The Burlington Writers Workshop (BWW) is run by a volunteer board of directors.
Members of the board work together with the Leadership Team to develop and oversee the scope and mission of the organization. It also provides fiscal oversight and develops appropriate policies and procedures and monitors the BWW’s programs and overall performance.
The BWW Board of Directors:
Janet McKeehan-Medina, Co-chair
…grew up in Los Angeles and currently lives in New York with her husband. She is a trained psychotherapist and special education consultant. She has always harbored a passion for writing and has incorporated it into her professional and personal life. As a Burlington Writers Workshop member and volunteer, she was able to reconnect with her love for poetry.
During the pandemic, she kept herself centered through the practice of Wild Writing. It allowed her space to process and heal. She is a certified Wild Writing teacher and hosts classes at BWW. To find out more about the therapeutic benefits of Wild Writing, you may email her at janetmckeehanmedina@gmail.com or go to her website www.janetmckeehanmedina.com.
Katie Lazarus, Co-chair
… is a writer, editor, artist, journalist, and copywriter with poems published in Bloodroot Literary Magazine, The Decadent Review, Meow Meow Pow Pow Literary Magazine, Cold Lake Anthology, and Zig Zag Lit Mag. She received her MFA in poetry at Bennington College and before that, attended University of Vermont where she majored in English. She currently serves BWW as co-chair on the board, co-writer of the newsletter The Latest Word, article writer for the website, and grant writer.
Dick Matheson, Treasurer
…survived a one-room schoolhouse with four grades to one teacher; a childhood with an unheated bedroom in an uninsulated, all woodstove farmhouse; UVM; Vietnam; a Masters in Management earned nights and weekends while an Air Force officer getting deployed around Germany in a mobile radar unit; active, committed fatherhood; and starting and running his own retail furniture and design business for a third of a century. He is a lifelong writer, the author of several fiction books, poetry collections, and a portfolio of songs, none of which has he ever submitted for publishing . . . yet, as he continues to learn to write while wearing a variety of hats at BWW.
Millie Eidson, Secretary
…is retired as a public health veterinarian with CDC and state health departments, although she continues as a part-time epidemiology faculty member at the University at Albany and the University of Vermont where she teaches a course on zoonoses (diseases from animals) and climate change. After a career writing scientific publications, Millie now lives in Burlington, Vermont and brings these zoonotic diseases to life in an alphabetic microbial mystery series (Anthracis and Borrelia are the first two). In addition to BWW, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Alliance of Independent Authors. The MayaVerse at https://drmayamaguire.com includes prequels, “El Chinche” in Danse Macabre and “What’s Within” in Fiction on the Web, and a side story, “Pérdida” in El Portal Literary Journal. Author awards include Best Play in Synkroniciti and Honorable Mention from the Arizona Mystery Writers.
Julie Hay
…was born in Montreal and has lived in Canada, the UK and now the US – 12 cities and counting! She is currently based in the Adirondacks where she works in strategy for American Express and paddles or hikes in her free time. A life-long journaler, newsy email writer, sporadic fiction writer and avid reader, during the pandemic she began putting some consistency to her writing practice and discovered the Burlington Writers Workshop. Julie has an MEd and an MBA from the University of Toronto and York University, respectively.
Jane Nevins
…is a writer, editor and artisan of Vermont. She grew up in Montpelier, the capital, and left for a short period of time to develop a career path, but never forgot her roots. She came back to her beloved green mountains and never left since. From free writes, to short stories, to chapters, manuscripts and dabbling with illustrating and writing a children’s book, Jane loves the craft of writing. Jane holds a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from the University of Vermont. She has held various writing positions throughout her career including writing, interviewing, editing, and photographing certain individuals to be included in a published Annual Report.
Rebecca O’Bern, Mud Season Review co-seat
…is a writer, editor, singer/musician, and photographer with work published in Notre Dame Review, Barely South Review, Connecticut Review, Buddhist Poetry Review, Whale Road Review, and elsewhere. A recipient of the Leslie Leeds Poetry Prize, she’s also been awarded honors from UCONN, Connecticut Poetry Society, and Arts Café Mystic. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Southern Connecticut State University, where she taught in the English Department. She currently co-edits Mud Season Review. Find her online on Twitter @rebeccaobern and at rebeccaobern.com.
Ashley Hajimirsadeghi, Mud Season Review co-seat
…is an Iranian-American multimedia artist, journalist, and writer. She currently is an M.A. Candidate in Global Humanities at Towson University and previously received her BS in International Trade and Marketing from the Fashion Institute of Technology. The recipient of awards, scholarships, and honors from the US State Department, the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program, the State University of New York, and Brooklyn Poets, Ashley is the author of two chapbooks (cinephile, Ghost City Press, and cartography of trauma, dancing girl press). Her creative writing has appeared in Hobart, RHINO, Salt Hill, DIALOGIST, among others. Find her online at www.ashleyhajimirsadeghi.com