. Naomi is also a developmental editor, writing development coach, and author coach. She takes great pride in amplifying diverse voices and helping others fulfill their dreams of becoming published authors, leaving a legacy for the next generations. Naomi serves as Vice President of Literacy Nation, Inc., and Chairperson of the Equity and Inclusion Team, Michigan Chapter, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Kelly Fordon ● Kelly Fordon’s latest short story collection, I Have the Answer (Wayne State University Press, 2020), was chosen as a Midwest Book Award Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. Her 2016 Michigan Notable Book, Garden for the Blind (WSUP), was a Michigan Notable Book, an INDIEFAB Finalist, a Midwest Book Award Finalist, an Eric Hoffer Finalist, and an IPPY Awards Bronze Medalist. Her first full-length poetry collection, Goodbye Toothless House (Kattywompus Press, 2019), was an Eyelands International Prize Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. It was later adapted into a play by Robin Martin and published in The Kenyon Review Online. She has received a Best of the Net Award and Pushcart Prize nominations in three different genres. She teaches at Springfed Arts in Detroit and online, where she runs a fiction podcast called “Let’s Deconstruct a Story.”
Steven Harper Piziks ● Piziks’ science fiction novels include In the Company of Mind and Corporate Mentality. Writing as Steven Harper for Roc Books, he has produced The Silent Empire series (YA) and The Clockwork Empire steampunk series. He’s also written movie novelizations and books based on Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica. The Importance of Being Kevin is his recent YA novel. He teaches English in southeast Michigan.
Amy Olle ● Amy Olle is a USA Today bestselling author of new adult and contemporary romance novels. She enjoys putting her psychology degrees to good use writing emotional, redemptive love stories.
Wayne Pope ● Wayne Pope is an adjunct associate professor of photography at Lansing Community College and teaches classes in food styling, portrait, special effects, night sky, scenic and wildlife photography. He graduated from Michigan State University with a Biology degree and uses his science and photojournalism background to publish photo essays and articles for magazines, newspapers and books. Wayne published four books in 2023. They are Birds of Michigan: Notable Species, and Michigan in Prose, Photos & Poems. Wayne teaches a class entitled, “Basic Smartphone Photography” at Michigan libraries. It is popular with writers, educators and business professionals.
Lev Raphael ● The author of 27 books in genres from memoir to mystery, Lev Raphael escaped academia years ago to write and review full time in print and on-air. He’s most recently the author of Department of Death and has won a Lambda Literary Award, a Reed Smith Fiction Award, the Harvey Swados Fiction Prize, and the Crossing Boundaries Award for Innovative Writing. MSU’s Library collects his literary papers and he’s done hundreds of workshops, talks, and readings in nine different countries. He coaches and edits writers at writewithoutborders.com and was recently chosen to be a Picador Professor at Leipzig University in Germany.
Masaki Takahashi ● Masaki is the founder / host of The Poetry Room Open Mic. He has also recently started The Poetry Room Inc., a non-profit organization and is the current Lansing Poet Laureate. Masaki is a highly skilled and compelling performer and has appeared in numerous spoken word events in Michigan and nationally. He loves stories, hip-hop and being loud.
Brandy Thomas ● Brandy Thomas is a professional editor who lives and works in Marquette, Michigan. In addition to editing the written word, she is also an audiobook narrator and audio engineer. She is the voice of the U.P. Reader as well as several other series. Brandy currently serves on the Upper Peninsula Publisher and Author Association and Revolve CC (Creative Collaboration Conference) board of directors. When she is not refining other’s words, she writes poetry and short fiction, quilts, and is a musician.
Jay Whistler ● Jay Whistler holds an MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is an author, freelance editor, former acquisitions reader for three literary agencies, an editor for an online short story anthology and a print anthology and has been a judge for numerous writing contests. She regularly presents on the craft of writing at local, national, and international writing and publishing conferences. The Ghostly Tales of San Antonio, and The Ghostly Tales of Put-In-Bay are Jay’s nonfiction historical middle-grade books, both using ghost stories to tell history. Her horror short story, Seeking Bad Boys for Fun and Adventure appeared in the December 2023 issue of The Quiet Ones anthology zine.
Claudia Whitsitt ● Claudia Whitsitt is an award-winning Michigan author of both adult mysteries and historical fiction for children. Her mysteries include two series, the Samantha Series, based on an amateur sleuth, and the Love and Loss Series, novels with mystery and romance, as well as a stand-alone based on the Michigan Murders, entitled The Wrong Guy. As a former educator, Claudia was asked by her 5th grade students to write books for them. The result of that request is the Kids Like You Series, historical fiction based in Detroit. Aside from writing, Claudia spends time teaching workshops in schools and at conferences, always enthused to spend time encouraging writers of all ages. When Claudia isn’t writing or teaching, she enjoys spending time with friends and family on Pleasant Lake where she finds peace, inspiration, and joy.
A Rally of Writers 