Graduate Student Directory

Abraham Kedong Ali is a master’s student in Creative Writing. He holds a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Jos and an undergraduate degree in English literature from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. Additionally, he has a postgraduate diploma in education from the National Teachers’ Institute.

A passionate advocate for literacy and self-expression, Abraham is a creative writing coach and a facilitator with Narrative 4, a global organization dedicated to empowering young people through story exchange. His short story “Enigma” was shortlisted for the 2012 Garden City Festival in Nigeria. His poem “The Conversation” has appeared in the anthology The Wale Soyinka: Herald at 90.

As the founder of Universal Film and Literary Hub, Abraham aims to foster a vibrant reading and writing culture, particularly among young individuals. He firmly believes that cultivating such skills paves the way for critical thinking and problem-solving, which are essential in curbing excesses that define the human condition.

JC Andrews is a poet, teacher, and student from Springfield, Arkansas. She holds a B.A. in English-Creative Writing from Hendrix College, an MFA from Indiana University, and is currently attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to pursue a Ph.D. in English with a specialization in Creative Writing. Her work can be found in Gulf Coast, Salt Hill Journal, Massachusetts Review, and elsewhere. Most recently, she was a finalist for the 2024 National Poetry Series, the winner of the 2023 Columbia Journal Print Contest judged by Donna Masini, and the first runner up of the Palette Poetry 2024 Sappho Prize for Women Poets judged by Megan Fernandes.

Ber Anena is a Ph.D. student in English (Creative Writing). The Ugandan-born writer is interested in indigenous African feminisms, the recognition of the body as a voice, and legitimizing impoliteness and vulgarity in women’s resistance. Anena holds an M.F.A. in Writing from Columbia University in New York, an M.A. in Human Rights, and a B.A. in Mass Communication from Makerere University in Uganda. Her debut poetry collection, A Nation in Labour, won the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa in 2018. Her short fiction has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize (2018) and longlisted for the Short Story Day Africa Prize (2017 & 2018). In 2023, three of her poems were shortlisted for the Isele Poetry Prize. Anena’s prose and poetry have been published in The Atlantic, Off Assignment, adda, The Caine Prize anthology, Brittle Paper, Isele, The Plentitudes, the New Daughters of Africa anthology, The Kalahari Review, among others. As a performance poet, Anena has graced the stage in New York, Berlin, Kampala, Nairobi, Edinburg, Antwerp, and Lincoln, among others. She’s the Graduate Assistant for the African Poetry Book Distribution project and an Editorial Assistant for Prairie Schooner. 

CHIBUEZE DARLINGTON ANUONYE (He/him), a P.hD student in the English Department, is a literary conversationist, editor and writer. He is the curator of Selfies and Signatures: An Afro Anthology of Short Stories, co-editor (with Ezechi Onyerionwu) of Daybreak: An Anthology of Nigerian Short Fiction and editor of the international anthology of writings, Through the Eye of a Needle: Art in the Time of Coronavirus, and The Good Teacher: A Collection of Essays in Honour of Isidore Diala and Samuel Anthony Itodo. Anuonye was awarded the 2021 Amplify Fellowship by CovidHq and the MasterCard Foundation, longlisted for the 2018 Babishai Niwe African Poetry Award and shortlisted in 2016 by the Ibadan Poetry Foundation for its inaugural residency. His work has appeared in World Literature Today, The Hopkins Review, Brittle Paper, The New Black Magazine, Eunoia Review, and elsewhere. His academic writings are published or forthcoming in Research in African Literature, Postcolonial Text, Journal of African Literature Association, Safundi, Praxis: Journal for Gender and Cultural Critiques, among others. "Unbound", his co-edited anthology of contemporary Nigerian poetry (with Nduka Otiono), is forthcoming in 2024, in North America and Nigeria, by Griots Lounge Publishing and Narrative Landscape, respectively. Anuonye is the nonfiction editor of Ngiga Magazine. 

Manasseh Azure Awuni is a Ghanaian investigative journalist whose work has resulted in the passage of a law by Ghana’s parliament, cancellation of government contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and prosecution and jailing of persons. Manasseh was named Ghana’s Journalist of the Year for 2011 (a year after graduating from journalism school) by the Ghana Journalists Association. In 2018 and 2020, the Media Foundation for West Africa named him West Africa Journalist of the Year. He was adjudged the overall best journalist at the 2023 Norbert Zongo African Prize for Investigative Journalism (PAJI-NZ). Manasseh is the author of four nonfiction books: Voice of Conscience (2016), Letters to My Future Wife (2017), The Fourth John: Reign, Rejection & Rebound (2019), Investigative Journalism in Africa: A Practical Manual (2023), and The President Ghana Never Got (2024). His short stories have appeared in The Mirror (Ghana) and online websites such as Ghanaweb.com and myjoyonline.com. Manasseh was a Nieman Journalism Fellowship at Harvard University for the 2023-2024 academic year. He studied for a B.A. in Communication Studies at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) and an M.A. in the same field at the University of Ghana. He is pursuing an M.A. in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, focusing on Creative Writing.

Chaun Ballard is a doctoral student of poetry, an affiliate editor for Alaska Quarterly Review, an assistant poetry editor for Prairie Schooner, an assistant poetry editor for Terrain.org, a graduate of the MFA Program at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and a poetry faculty member for the Low-Residency MFA Program at Alaska Pacific University. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship and an Alaska Literary Award. His chapbook, Flight, was awarded the 2018 Sunken Garden Poetry Prize and is published by Tupelo Press. His full-length collection, Second Nature, received the 2023 A. Poulin, Jr. Prize and will be published by BOA Editions in 2025. Chaun’s poems have appeared in Narrative Magazine, Oxford Poetry, Poetry Northwest, Obsidian, The Atlantic, The Missouri Review, The New York Times, and other literary magazines.

Tara Ballard is a Ph.D. candidate in English. Within the doctoral program, Tara's area of specialization is creative writing, with a focus on poetry. She is an assistant poetry editor for Prairie Schooner, an affiliate editor for Alaska Quarterly Review, and a research assistant for the Walt Whitman Archive. Tara is the author of House of the Night Watch (New Rivers Press), which won the 2016 Many Voices Project prize in poetry. Her poems have been published in The Atlantic, Bellevue Literary Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, North American Review, Poetry Northwest, Salamander, Tar River Poetry, and other literary magazines. Her work received a 2019 Nâzim Hikmet Poetry Prize.

April Bayer is a first-year Ph.D. student in Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She obtained her M.A. in English Literature from the University of South Dakota and recently published her thesis “Women of Myth and Modernity: The Feminine Dual Self in Willa Cather's Short Fiction.” In 2021, she had the pleasure of receiving the University of South Dakota's Graduate Excellence in Teaching Award. April’s creative work has previously been published in Capsule Stories. Her research interests include Willa Cather studies, modernism, intersections of literature and media studies, and the pedagogy of composition and literature.

Alexandra Bissell is a doctoral student in English Literary and Cultural Studies with an emphasis in Women’s & Gender Studies. Her current work centers on poetry & poetics, queer theory, trauma, and the affective role of literature in cultural archives. She holds an M.A. in English from DePaul University and a B.A. in English with a minor in Creative Writing from the University of Northern Iowa. She served for two years as the executive editor of the literary magazine, Inner Weather, and has presented papers on the poetry of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Thom Gunn. Some of the accolades she has received for her critical and creative work include the Selina Terry Poetry Award, the James Hearst Award, and the James HiDuke Writing Award. She is also currently a recipient of the Crompton Fellowship.

Azaria is a Creative Writing doctoral student specializing in fiction. In a previous life, she was a nonprofit administrator and illustrator. She holds a BA in English from the University of Lynchburg and an MFA from Butler University. Her chapbook, The Smiths of 115th Street, is forthcoming from WTAW Press.

She is interested in writing about magical realism, speculative fiction, Gothic fiction, motherhood, addiction, how religion affects Black communities/families, and the implementation of pop culture (specifically television and film) in literature and pedagogy.

Caroliena Cabada is a Ph.D. student in English with a focus in Creative Writing. Her writing has been published in online and print magazines and anthologies, and has been selected for Best Small Fictions 2021. Prior to attending UNL, she earned her B.A. in Chemistry from New York University, worked for science communication and advocacy nonprofits in New York City, and earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University, where she was the 2018-2019 Pearl Hogrefe Fellow in Creative Writing. When not writing, reading, or teaching, you can find her procrasti-baking vegan cupcakes and playing Stardew Valley.

Erin Chambers is an M.A. student whose interests include queer theory, digital humanities, children’s and young adult literature, creative nonfiction, community forestry, and science communication. Erin holds a Graduate Certificate in Digital Humanities from UNL and a B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities.

Jordan Charlton is a Ph.D. student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a focus in creative writing, specializing in poetry. He earned his M.A. in English from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and his B.A. in English from Oklahoma State University.

Jackie Chicalese is a Ph.D. student in Composition and Rhetoric. As a writer and teacher, her interests include the intersection of creative writing and composition studies, community literacies, and ecopoetics. She currently serves as Graduate Research Assistant to the Brown Chair in English Literacy at the University of Arkansas and as Associate Poetry Editor for Iron Horse Literary Review. 

Originally from coal country, Pennsylvania, Jackie earned her MFA in Poetry from the University of Arkansas, where she was a Graduate Assistant to the Brown Chair in English Literacy and Community Literacies Collaboratory (CLC) and served as Poetry Editor for the Arkansas International. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry Northwest, Gulf Coast, the minnesota review, and elsewhere.

Avery Clason is an M.A. student focusing on literary and cultural studies with an interest in reading and composition pedagogy at the secondary level, queer theory, and fiction writing. She holds a B.S. in Secondary English Language Arts Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Karie Cobb is an M.A. student specializing in Literary and Cultural Studies and Women's and Gender Studies, and pursuing certification in the Teaching of Writing. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Maryland Global Campus. Her research is primarily focused on 19th century literature, particularly the Civil War, and its impact and implications on American society in the 21st century. She currently works as a graduate assistant at the Walt Whitman Archive.

Akua Agyeiwaa Denky-Manieson holds a Master of Philosophy from the University of Ghana. She graduated from the University of Cape Coast with a Bachelor of Arts in English and History (Hons). Akua specialises in teaching African literary studies, film criticism, and comparative literature. Akua is a member of the Linguistics Association of Ghana, African Literature Association, and African Oral Literature Association. Akua was the graduate student’s Africa representative for the Canadian Association of African Studies (2019-2022). Her research interest is in the area of the Gold Coast Novel (1885-1943).  Akua Agyeiwaa is a 2024 Digital Humanities fellow at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Kathleen (she/they), who originally hails from Manistee, Michigan, is an activist, educator, and fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in Composition & Rhetoric who is interested in how writing classrooms can prepare our students to be thoughtful, empathetic, and values-driven community members. Kathleen is also interested in slow pedagogy, disability studies, and dismantling classism in higher education. Kathleen is the Writing Specialist for the TRIO Student Support Services program, an Assistant Director for the Composition program, Co-Director of the Writing Lincoln Initiative, on the Steering Committee of the graduate student worker union, Unionize UNL, and the graduate advisor for Spectrum, UNL's LGBTQIA+ club.

Before coming to UNL, Kathleen worked for five years as an Academic Advisor and eventually Assistant Director for a TRIO Student Support Services program at Loyola University Chicago, where she previously received a Master’s in English, on the ‘teaching track’. Kathleen also earned a Bachelor’s in English, with a minor in Politics & Government, from North Park University in Chicago.

Serenity Dougherty is a doctoral student in Composition and Rhetoric. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, an M.A. in English Creative Writing and Pedagogy from Northern Michigan University, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing (fiction) from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She also has a graduate certificate in Gender Studies and a Certificate in University Teaching, both from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Serenity has been performing stand-up comedy for a decade, and her research draws from her experience as a comedian to examine the intersections between writing and identity. She is currently a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and serves as the Coordinator for the national Writing Across the Curriculum Graduate Organization (WAC-GO).

Chinụa Ezenwa-Ọhaeto (@ChinuaEzenwa) is from Owerri-Nkworji in Nkwerre, Imo state, Nigeria, and grew up between Germany and Nigeria. He has a chapbook, The Teenager Who Became My Mother, via Sevhage Publishers. He became a runner-up in Etisalat Prize for Literature, Flash fiction, 2014. He won the Castello di Duino Poesia Prize for an unpublished poem. He was the recipient of New Hampshire Institute of Art’s 2018 Writing Award, and also the recipient of New Hampshire Institute of Art’s 2018 scholarship to MFA Program. In 2019, he was the winner of Sevhage/Angus Poetry Prize and second runner-up in 5th Singapore Poetry Contest. His works have appeared in Isele Magazine, AFREADA, Poet Lore, Massachusetts Review, Frontier, Palette, Malahat Review, Southword Magazine, Vallum, Mud Season Review, Salamander, Strange Horizons, Anmly, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Spectacle Magazine, Ruminate, and elsewhere. He currently lives in Lincoln, NE where he is pursuing his Ph.D. in English at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with a focus in Creative Writing (poetry).

Kate Gaskin is the author of Forever War (YesYes Books 2020), winner of the Pamet River Prize. Forever War also won a 2021 Nebraska Book Award in the category of Poetry Honor. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in journals such as Ploughshares, The American Poetry Review, Guernica, Pleiades, The Southern Review, and The Rumpus, and her work has been anthologized in the 2019 Best American Nonrequired Reading. She is a recipient of a Tennessee Williams Scholarship in poetry from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, as well as a fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center. In 2017 she won The Pinch’s Literary Award in Poetry, and in 2022 she was a recipient of the Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award sponsored by Poets & Writers. Currently, she is a poetry editor for The Adroit Journal. She grew up in a small town in central Alabama and currently lives in Omaha, Nebraska.

Paul Grosskopf is an English Ph.D. student in Literary and Cultural Studies. He graduated with a B.S. from University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and an M.A. from Northern Illinois University. At UNL, Paul splits his time between teaching in the English Department and working as an editorial assistant in the Willa Cather Archive. His research interests include fat studies, print culture, transnationalism, and modernity in American literature and culture.

Kenneth Michael Hoover is a Ph.D. student in Literary and Cultural Studies with a special interest in American poetry. He received his B.A. in Philosophy from Iowa and his M.A. in English from UNO. For a time, he lived in New York City and worked at Strand Book Store, organizing on behalf of UAW Local 279. In addition to coursework and creative writing, Kenneth works as a composition instructor and research assistant in the Whitman Archive. He lives in Omaha with his family and enjoys skateboarding, playing music, and The Legend of Zelda.

Ella Kehr is a master’s student specializing in 19^th Century Literature. She graduated with her bachelor's degree in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her interests include the Victorian novel, the Decadent movement, Romanticism, and women's literature. 

Blake Kinnett (they/them) received their undergraduate degree in English from Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, their M.F.A. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and are working toward a Ph.D. in English here at UNL. Their specializations are in creative writing with an emphasis on fiction writing, queer monstrosities as represented in media, and representations of mental illness as depicted in popular culture.

Gwendolyn Klinkey is an M.A. student originally from Campton Hills, IL. She graduated summa cum laude with Honors from Millikin University in 2023 after pursuing a double major in English Literature and Professional Writing and a minor in History. Gwen’s academic interests include digital literature, women’s studies, feminist theory, and young adult literature. Her undergraduate capstone project focused on explaining and exploring methods of narrative storytelling in open-world video games like Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt and Red Dead Redemption 2. Gwen has worked as an editorial intern for the scholarly journal, Rhetoric Review. At UNL she works as an editorial assistant at the Willa Cather Archive. She holds a B.A. in English literature and professional writing with a minor in history from Millikin University.

Tom Knoblauch is a Ph.D. student in Literary and Cultural Studies in the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He studies the intersection of politics, aesthetics, and media. His work has been published in Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal, The Berliner Gazette, The Reader, and he is writing a manuscript on Céline Sciamma for Lexington Books. Knoblauch earned a master's degree in English from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He also hosts the PRX show The Entertainment, teaches rhetoric/film in Omaha, and his films have won awards from bodies such as the Chicago Filmmaker Awards, the International Independent Film Awards, the Milan Arthouse Film Awards, the Vancouver International Film Festival, and more. 

Lindsay is an M.A. student in Literary and Cultural Studies. She is interested in contemporary writers and coming-of-age stories, focusing on the experiences and alienation of young girls and women. She completed her B.A. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in only three years with a minor in Women and Gender Studies while competing on the women’s volleyball team throughout her undergraduate education.

Nicole Lachat was born in Edmonton, Canada to a Peruvian mother and Swiss father. In 2024 she received the Michael Waters Poetry Prize for her collection, The Red We Silk, which is forthcoming with Southern Indiana Review (2025). She earned an MFA in Creative Writing- Poetry at New York University. Her poetry appears in Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Poets.org, Ruminate Magazine, One by Jacar Press, and BirdFeast Magazine, among others. She has literary reviews published with The Puerto Rico Review, SIR, and has contributed an essay to the Dictionary of Literary Biography. She was awarded the Wilbur Gaffney Poetry Prize and is a recipient of an Individual Arts Fellowship through the National Endowment for the Arts. Nicole is a Banff Arts Centre fellow. She is currently completing her PhD in English- Creative Writing (poetry) at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, where she teaches and works as the Book Prize Coordinator for Prairie Schooner and the African Poetry Book Fund. She currently lives in Lincoln.  

Richard Ayertey Lawer is an M.A. student of Composition and Rhetoric. He holds a Master of Philosophy degree in Linguistics, a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics and Information Studies from the University of Ghana, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the University of Education, Winneba. These qualifications have offered Richard a sound foundation in both theoretical and applied linguistics, making it possible for him to contribute meaningfully to the field of language education. He has been teaching English language to non-native speakers in Ghana, especially senior high school students. Richard is interested in how writing centers can contribute in making non-native English writers demonstrate consistency in their thoughts through writing and empower Ghanaians youth to put their ideas into writing. With his background in linguistics, Richard believes that obtaining skills in English language teaching and writing will enhance his work as a language educator and researcher.

Tina Le is a Ph.D. student in Composition & Rhetoric. She holds a B.S. in Secondary English Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has taught high school English for Lincoln Public Schools, including 9th grade and creative writing courses. She works for the Nebraska Writers Collective as a Core Teaching Artist and serves on the Nebraska Writing Project advisory board. She has been a Husker Writers fellow and evaluation team member. Her research interests include composition pedagogy at the secondary and college levels, the social dimension of writing, and the relationship between community-building and writing.

Maria Loya-Perez is an M.A. student with a specialization in Literary and Cultural Studies. She earned her B.A. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in English literature with minors in Latin, Classics, and Religious Studies. Her research interests include Ethnic Studies with a focus on Mexican-American literature.  

A graduate of both undergraduate and graduate programs from Presidency University, Kolkata, with majors in English Literature, Arka Maitra is primarily interested in Literary and Cultural studies pertaining to early Colonial and Anglophone literature and Postcolonial theory.

Rasaq Malik is a graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He is a cofounder of Àtẹ́lẹwọ́, the first digital journal devoted to publishing work written in the Yorùbá language. He is the author of the poetry chapbooks Home In This Land, selected for Chapbook Box edited by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani, and The Other Names of Grief, published by Konya Shamsrumi. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in African American Review, Colorado Review, Crab Orchard Review, LitHub, Michigan Quarterly Review, Minnesota Review, New Orleans Review, Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, Rattle, Salt Hill, Spillway, Stand, Verse Daily, and elsewhere. He won Honorable Mention in 2015 Best of the Net for his poem “Elegy,” published in One. In 2017, Rattle and Poet Lore nominated his poems for the Pushcart Prize. He was shortlisted for Brunel International African Poetry Prize in 2017. He was a finalist for Sillerman First Book for African Poets in 2018.

Photo credit: Santi Femi

Ian Maxton is a doctoral student in creative writing with a focus on experimental fiction and the novel. His research interests include theory-fiction, communist poetics, Marxist literary criticism, surrealism, the western, and the gothic.

Cynthia Mbagwu is a master's student specializing in Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She completed her B.A. in English and Literary Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Cynthia's research interests include Speculative fiction and Afro-Diasporic literature. She also has a budding interest in Digital Humanities and works as a research assistant at the Charles W. Chesnutt Archive.

Jason McCormick is a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, studying Rhetoric and Composition. Their studies focus on issues of disability and identity, access, and developmental education. In addition to their PhD studies, they are also a full-time instructor of English at Southeast Community College.

Jason also holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from The New School (2013) and an M.A. in Literature from Hunter College (2019). Their fiction has appeared in F(r)iction Magazine and Bloody Key Society and has been nominated for prizes, including the Bram Stoker award for short fiction and Critters “Best of the Net.” Their scholarly work has appeared in the Journal of Creative Writing Studiesand Teaching English in the Two Year College (forthcoming).

Tim Meadows is a Ph.D. student in composition and rhetoric. His interests include first-year composition, writing centers, place-conscious teaching, and literacy studies. Since 2016, he has been a lecturer with Programs in English as a Second Language (PIESL) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. During this time, his interest in teaching writing developed as he taught composition courses to international students. He has presented about the use of writing histories to improve instruction in first-year writing courses designed for international students and ways in which instruction about human rights can be integrated into writing curriculum. He received a Bachelor of Music with a major in church music from Carson-Newman University, a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics from Old Dominion University, and a Graduate Certificate in the Teaching of Writing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He also has a teaching license from the Virginia Board of Education with endorsements in ESOL k-12 and choral/vocal music k-12.

Alec Miller is an M.A. student in Literary and Cultural Studies and is interested in literature by Catholic writers in the 20th century. Alec also researches the relationship between bystander intervention and affect in the Objectification of Women Lab in the Psychology Department. He holds a B.A. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Psychology and Spanish.

Lauren Millhorn is an M.A. student with a specialization in Literary and Cultural Studies. Her research focuses on Hip-Hop studies—specifically how Hip-Hop impacts young adults from the Midwest. Her additional research interests include Indigenous Literatures, Black Literatures, Gothic Literatures, feminist studies, sound studies, and queer studies. Lauren holds a B.A. in English from Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. Her paper "From Receptors to Revisors: Readers in the Cruso(e) Narrative" appeared in the 2022 issue of Johns Hopkins University's Macksey Journal. Lauren is a Research Assistant for the Charles W. Chesnutt Archive and the African Poetry Book Fund. 

Kassandra Milligan is a Ph.D. student with a specialization in Creative Writing: Poetry. Originally from New York, she has an M.A. and a B.A. in English from the University at Albany (SUNY). She has had a poem “Haunted Town” published in the leave fall  (2021) and has participated in Wordfest 2019 “Reading Against the End of the World Open Mic.”

Alina Nguyễn was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. She earned her B.A. in English Literature and Asian American Studies from the California State University, Northridge, and her M.F.A. in Creative Writing (Poetry) from the California State University, Long Beach, where she was awarded the Gerald Locklin Writing Prize. Her risograph-printed chapbook, Before There Were More Ghosts, was published by Tomorrow Today. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Creative Writing (Poetry) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with interests in Poetics, Ethnic Literature, Queer Theory, and Printmaking. For the Department, she serves as Assistant Director of the Writing Center and Research Assistant of the African Poetry Digital Portal.

Uche Okonkwo is a Ph.D. student in English, with a focus in Creative Writing. She grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, and has an M.F.A. in Fiction from Virginia Tech and an M.A. in Creative Writing from University of Manchester, UK. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in One Story, Ploughshares, A Public Space, The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2019, Lagos Noir, Ellipsis, Saraba, and others. She has received residencies and scholarships from Writers Omi, The Anderson Center in Red Wing, MN, and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She was the 2020-2021 George Bennett Fellow at Phillips Exeter Academy, and is a 2021-2022 Steinbeck Fellow. 

Photo credit: Rohan Kamicheril

Zainab Omaki is a Ph.D. student in Creative Writing (fiction). She has a Masters in the same field from the University of East Anglia, where she was the recipient of the Miles Morland African Writer’s award. Her essays, fiction, and literary criticism have appeared in or are forthcoming from Callaloo, L.A Review, Five Points, Passages North, Transition Magazine, and The Rumpus. Her novel-in-progress been supported by the University of Bayreuth in Germany, the Jan Michalski foundation in Switzerland, and the Nebraska Arts Council.

Kasey Peters is a doctoral student in creative writing from rural Nebraska with work in Carve, Pinch, Hayden's Ferry Review, and others. Peters serves as editorial assistant for Zero Street Press, and as Assistant Fiction Editor for Prairie Schooner. Their research interests include gender studies, queer theory, ecocriticism, and decolonial pedagogy.

Amanda is an M.A. student specializing in Rhetoric and Composition. She graduated from Texas Christian University with a B.A. in Writing and Women & Gender Studies. Amanda’s research interests include women’s and feminist rhetorics, queer rhetorics, and rhetorical efforts of queer allies. She specifically wants to create approachable writing on contentious topics so they may reach those across the aisle.

Jessica Poli is a Ph.D. student in Creative Writing. Her debut poetry collection, Red Ocher, was a finalist for the 2023 Miller Williams Poetry Prize. She is also the author of four chapbooks, including Canyons (BatCat Press, 2018) and The Egg Mistress, which won the 2012 Gold Line Press Poetry Chapbook Competition. Along with Marco Abel and Timothy Schaffert, Poli co-edited the anthology More in Time: A Tribute to Ted Kooser, which won a 2022 Nebraska Book Award. She currently works as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, Writing Center Consultant, and Assistant Director of Creative Writing at UNL, as well as an Assistant Poetry Editor for Prairie Schooner. Her work has appeared in Best New Poets, North American Review, and Poet Lore, among other places, and she has been the recipient of a Wilbur Gaffney Poetry Prize.

Kimberly Reyes is the author of the upcoming poetry collection Bloodletting (Omnidawn 2025), and of the collections vanishing point. (Omnidawn 2023), Running to Stand Still (Omnidawn 2019), finalist for the 2020 Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award and for Civil Coping Mechanisms' 2017 Mainline Competition, and Warning Coloration (dancing girl press 2018), finalist for the Two Sylvias Press 2017 Chapbook Competition. Her nonfiction book of essays Life During Wartime (Fourteen Hills 2019) won the 2018 Michael Rubin Book Award. Her work is featured in various international outlets including The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly, Time.com, The New York Post, The Village Voice, Alternative Press, ESPN the Magazine, Film Ireland, The Irish Examiner, The Poetry Review, Poetry London, Poetry Ireland, RTÉ Radio, NY1 News, The Irish Journal of American Studies, The Best American Poetry blog, poets.org, American Poets Magazine, The Feminist Wire, Banshee and The Stinging Fly. Kimberly has received fellowships and prizes from the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets, the Fulbright Program, CantoMundo, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Tin House Workshops, the Irish Arts Council, Culture Ireland, the Munster Literature Centre, the Prague Summer Program for Writers, Summer Literary Seminars in Kenya, the Community of Writers, and many other places. Kimberly is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Creative Writing (poetry).

Lexus Root is an English doctoral student in literary and cultural studies. He previously graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a B.A. in English. His interests include Willa Cather, queer theory, and obsession in literature.

Kylie is an M.A. student specializing in Rhetoric and Composition. Her research interests include feminist rhetoric, antiracist pedagogies, and activist rhetorics. Kylie is also deeply interested in radicalizing both the Writing Center and the composition classroom. Kylie holds a B.A. in English and in Writing and Rhetoric from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She has been published in Young Scholars in Writing (2024) and presented at CCCC (2023).

Melissa Tayles is a Ph.D. student in composition and rhetoric. Her interests include trauma-informed writing pedagogy, Basic Writing (BW), First Year Composition (FYC), and community college writing instruction.  Since 2003, she has taught writing at the community college level and continues to serve as a full-time English instructor at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska. During this time, her work has focused on teaching, course assessment, and curriculum development. She has presented on accelerated learning placement (ALP), teaching circles, and trauma-informed writing pedagogy. Her work has been published in TETYC.  She earned a B.A. and M.A. in English from Fort Hays State University.

Elliott Uguru is a doctoral student in English (Literary and Cultural Studies). His research areas include Anglophone African fiction and 20th  Century African Diaspora fiction. He holds an MA in English (Literary and Cultural Studies) from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His previous M.A. and B.A. degrees in English and Literature were obtained in Nigeria from Nnamdi Azikiwe University and Ebonyi State University respectively. Elliott holds a teaching position in the department of English and Literary Studies, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu- Alike, Nigeria, though he has been on leave since 2022 when he started his program at UNL. As a doctoral student, Elliott works with the African Poetry Digital Portal as Research Assistant and teaches first-year Composition.  

Megan Walsh is a Ph.D. student specializing in poetry. She graduated with her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from North Carolina State University and her bachelor’s degree in English from Washington College. Her interests include contemporary poetry, queer and disability studies, and pedagogy. 

Emma Whaley is pursuing an M.A. in English, with a specialization in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. She received her B.A. in English from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 2024. Her research interests include classics and religion, philosophy, queer studies, poetry, and drama.

Matt Whitaker is a doctoral student in Composition and Rhetoric and a graduate fellow with the Center for Great Plains Studies. His work explores environmental activist rhetoric in the Great Plains, focusing specifically on the interrelationships between discourse and space. Matt’s research pulls from a broad range of disciplines and subdisciplines, including critical geography, spatial theory, ecocriticism, animal studies, and material rhetorics. His teaching practices are informed by his commitment to public affairs and community engagement. He contributed to the Husker Writers Project in 2018 and serves as a counselor with the Missouri State Public Affairs Academy. Matt was a recipient of the Robert L. Hough Teaching Award in 2018, as well as the Husker Writer Teaching Award. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and Master’s degree in Writing at Missouri State University.

Peter Wilson is a PhD student focusing in Literary and Cultural Studies, with a specialty in African American literature. He holds dual B.A.s in English and Philosophy from Colorado State University.

Darian is a master’s student in literary and cultural studies with a focus on disability and neurodivergence. Darian got her bachelor’s degree in education and theatre from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Marcus Woodman is an M.A. student focusing on Composition and Rhetoric at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. His interests focus mainly on queer communities and identity through history, particularly on activist, mentorship, and mutual aid networks. Outside of academia, he is a creative writer and visual artist. Marcus graduated with a B.A. in English and history from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln in 2016.