Meet The Staff
MYWW Director
Liz Egan - Head of MYWW
Liz Egan is a Millsaps professor who teaches Creative Writing courses and runs numerous on campus academic non-profit organizations such as CASE, Writing Center, and the MYWW summer camp. She has been a part of McMullan Young Writers Workshop since 2014 and works closely with the McMullan family and Eudora Welty House to provide students with an affordable and invaluable writing worksop in the local area.
Writing Course Leaders
Jaime Dickson - “Music, Food: Love...”
Dickson is a teacher at a local high school, and enjoys using his free time teaching students the importance of creative writing and expression. He is a poet and proud advocate for young southern writers.
Katy Simpson Smith - “Fiction’s Wild Edges”
Katy Simpson Smith was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. She received a PhD in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars. She is the author of numerous novels you can explore at the link below. Her writing has appeared in The Oxford American, Granta, Literary Hub, Garden & Gun, Catapult, and Lenny. She lives in New Orleans, and currently serves as the Eudora Welty Chair for Southern Literature at Millsaps College.
Dr. Michael Pickard - “Tell all the truth but tell it slant"
Dr. Pickard is a professor of Literature at Millsaps College. He teaches poetry and other literature based creative writing courses. He is a Eudora Welty scholar who leads the "Eudora Welty Lab", where students learn and assist in the creative historical archiving of Eudora Welty. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia and enjoys bike riding and learning how to code in his free time.
Nadia Alexis - “Mining Memory and the Unknown”
Nadia Alexis is a poet and photographer born in Harlem, NYC to Haitian immigrants and she is currently based in Oxford, Mississippi. Her photographs have been shown in several exhibitions in the U.S. and Cuba, and she was mentored by Carrie Mae Weems in an independent scholars fellowship program for early-career artists and art historians of color. She is currently an English - Creative Writing Concentration Ph.D. student at the University of Mississippi where she studies and teaches Black literature. Find more of her works in the link below!
Shalonda Stanley - “Hope, Despair & Memory...”
Shalanda Stanley grew up in Louisiana and earned her BA in creative writing at Florida State University. She has an MEd in special education from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and a PhD from LSU in curriculum and instruction, with a focus in reading and literacy education. She's an assistant professor at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, where she also lives with her family. Her works can be found at the link below.
Richard Boada - “Living Tensions..."
Richard Boada is the author of two poetry collections which can be explored at the link below. He is a graduate of the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi. Currently, he is Editor and Publications Coordinator of the Mississippi Legislature PEER Committee and teaches at Mississippi College.
RAs
Charlie Harris - Communications Major
Charlie is a Junior at Millsaps College. He is currently working on his personal writings and other artistic pursuits.
Victoria Richard - Literature & Creative Writing Double Major
Victoria Richard is a Senior at Millsaps College. She works in the Eudora Welty Lab as an archivist and transcriber. Victoria is writing an article for the Eudora Welty review and loves cats.
Ladorian Shelton - Creative Writing Major
Ladorian is a Sophomore at Millsaps College. He works as the MYWW program assistant for alumni. Ladorian is working on completing his first novel and is a geek trivia enthusiast.
Skylar Smith - Communication & Creative Writing Double Major
Skylar Smith is a Sophomore at Millsaps College where she works for the "Purple and White" newspaper. She plans to work for the Writing Center on Millsaps campus and is currently an intern with the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting.
Isabella Suell - Literature & Anthropology Double Major
Isabella Suell is a Senior at Millsaps College. She is the MYWW Program Assistant for media, web design, and registration assistance. She has worked on field excavations as a research assistant in anthropology and has an interest in film and photography.
Brittany Wilson - Math & Creative Writing Double Major
Brittany Wilson is a Junior at Millsaps College. She is a CASE Center tutor for mathematics. She is a writer in her free time and has published an essay which can be found at the link below!