Winners of the Loft Literary mentor series announced

The Loft Literary Center has announced the winners of the 2015-2016 Loft Mentor series in poetry and prose.

The 12 winners will work closely with six nationally-acclaimed writers in their craft.

Special admiration goes to writer Rachel Macdonald, who did not win, but who was a finalist in all three genres. Impressive!

The winners are:

Nonfiction

Isela Gomez

Elizabeth Horneber

Jody Lulich

Glenda Reed

Honorable mentions went to Victoria Blanco and Lori Saroya. Finalists are Sharon Albers, Kristin Boldon, Kimberly Brown, Claire DeBerg, Elizabeth Fletcher, Megan Gavin, Claire Hardin, Tracy Harris, Kelsey Jennen, Ann Kempke, Rachel Macdonald, Caryn Mohr, Susan Triemert and Hillary Wentworth.

Poetry

Gabriella Anais Deal-Marquez

Michael Kleber-Diggs

Jeanne Lutz

Sagirah Shahid

Honorable mentions went to Brett Elizabeth Jenkins and Hallie Wiederholt. Finalists are Micki Blenkush, Lisa Brimmer, Zachary Czaia, Tammy Darrah Wenberg, Brianna Flavin, William Johnston, Ruth Johnston, Rachel Macdonald, Ali O’Reilly, Alexander Renshaw, Sonja Sharp, Elizabeth Tannen, Roy White, Hallie Wiederholt, and Sara Zettervall.

Fiction

Beth Mayer

Lynda McDonnell

Kasey Payette

James Stephenson

Honorable mentions went to Pamela Bosch and Nina Hamza. Finalists are Nigar Alam, Lucia Cowles, Mary Dunnewold, Patrick Hansel, Amy Hanson, Nancy Scott Hanway, Tina Higgins Wussow, Aaron King, Jennifer Kirkeby, Rachel Macdonald, Melissa McNallan, Paul Ruge, Debra Stone, and Elizabeth Tannen.

This year's mentors are Carolyn Holbrook and Joni Tevis for nonfiction; Sean Hill and Sherry Quan Lee for poetry; and Marisha Chamberlain and Cristina Henriquez for fiction.

(And yes, I know it's unlikely that any of these writers will be typing their stories on an old manual typewriter. But isn't it a cool image?)