Young Writers' Camp
Staff
Residential
The residential staff members are mature, talented, and enthusiastic graduate and undergraduate students, who supervise campers in the residential hall and at other out of class times, such as meals, free times, and special events. The residential counselors also plan and lead a variety of social and recreational activities.
Instructional
The instructional staff is comprised of professional educators, published writers, and talented artists. Each camp has an academic director, who coordinates the academic life and advises instructional staff.
Academic Director:
Chip Moore (B.A., UNC-Chapel Hill) Chip is the academic director for all three sessions of the Duke Young Writers’ Camp. He is a published fiction and non-fiction writer and teaches Language Arts at Carrington Middle School in Durham.
Instructors:
Kim Arrington (B.A. NCCU) Nominated “Best Female Poet of 2005” by the Great Publishing Company and 2005 Honorable Mention Winner by the Independent Weekly Poetry Contest, Kim fills her schedule with opportunities and engagements to share her voice with audiences of all ages. In 2004 the lapis dwellers, a collection of poems, was published.
Jason Chumley (B.A., University of Tennessee Knoxville; M.A., Duke University). Jason is currently an English teacher in Franklin County. In the summers he teaches low-income students how to write college entrance assays with the non-profit College Summit. He also enjoys writing fiction.
Mitch Cox (B.A., Wake Forest; M.A., Duke University) A National Board Certified teacher, Mitch teaches English at Orange High School in Hillsborough, NC. A published essayist and poet, he won a 2004 Marcellus Waddill Award for Excellence in Teaching, one of two $20,000 awards given to Wake Forest alumni each year.
Howard Craft (B.A. North Carolina Central University) Howard teaches, creative writing through United Arts of Raleigh and the Durham Arts Council. He is a published poet playwright, screenwriter and Spoken Word performance artist.
Rick Dillwood (B.A., Sonoma State University) From elementary to college students, the Marshall Islands to North Carolina, Rick Dillwood has been teaching writing to a wide range of students for the past six years. Currently working as an 8th grade language arts teacher at Brogden Middle School in Durham, Rick is always looking for ways to make writing instruction more engaging for his students. Outside of the classroom, Rick spends his time writing and recording songs, writing short screenplays and making movies with friends.
Tracie Fellers (B.S., Northwestern; M.A., NCSU; M.F.A., UNC-Greensboro) Tracie Fellers is an award-winning fiction writer whose fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in roger and Sing Heavenly Muse! Tracie has also written features, news stories and commentary for daily newspapers including the News & Record in Greensboro, the Durham Herald-Sun and The Charlotte Observer. She has taught fiction, review writing and science fiction courses at Young Writers' Camp since 2001, and is currently a visiting writing instructor at Guilford College in Greensboro.
Tera Hickle (B.A., West Virginia; M.A. West Virginia) Tera J. Hickle is currently the Language Arts Chair, Student Council adviser, and an 8th grade Language Arts teacher at Reedy Creek Middle School in Cary, NC. She previously taught 8th grade Language Arts at Carrington Middle School in Durham, NC. She has been a writing instructor at Duke Young Writers' Camp for the past three summers, teaching Writing Short Fiction and WhoDunnit? Writing Mysteries. Tera is an active member of her community, supporting the Triangle Beagle Rescue of North Carolina and the ASPCA.
Carrie Jacobson (B.A., UNC Chapel Hill) Carrie, a North Carolina Teaching Fellow, is a teacher at Culbreth Middle School. She recently directed “Once On This Island, Jr.”
Stephanie Johnson (B.A. Stephen F. Austin University) Stephanie currently teaches in the Durham Public Schools. Stephanie has been an advisor for yearbook, newspaper and on line newspaper staffs.
Amy Kostrewa (B.A., UNC-CH; M.A., UNC-CH) Amy has taught in the Orange County Public Schools for 6 years. Amy credits her passion for creative writing to the excellent instruction that she received while studying at UNC and being immersed in a community of writers here in the Triangle area.
Anna Kuykendal (B.A. UNC- Chapel Hill) Anna teaches language arts at Carrington Middle School, a Durham Public School.. In 2002 and 2003, she was awarded the Dean E. Smith Scholarship for Academic Excellence.
Renita Leak (B.A. Literature, Elon, M.Ed., Education Administration, Grand Canyon Univ.) Renita teaches language arts at Carrington Middle School.
Jon Lepofsky (B.A., New York University; Ph.D., UNC-CH) Jon teaches social studies and language arts courses at Carolina Friends School in Durham, NC. Jon often uses his classes to explore questions of ethics, identity, language, place, and power. Jon grew up in the suburbs of Boston and made his first venture south to start college at Emory University. After his sophomore year in college, he transferred to New York University, where he received his B.A. in Metropolitan Studies. Jon returned to the south to attain his Ph.D. in Geography and his Graduate Certificate in Cultural Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jon has taught at UNC and at Duke University. He has been teaching at CFS since 2005. When not teaching, Jon enjoys reading, writing, exploring the world with his family, finding good bookshops, listening to blues music, and cheering on the Boston Red Sox.
Zelda Lockhart (B.A., Norfolk University; M.A., Old Dominion University) Zelda is author of the novel Fifth Born, which was a 2002 Barnes & Noble Discovery selection and won a finalist award for debut fiction from the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Foundation. In addition to degrees from Norfolk University and Old Dominion, Zelda earned a certificate in writing, directing and editing film from the New York Film Academy. Her other works of fiction, poetry and essays can be found in anthologies, journals and magazines. Lockhart is also the author of The Evolution, a serial novella, currently appearing in the archives of USAToday.com's Open Book series. Her most recent novel, Cold Running Creek, publication January 2007, is a work of historical fiction that has already garnered the attention of noteworthy literary organizations, such as the Historical Novel Society, and has won a 2008 Honor Fiction Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Universities throughout the Northeast have recognized Ms. Lockhart’s talents as a writer and speaker. She is currently working on her third novel, and facilitating a variety of workshops that empower adults and children to self-define through writing. She lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina.
Chris “Dasan Ahanu” Massenburg (B.S., St Augustine’s College) Dasan Ahanu is a poet, writer, songwriter, and performance artist lving in Durham, NC. He is an artist in residence at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham and St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh. He most recently released an album entitled “The Jim Crow Jackson Experiment” on Amp Truth Records (www.amptruth.com).
Monica Merenda (B.A.) Merenda is a fiction writer and lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is currenly at work on a novel.
Jill Molloy (B.A., English, University of Richmond) Jill teaches at Carrington Middle School in Durham, NC. In October of 2007, she was chosen as Teacher of the Month at Carrington and in 2005, she was chosen as Teacher of the Year by the North Carolina Middle School Association, Region Five.
Maggie Morgan (B.A.,English, College of Charleston) From 2002-2004, Maggie was an instructor in the Duke Young Writers’ Camp.
Karen Oviatt (B.S. Ed Indiana University of Pennsylvania). Karen Oviatt is a National Board Certified Teacher who has been teaching English at the middle and high school levels since 1994. She has been with Duke Young Writer's Camp since 2001
Billye (Holiday) Rhodes (B.A., Columbia College) Billy is Chicago native who currently is Durham based. With the self-published poetry collection, “Penetrated Soul”, she created a creative writing/Black arts workshop, Souls Travelin'. She recently completed Sectioned Off, an acrylic-on-canvas collection of five original works and is involved with her first novel/memoir collection, “Roots Don't Blow” and poetry CD, Not For Sale... For Love. Rhodes attended Howard University and Olive Harvey College, earning her BA in Fiction Writing from Columbia College. She is noted as the first graduate of Columbia's Black World Studies Minor and studied Writing and Art in Prague, Czech Republic. Currently a MA student at UNC-CH, she researches various fields within Education. Founder of Sunflower Seeds Foundation and active with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Chapel Hill Carrboro Alumnae Association.
Eli Seed (B.S., Appalachian State University) Eli currently teaches English at Durham’s Jordan High School. Eli also has experience working with middle school students.
Sarah Welch (B.S., Middle School Education) Sarah teaches language arts at Carrington Middle School, Durham, NC. In 2008, Sarah will receive AIG Certification through the NC Teacher Consortium.
Dan Wells (B.A., Georgetown University) Dan has taught English Literature and Writing in multiple capacities over the past six years, most recently serving as a high school English teacher and head baseball coach in Washington, D.C. In addition to Literature and creative writing, Dan’s passions include baseball, football, skiing, fishing, horse-training, chess, sustainable farming/living, and the great outdoors. In April of 2008, Dan moved with his fiancé to the Research Triangle, where he looks forward to continuing his education and teaching/coaching career.
Barry Yeoman (B.A., New York University) Barry Yeoman is an award-winning magazine journalist whose work appears in O, The Oprah Magazine; Discover; Audubon; AARP, The Magazine, and many other publications. Columbia Journalism Review named him one of "the best unsung investigative journalists working in print in the United States."
Leslie Youngblood (B.A. & M.A., UNC-Greensboro) She is currently a lecturer at Mississippi State University. Leslie has won several writing awards including the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Contest, 2000 and 2002, and a 2004 Hurston Wright Fellowship. In addition to teaching, she is currently completing her first novel.