DIRECTOR
CALDWELL HOLDEN
A second-year MFA candidate at LSU, Caldwell is a writer, bartender, and social artist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received his BA in Literature from Bennington College where he studied “Immersion Based Storytelling.” He has also studied in Siena, Italy, completed a writing residency in Oatmeal Creek, TX, and traveled the US living out of his jeep. His fiction has appeared in SHANTIH Journal and Atticus Review. His journalism has appeared in 90.5 WESA and Stylo24. You can learn more about him and his work here.
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
JASMINE KNOWLES
Jasmine is a poet and multidisciplinary learning artist originally from Chicago, IL, raised in Northwest Indiana. She has received support from the Hurston/Wright Foundation, Voices of Our Nations Arts (VONA), and the Periplus Collective. Her work can be found in Obsidian, Honey Literary Magazine, and the V is for Voices! campaign and performance project curated by Aja Monet. She writes to free her voice.
MANUELA SILVESTRE MARTÍNEZ
FUNDRAISING COORDINATOR
Manuela has trouble sticking to a single genre or language. Originally from Dominican Republic, she’s held 25 addresses in the last 23 years, and done work for almost as many industries. She graduated with honors from New York University, earning a B.A. in English Literature despite spending most of her time on Latino Studies and Creative Writing. Her obsessions include loops, conviviality, and redemption.
LIASONS MANAGER
CHRISTOPHER FLAKUS
Christopher is the published author of over sixty short stories, poems, and essays as well as several chapbooks, most notably the novelette The Canonization of Lourdes Venegas de Martinez by Odessa Collective Press and Big Country published by Bottlecap Press. Christopher grew up in Mexico City and studies Latin American literature and film. These interests lead to a broader curiosity and an "Empire Studies" credit in postcolonial and decolonial literature. In addition Christopher has presented colloquiums at the International World Literature Conference on the subjects: Cinema and Evil as well as Neo-baroque/New world Baroque Literature and Cinema. Christopher graduated with an MFA in fiction from the University of Houston and is the co-founder and editor of Defunkt Magazine and former editor for The Bayou Review literary journals.
FUNDRAISING COORDINATOR
SIRONG (DAHLIA) LI
Sirong (Dahlia) is a writer from Xishuangbanna in Southern China. Having received her BA in Philosophy from UC Berkeley, she is now pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at LSU. She was the recipient of the 2022 AARC-PACH Creative Project Award, and her short stories were double finalists for the Tobias Wolff Award in 2022. In her free time, she likes to hike, play the harp, and dance (jazz-funk and classical Chinese).
SARAH BROCKHAUS
MERCHANDISE MANAGER & WEB DESIGNER
Sarah is an MFA candidate in poetry at LSU. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and graduated from Salisbury University in Maryland with a B.A. in English. She is a co-editor for The Shore Poetry, a reader for Poet Lore, and the nonfiction editor for New Delta Review. She is a two-time Best of the Net nominee and her poems can be found in places such as Sugar House Review, North American Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Jabberwock Review, and Cider Press Review.
SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR
ROSE TORRES
A native of South Texas, Rose Marie Torres is a third-year MFA candidate at LSU, with a focus on screenwriting and creative nonfiction. A graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, Rose has previously worked at the University of Texas’s Writing Center, assisting undergraduate students in developing their high order thinking and overall voice. Since 2023, Rose has been the Creative Writing Program Assistant for the LSU English Department. In her free time, Rose is a karaoke enthusiast and friend.
JALEN GIOVANNI JONES
OUTREACH COORDINATOR
Jalen is a Creole, Black and Filipino writer from Los Angeles. Like all Angelenos, Jalen has had his fair share of celebrity sightings. He has worked for the Oscars, directed an Emmy Award winning PSA, and once, Emma Stone generously stepped on his foot. Jalen serves as the fiction editor for the New Delta Review, was the director of the 2024 Delta Mouth Literary Festival, and is a staff writer and editor for Mixed Asian Media. Jalen’s creative work has been published in The Offing, has won the David Madden MFA Award for Fiction, and has been supported by the Tin House Workshop and the Lambda Literary Retreat. You can contact him through email at jalenjones@yahoo.com.
& OUR FACULTY ADVISOR…
ZACK GODSHALL
Louisiana native Zack Godshall makes fiction and nonfiction films about unsung people and places that exist along the fringes of culture. His films have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and been acclaimed by The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Time, among others.
Zack earned an MFA in film directing from UCLA and is currently an associate professor in the Department of English at Louisiana State University where he teaches film and screenwriting.