Here are the partners that make Writing the Community happen!
K-12 Schools and Community Partners Spring 2025
Arizona School for Deaf and Blind
CAPE School Disrict
Drachman Montessori K-8 Magnet School
Imago Dei
International School of Tucson
Flowing Wells High School
Mansfield Middle School Miles Exploratory Learning Center
Pueblo Gardens PreK-8 School
Roskruge Billingual K-8 Magnet School
Safford K-8 School
Mentor Teachers
Saraiya Kanning is a creative writer and visual artist with a special interest in wildlife and ecology. As an educator, she seeks to inspire students with joy and curiosity for art making. Through her teaching, she highlights the intersection of art and science and explores how one's identity connects to the places and communities in which we live. Kanning holds an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Arizona. She teaches drawing and painting online and through various venues in Colorado Springs, Colorado. You can view her visual art at raebirdcreations.com or on Instagram @raebirdcreationsart.
Eva Sierra is a poet, educator, and cultural advocate from Douglas, Arizona. Eva is the author of two chapbooks, Caña y Limón and RAIN, and her third chapbook, CIELO, is set to be released in 2025. In 2023, she was awarded the Fellowship in Cultural Exchange in the Literary Arts from the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University. Eva is also the co-founder and director of The Reading Series, a poetry open mic centered on healing, justice, and the occult.
Charlie Buck has published in The New Yorker and Story magazines, among others, and has work forthcoming in Alaska Quarterly Review. She's received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Yaddo, and MacDowell colonies. Charlie loves the lively exchange of words and feelings that happens in a classroom full of young writers.
Taylor Johnson was born in Washington, DC, raised in Western Maryland, but now considers herself of the Sonoran Desert, having lived in Tucson for the past 23 years. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in Poetry from the University of Arizona in 2007. 2025 is her third delightful year serving as a teaching artist for Writing the Community.
Judy Sensibar is delighted to return to the classroom to share her love of writing. After many years teaching English and Language Arts to students in Providence, RI, Jakarta, Indonesia, Pittsburgh, PA, and here in Tucson, she relishes working with young people again to help them express themselves through poetry. From working as a journalist to volunteering as a neighborhood activist, she has learned writing is the key to communicating well, connecting with others, and a wonderful way to learn about yourself.
Elizabeth Brown writes short stories, essays, and poetry; her work has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Image, Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts, and The Daily Beast, among other places. Her poem, "My Voice" won third place in the 2023 Caterpillar Poetry Prize and was published in The Irish Times. She finds joy in inspiring others to find their own voices, creating work that is unique and true.
Sevi Giovanni is a poet, musician, teacher, and plant enthusiast who found their way to the Sonoran Desert through a deep admiration of desert flora and ecology. Sevi’s collection of poetry, Wash Sea Out of Hair and Drive, is published by Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness. Sevi enjoys holding an inviting space for young people to interrupt the rigidity of writing with play and curiosity.
Enrique Garcia Naranjo a.k.a. Q (they/them) is a writer, musician & culture worker from Tucson, Arizona. Moving between mediums, Garcia Naranjo's work aims to educate fellow organizers & artists; to disseminate radical teachings; to agitate the status quo. Their writing has been published by The Los Angeles Times, PBS News Hour, The Moth & Mixmag. Garcia Naranjo hopes to continue publishing & cultivate honest reflections, & imagining a futurity that centers decolonization & liberation for all subjugated peoples. Find their work on TWELVOTWO.COM/DJQ.
Claire Hong (she/her) is a poet and teacher with a background in agricultural and community work. She currently teaches writing at Pima Community College. Hong is the author of Upend (Noemi Press 2020), which retraces her family history, including the immigration trial of her Tlingit and Chinese grandfather who the US government incarcerated on Angel Island during the Chinese Exclusion Act. She is a recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award (2023) and received a Stegner Fellowship in Poetry from Stanford University (2019-2021). She has creative writing degrees from the University of Arizona (MFA) and Pratt Institute (BFA).
Lourdes Leiner is a poet, educator, and community advocate based in Tucson, Arizona. With four published poetry collections to her name, Lourdes's work delves into themes of identity, belonging, and radical self-expression. Her writing is known for its lyrical intensity, blending personal reflection with universal insights that resonate deeply with readers across diverse backgrounds. Lourdes' poetry is featured in local bookstores across the southwest as well as Barnes and Noble. She is a passionate advocate for the power of words to create change. In addition to her work as a poet, Lourdes is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of writers through her teaching and mentorship. She leads workshops and readings that encourage self-expression and foster a love of poetry in the community. Rooted in the Sonoran Desert, Lourdes draws inspiration from the landscapes, cultures, and communities that surround her. She is an active participant in Tucson's vibrant literary and arts scene. She works to make the arts more accessible to underserved populations. When not writing or teaching, Lourdes researches the intersections of art, culture, and community within Tucson.
Jesse Cramer is inspired by spirals, shadows, caterpillars metamorphosing into butterflies, laughter and tears.