Lenore (Lennie) Barnes moved to Charleston from Cape Cod, after raising her son and daughter outside of Boston, with a several-year stint in Geneva, Switzerland. She graduated from the College of Holy Cross with a B.A. in European Literature and has written for the Richmond (VA) Times Dispatch and numerous New England-based magazines. She completed a certificate in Creative Writing at the University of Toronto and is thrilled to turn her full attention to writing fiction as a member of CoC’s MFA program. She loves exploring the low country with her husband Jeff and 17-year-old Westie, Lucy.

Lindsey Copeland is a writer from Greenville, South Carolina. She graduated with her B.A. in English from Lander University in 2011. She works at CofC as the Senior Director of Analytics for the CofC Foundation. She is also currently serving her second year as Chair of the Staff Advisory Committee for CofC and her third year as VP of Lander’s Alumni Board of Directors. She is excited to return to her English major roots in the MFA program in fiction writing.  In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, ridiculously specific movie marathons, and listening to Taylor Swift on repeat.

Suzannah “Suz” Guthmann was born and raised in Waxhaw, North Carolina. She graduated from Covenant College in 2020 with a BA in English writing and a minor in political science, having served as the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Bagpipe. After graduation, Suz interned with Our State magazine, moonlighted as a social media manager, and adopted two travel size panthers, Brillo and Dulce. She will be studying poetry, focusing on the interaction between writing and healing from trauma, and learning with the arts and cultural management program. When Suz is not writing, she enjoys thrift shopping, Bevi Bene kombucha, and true crime podcasts.

Melissa Hughes is a biology professor at the CofC, where she teaches classes in animal behavior, ornithology, and sex, while studying aggression and communication in (not between) sparrows and shrimp. Many years ago, she studied biology and poetry at Bucknell University, then zoology at Duke University; she is excited to return to poetry in the MFA program. Her writing explores the physicality of our human lives and our connections to the nonhuman world. She lives with her husband and an unreasonable number of pets, and enjoys birdwatching, kayaking, and learning the names of the weeds in her yard.

Mary McCall was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina but moved to North Charleston, South Carolina at the age of four and has lived here ever since. She recently got her B.A. in English with a concentration in creative writing from the College of Charleston and is now returning to continue her education as a poet in the MFA poetry department here at the college. She has published a few short fiction and poetry pieces with a variety of magazines like They Call Us, BULL, Roadrunner Review, and Quirk.

Anik Nalbandian is a writer who moved to Charleston after living all across North Carolina. She graduated with her B.A. in English from The George Washington University in 2020 and received her M.A. in English from Wake Forest University in 2022. She is a first-year M.F.A student at College of Charleston where she works as an Editorial Assistant for swamp pink. She enjoys writing satirical short stories inspired by some specific people she has met over the years and aims to build upon this short-story collection while in the Creative Writing program. Her favorite activity to do in her free time is visiting theatre 99 to catch an improv show.

Peyton Niemeyer is an aspiring novelist from Aitkin, MN. She received her BA in Writing Studies with a philosophy minor from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, just off Lake Superior. In her spare time, she loves to read, write, take walks, listen to music, and watch thought provoking films.

Carson Oliver is a fiction writer from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He graduated from Vanderbilt University where he earned a degree in English with Honors. His writing combines religious and philosophical themes with a casual voice and metafictional elements. Carson’s first short story collection, Glass, was met with wide acclaim (his mom and dad really liked it). He is currently a first year fiction student who will also work as an editorial assistant at swamp pink.

Jimmy Passaro is a South Carolina resident whose chivalrous enterprise to the south began 6 years ago from New Jersey, where he was born. He graduated from James Madison University in Virginia with a BA in International Relations. He completed a MA in Theology at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, where he also trained as a professional wrestler. He is studying Fiction with an emphasis on comedy in the MFA program at the College of Charleston. He believes he has cured his allergy to longhaired cats by petting every cat that has given him allowance.

Michela Polito is a writer from Italy, who graduated cum laude at Universita` di Firenze with a B.A. in Literature and a concentration in Music, Theater, and Cinema. Then she attended Scuola Holden in Turin, Italy, the most popular school of Story Telling of the country. After graduation she worked as an advertising executive, selling ads for a digital platform in the group buying field, and migrated to the United States seven years ago. She published her first novel Nico in 2020 with WomenPlot, an international media publisher which focused mainly on women issues, after 13 years of struggles to find her way to publication.

Grace Stroup is a writer from Arlington, Virginia. She attended UNC Chapel Hill, where she majored in English and Religious Studies with a concentration in Creative Writing. During her time there, she began writing stories centered on family, history, loss, and land. Her work has been published in Typishly, Rowayat, Short Edition, Rainy Day, Spare Parts, and others. At CofC, she will be studying fiction and working as an editorial assistant for swamp pink. When she isn’t writing, she’s hiking, practicing yoga, cooking new recipes, and jumping in the Atlantic.

Amy Walters is a Charleston native who lives on Daniel Island with her sweet family.  She has taught middle and high school English and run a children’s consignment sale business for eleven years. She is currently an adjunct professor at The Citadel. Amy loves reading, writing, watching movies, and hanging out with her family and friends. Non-fiction books, especially those delving into the sciences, mysteries, true-crime, and plays are at the top of her reading menu these days.