Followed by panel discussion: how to balance writing and teaching, the impact of performance poetry, and the intersections of writing for healing and our audience

Mary Stein’s fiction can be found in Water~Stone Review, Caketrain, The Brooklyn Rail, Tin House Flash Fridays, and other journals. Her work has been nominated for New Stories from the Midwest, and she’s received a 2015 Minnesota Emerging Writers’ Grant from The Loft Literary Center, a Loft Mentor Series Award, and a 2017 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant for fiction. Mary is a content editor for Host Agency Reviews, and an instructor and board member of the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. She’s has written a mess of stories and is currently working on her novel, “Wonderland Babies.” http://marycstein.com

Roy G. Guzmán was born in Honduras and raised in Miami, FL. His work has appeared in The Adroit Journal, Winter Tangerine, Juked, Superstition Review, Notre Dame Review and Poetry. His work has been anthologized in IMANIMAN: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands (Aunt Lute Books) and The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States (Tia Chucha Press). Roy is a poetry editor forSundog Lit, and his work has been nominated for the Pushcart prize and Best of the Net. He is the recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board grant and the 2016 Gesell Award for Excellence in Poetry. After the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, his poem “Restored Mural for Orlando” was turned into a chapbook with the help of poet and visual artist, D. Allen, to raise funds for the victims. www.royguzman.com

Wendy Brown-Báez is a writer, teacher, performance poet and installation artist. Her essays “Why We Write: The Wounded and Enduring” appeared in Poets & Writers Magazine and “Pilgrimage” won WNBA’s 2016 national contest. She is the author of the poetry books Ceremonies of the Spirit and transparencies of light and her poetry and prose appear in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including The Litchfield Review, Minnetonka Review, Mizna, Talking Writing, and The Heart of All That Is. Wendy was awarded McKnight and MN State Arts Board grants to teach writing workshops in non-profits. She has guided victims of domestic violence, homeless youth, incarcerated writers, HIV+ clients, cancer survivors and the grieving to tell their stories.www.wendybrownbaez.com