Shawnie Hamer
Founder
Shawnie Hamer (she/her) was born in the heat & dust of Bakersfield, CA. Her first book, the stove is off at home (Spuyten Duyvil, 2018) is an experimental art & poetry book curated through a community ritual that focused on the identification & exorcism of trauma. Hamer is the founder of collective.aporia, & a co-conspirator of the off.collective. She proudly received her MFA from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University where she was able to befriend the most inspiring group of artists she's ever met. Her writing can most recently be found in publications such as More Revolutionary Letters: A Tribute to Diane de Prima, Entropy Mag, South Broadway Ghost Society & Tiny Spoon Lit Mag.
Founder
Shawnie Hamer (she/her) was born in the heat & dust of Bakersfield, CA. Her first book, the stove is off at home (Spuyten Duyvil, 2018) is an experimental art & poetry book curated through a community ritual that focused on the identification & exorcism of trauma. Hamer is the founder of collective.aporia, & a co-conspirator of the off.collective. She proudly received her MFA from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University where she was able to befriend the most inspiring group of artists she's ever met. Her writing can most recently be found in publications such as More Revolutionary Letters: A Tribute to Diane de Prima, Entropy Mag, South Broadway Ghost Society & Tiny Spoon Lit Mag.
Sarah Richards Graba
Workshop Lead | Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Coordinator
Sarah Richards Graba (she/her) is a writer, teacher, and artist. She has lived in Colorado, USA her whole life, though her DNA comes from all over the world. She has been published for creative work, critical theory, book reviews, and interviews, and she has been on numerous publishing projects involving both digital design and letterpress.
She currently teaches at Naropa University for writing, research, and literature for writers, and multicultural foundations for future therapists. She is also a freelance writer and writing coach. Sarah is interested in disruption and subversion, ritual and tradition, and how these intersect with community and hybridity.
Workshop Lead | Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Coordinator
Sarah Richards Graba (she/her) is a writer, teacher, and artist. She has lived in Colorado, USA her whole life, though her DNA comes from all over the world. She has been published for creative work, critical theory, book reviews, and interviews, and she has been on numerous publishing projects involving both digital design and letterpress.
She currently teaches at Naropa University for writing, research, and literature for writers, and multicultural foundations for future therapists. She is also a freelance writer and writing coach. Sarah is interested in disruption and subversion, ritual and tradition, and how these intersect with community and hybridity.
april joseph
Workshop Lead
april joseph (she/her) is a poet and clarinetist from East L.A., CA. She received her BA in Literatures of the World from UC San Diego, and her MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University. She has taught high school, undergraduate and graduate students in Eugene and Portland, OR, Las Vegas, NV, and Boulder, CO. april creates mourning songs to heal ancestral trauma. Collaborative, student-centered, process-oriented learning inspires her to teach artistic expression to transform lives, to be free. Her most recent publications have been included in the literary journals: Morning/Mourning (2018) and TAYO Issue 6 (2016). You can learn more about april’s work at bodyfulspace.com.
Workshop Lead
april joseph (she/her) is a poet and clarinetist from East L.A., CA. She received her BA in Literatures of the World from UC San Diego, and her MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University. She has taught high school, undergraduate and graduate students in Eugene and Portland, OR, Las Vegas, NV, and Boulder, CO. april creates mourning songs to heal ancestral trauma. Collaborative, student-centered, process-oriented learning inspires her to teach artistic expression to transform lives, to be free. Her most recent publications have been included in the literary journals: Morning/Mourning (2018) and TAYO Issue 6 (2016). You can learn more about april’s work at bodyfulspace.com.
H.P. Armstrong
Social Media Manager
H.P. Armstrong is a queer writer and playwright from Chicago, IL. His work has appeared with KYSO Flash, A Trembling of Finches, Punch Drunk press, and worldwide in Nota Bene. H.P. has a BA from Naropa University’s JKS and has a day job at Front Range Community College. He is obsessed with monsters, horror, trans poetics, education, and the merging of technology and literature. Some of the themes in his work involve loneliness, spirituality, and transness in mostly prose. H.P. is currently in Colorado living with his partner.
Social Media Manager
H.P. Armstrong is a queer writer and playwright from Chicago, IL. His work has appeared with KYSO Flash, A Trembling of Finches, Punch Drunk press, and worldwide in Nota Bene. H.P. has a BA from Naropa University’s JKS and has a day job at Front Range Community College. He is obsessed with monsters, horror, trans poetics, education, and the merging of technology and literature. Some of the themes in his work involve loneliness, spirituality, and transness in mostly prose. H.P. is currently in Colorado living with his partner.
Andrea Becker
Innisfree Workshop Series Coordinator
Andrea Becker (she/her) is a writer, editor and photographer (@a.ephemera) who believes that poetry is a force for radical expression, inclusivity and healing. She has a multidisciplinary and multicultural background: she has studied ecology, Japanese tea ceremony, lived in Russia, Spain and Bhutan, and is a resident in a queer, anarcho-communist co-op. She feels rooted in the rhythms of wind and water and works best in community with others (and with snacks). Andrea managed Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Café in Boulder, but during COVID, tutors at-risk kids and plays with her dog.
Innisfree Workshop Series Coordinator
Andrea Becker (she/her) is a writer, editor and photographer (@a.ephemera) who believes that poetry is a force for radical expression, inclusivity and healing. She has a multidisciplinary and multicultural background: she has studied ecology, Japanese tea ceremony, lived in Russia, Spain and Bhutan, and is a resident in a queer, anarcho-communist co-op. She feels rooted in the rhythms of wind and water and works best in community with others (and with snacks). Andrea managed Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Café in Boulder, but during COVID, tutors at-risk kids and plays with her dog.
Noah Christie
*apo-press editor
Noah Christie is Writer, Poet, and Educator. His specializations are in Gothic Studies and Gender Theory. Noah has a passion for the Arcane and for Nature. He holds a General Studies degree in English, Science, and Philosophy. He also has an MFA from Naropa’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Additionally, Noah is a certified ESL/EFL teacher. He also practices radical honesty and makes himself available as a consultant to others who have struggled with addiction. Noah’s favorite personal saying is “you are most powerful when you are most undeniably yourself.”
*apo-press editor
Noah Christie is Writer, Poet, and Educator. His specializations are in Gothic Studies and Gender Theory. Noah has a passion for the Arcane and for Nature. He holds a General Studies degree in English, Science, and Philosophy. He also has an MFA from Naropa’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Additionally, Noah is a certified ESL/EFL teacher. He also practices radical honesty and makes himself available as a consultant to others who have struggled with addiction. Noah’s favorite personal saying is “you are most powerful when you are most undeniably yourself.”
Drew Dean
Workshop Lead
Drew’s (he/him) an avid fan of the collaborative-creative process; he’s operated as a photographer, graphic designer, social media manager, writing tutor, TA, copyeditor, magazine editor, tour manager, and workshop.
Workshop Lead
Drew’s (he/him) an avid fan of the collaborative-creative process; he’s operated as a photographer, graphic designer, social media manager, writing tutor, TA, copyeditor, magazine editor, tour manager, and workshop.
[Read our Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion statements here]
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