2023 New Voices Fellow
In her creative nonfiction, Erica Blumfield explores the highs and lows of living with bipolar disorder. She finds humor in the face of adversity and confronts society's perceptions of mental health. She also writes flash, noir fiction, and narrative poetry. Through her writing, teaching creative writing to elementary and middle school students, and producing the true storytelling show Revealed (true and personal storytelling), she amplifies voices, advocates for understanding, and inspires others to find strength in their challenges. She is a 2024 Writer of Note Grantee through the de Groot Foundation. She is a 2023 recipient of the Lighthouse Writers Workshop’s New Voices Fellowship. Her work appears in All The Lives We Ever Lived, in Bellevue Literary Reviews’ online series “Can Storytelling Prevent Gun Violence?” and on her podcast Telling Mental Health. Website: ericablumfield.com
2023 New Voices Fellow
Marya Summers has been a freelance writer, a columnist for the alternative press, a gypsy scholar, and a winner (and loser) of poetry slams across the country. In 2017, environmental illness and disability emptied her life of just about everything, including her ability to read and write. To accommodate her disability and provide shelter, she moved into a van-sized travel trailer with her wonder cat Perceval and set out in search of a place where she could rebuild her health and life. As she has worked toward health and housing stability, poetry is the medium through which she expresses her fury, grief, isolation, hope, wonder, awe, and mysticism. At the heart of her work is a deep love for Mama Gaia and the diverse beings in our one-world family. She is deeply grateful for the love in its many (and surprising!) forms that has sustained her. Her faith in language, humanity, and our collective spirit has waxed and waned; however, her faith in the Oxford comma endures.
2022 New Voices Fellow
Sahar Elhallak's poetic voice springs from her Palestinian heritage, intertwined with her Lebanese roots. Her verses resonate with the profound struggles she has faced, and the complexities of her mental health battles. Through her poetry, Sahar embodies resilience, guiding readers on a journey of introspection and spiritual transformation. With each word, she invites us to witness the beauty born from pain and experience the healing power of poetic expression.
2022 New Voices Fellow
Janet Hildebrandt returned to writing after a 20-year hiatus after her 2021 retirement. She received the 2022 New Voices Fellowship from Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop, and her poems are included in the 2022 and 2023 All the Lives We Ever Lived anthologies. Raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Janet lives in Denver with her husband where she incorporates her experience as a mother, personal chef, teacher, dancer, voracious reader, and nature lover into her poetry and memoir-based pieces.