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701 N Econlockhatchee Trail, Orlando, FL 32825

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Join us for Literary Readings by our Valencia Writers:

John Calvin Hughes holds degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of South Florida. His publications include a critical study, The Novels and Short Stories of Frederick Barthelme (The Edwin Mellen Press); a poetry chapbook, The Shape of Our Luck (Sargent Press); a poetry book, Music from a Farther Room (Aldrich Press); and two novels, Twilight of the Lesser Gods (CreateSpace) and Killing Rush (Second Wind Publishing). He has published stories, poems and literary criticism in numerous magazines and journals, including Southern Indiana Review, The Timberline Review, Studies in Short Fiction and Mississippi Review. Nominated for a Pushcart in 2015, he is also the winner of the Ilse and Hans Juergensen Poetry Contest and The Thomas Burnett Swann Poetry Prize. His poetry chapbook Cul-de-sac Agonistes was just published by Black Bomb Books. He lives and works in Florida.

Shari Koopmann holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Bloomsburg University, a master’s degree in literature from the University of New Hampshire, and a doctoral degree in education from the University of Central Florida. She has published poetry in various small press journals in both the United States and Canada, including Red Hand Press’s Fulva Flava and Defect Cult literary annuals, Second-Hand Production’s Falling Star Magazine, Day Break Press’s Prism Quarterly, and Ascent Aspriations Magazine’s anthologies Aqua Terra and Close to Quitting Time, in which she was awarded first and second prizes for her poems “Today’s Lesson: Staying Dry” and “Treading Water” respectively. Bella Books will be publishing her third novel in the summer of 2018. Shari also published articles of literary criticism in international peer-reviewed scholarly journals and books, including the Atlantic Literary Review, the Atlantic Critical Review Quarterly, and Studies in Women Writers in English.

Kirsten Holt received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Florida in 2013. Her chapbook of poetry, Overwintered, is available from Yellowjacket Press. Recent work can be found in Orion, The Fairytale Review, and The Louisville Review. She has worked as the managing editor for The Florida Review and Sweet: A Literary Confection. ​ Kirsten currently teaches Creative Writing and English at Valencia College in Orlando, where she lives with her two cats, and a bunch of plants she's trying very hard not to kill. 

Fred Lambert is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War, a writer in his free time, and an Instructional Lab Assistant (aka Writing Tutor) at the Communications Student Support Center of Valencia College's Winter Park campus. He lives in his hometown of Orlando, Florida.

Yvonne Amey is a graduate from the University of Central Florida's MFA in Creative Writing Program. Her fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have been published in Vine Leaves Journal and The Cyprus Dome. She teaches English at Valencia College. 

Christopher Brown is a writer and performer from central Florida. He works with spoken word poetry and fiction that focuses on the natural world, family life, and friendship. This is his fifth year teaching at Valencia College.

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  • Darlene Anderson

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