PAULINA ADAMS

Junior

Major: Creative Writing & Literature and Art History Minor: Playwriting

Reading: Poetry

I am a writer hailing from Harbor Springs, Michigan. I enjoy writing poetry, prose, and plays, and hope to continue in all three areas in the future! Recently I was awarded the Roy W. Cowden Memorial Fellowship for poetry, a contest which was administered by the Hopwood Board. Aside from writing, I enjoy theater and working at the Graduate Library.

CHLOE ALBERTA

Senior

Major: English with a Creative Writing Subconcentration

Reading: Poetry

Chloe is an avid reader, writer, and hard rock connoisseur. Her favorite karaoke song is Breaking Free from High School Musical, and her dream job is either an Oscar-winning screenwriter or a professional panda cuddler. After graduation she plans on moving to New York, spending all her money on coffee and cats, and then crashing on the couch of one of her infinitely more successful friends until she can write a novel that matters.

SYDNEY BENTLEY

Sophomore

Major: Creative Writing and Screen Arts & Cultures

Reading: Short Fiction

Sydney grew up in Michigan, or so they say. She is nineteen years old, which leaves her plenty of time to fulfill her life goal of pulling a “Cask Of Amontillado” on one of her enemies. She likes to shuffle tarot cards, make people laugh, and draw humans with realistic eyes but blob faces. Until two years ago, she didn’t realize “Silent Night” is a Christmas song.

HANNAH BRAUER

Sophomore

Major: Communications and Creative Writing & Literature

Reading: Short Fiction

Hannah is a sophomore in the LSA Residential College double-majoring in communications and creative writing. She is a fiction writer, poet, and photographer who loves to play the piano, ukulele and sing in her free time. Hannah currently works at the Alzheimer’s Association as a communications intern and hopes to pursue a job that combines her love for non-profit work and the arts. She is passionate about women’s rights and explores this theme in her writing alongside mental health, self-discovery, and race. Hannah leads the communications committee for the American Association of University Women (AAUW) chapter on campus and is the Communications/ PR editor for the RC Review literary magazine.

I would like to thank Laura Thomas for the nomination! This piece is part of a larger collection of flash fiction entitled “All the Women In-Between,” which explores the societal expectations placed upon women throughout their lives and the consequences they face when these expectations are challenged.

SEBASTIEN BUTLER

Freshman

Major: Political Science and Creative Writing

Reading: Poetry

I come from Dexter, a small town, about 20 minutes west of here, that is the embodiment of a Norman Rockwell painting. That being said, I consider myself extremely lucky to have grown up there and have a deep-rooted attachment to where I come from. I did Speech & Debate and theatre throughout high school, and I met the greatest people in the world while doing so. The friends I made during those years, and the amazing (often surreal) experiences I had, had a profound impact of who I am as a person and how I view the world. It launched me into a realm of passion, hopes, dreams, and comradery that formed the basis of my writing. It’s to honor the people and places I love that I write. For without them, I would never have started.

KATE CAMMELL

Junior

Major: Creative Writing

Reading: Short Creative Non-Fiction

Kate is a student of the University of Michigan’s Residential College. She specializes in creative nonfiction and poetry, with an emphasis in travel writing. Though she spent her first eighteen years calling Grand Rapids, Michigan home, she has since lived in both London, England and Pondicherry, India.

When she’s not reading or writing, you can find her doing yoga and spending time outdoors.

DAPHNE CANTUBA

Junior

Major: Biochemistry Minor: Creative Writing

Reading: Poetry

I was born in Manila, Philippines and moved to Saudi Arabia at three. I then moved to West Bloomfield, Michigan at five. This will be my second time participating in Cafe Shapiro. I won a Hopwood Underclassmen award Fall 2016. In my free time I like to draw, binge Netflix, and cuddle with my cat.

HEATHER COLLEY

Sophomore

Major: Sociology and Creative Writing

Reading: Fiction Short Story

Heather Colley is a menace and you shouldn’t try to talk to her after she reads.

KELLY CROSSON

Senior

Major: Political Science Minor: Writing

Reading: Non-Fiction Essay

My name is Kelly Crosson and I am a Los Angeles native, preparing to graduate at the University of Michigan.

CONNER DARLING

Junior

Major: Percussion Performance

Reading: Fiction Short Story

My passion for writing has only recently surfaced in the last few months or so. I am drawn to it as a form of open ended self expression and creativity. I am a percussion performance major, and music has enveloped every aspect of my time at Michigan. Writing serves both an escape from this, and as an opportunity to incorporate a new form of art making into what I already do.

CLAIRE DENSON

Senior

Major: English, Creative Writing & Literature

Reading:Poetry

Claire Denson is a senior majoring in English through LS&A, and Creative Writing and Literature through the Residential College. She’s an alum of the Lloyd Hall Scholars Program and has won their Caldwell Poetry Prize twice. She’s been published in campus literary journals such as Xylem, Fortnight, and The RC Review. She’s also been published in webzines, including Hooligan Magazine which has featured influential poets and musicians such as Mitski, Lora Mathis, and Clementine Von Radics. Claire is currently applying to graduate studies programs and serving as the Work Manager for a local cooperative house.

TARIK DOBBS

Junior

Major: General Studies and Art & Design

Reading: Poetry

Tarik Dobbs is an emerging filmmaker and poet. He is a junior pursuing a dual-degree in General Studies and Art & Design. His hometown, Dearborn, MI, serves as the backdrop for much of his work. His work explores a reconciliation of identity: what it means to be queer, Arab, and Muslim in the U.S. This past semester, Tarik won a Hopwood Award for his poem sequence, “Men from Mankind Who Sought Refuge in Men from the Jinn.”

LAURA DZUBAY

Junior

Major: English

Reading: Fiction

Laura Dzubay is a junior studying English and creative writing. Her work has previously appeared in Bad Pony, Solstice Literary Magazine, and others, and last year received a Hopwood Underclassmen Fiction Award. She loves camping and exploring new places, and her favorite topics of conversation are the Beatles, the “Havana” music video, and Anna Akhmatova.

RAVEN EADDY

Junior

Major: Creative Writing

Reading: Poetry

I am an Ann Arbor native. I have always loved writing but my love for it grew my sophomore year of college when I took a creative writing class and then the next year I decided to major creative writing. Hobbies include: people watching.

GIULIANA EGGLESTON

Senior

Major: Creative Writing & Literature Minor: Business

Reading: Fiction

Giuliana Eggleston is a senior majoring in RC Creative Writing and Literature, with a minor in Business. Her writing focuses on women, violence and sexuality.

ARIEL EVERITT

Sophomore

Major: English and Creative Writing

Reading: Fiction

Ariel Everitt is a sophomore in English and Creative Writing who’s just taking in as much of the writing experience around campus as possible. You’d never guess this writer’s hobbies include reading and writing. Ariel’s particular fiction interests—all tinged literary—include sci-fi, fantasy, magical realism, and the genre-breaking stuff that might be something like the “New Weird”. Ariel is a huge fan of Kelly Link, loves angsty characters with all the flaws, and plans to get an MFA in Creative Writing after completing that undergrad degree.

HANNAH FRENCH

Junior

Major: Anthropology and Creative Writing

Minor: Community Action and Social Change

Reading: Fiction

Hannah French is a junior studying humans, human productions, and human problems. She’s an anthropology and creative writing major with a minor in community action and social change. Her first novel was about a rat trying to escape a witch’s house and, thirteen years later, she still dreams of having it published. In the meantime she has participated in several on-campus writing publications. In her free time, when she’s not responding to everything someone says with “that would make a great story title!” she enjoys dance parties, cooking with her housemates, and of course, her student org TEDx-UofM, without a shout-out to whom life would be significantly bleaker.

KATYANNA GUTHRIE

Junior

Major: Psychology and English

Reading: Fiction Essay

Katyanna is muddling through her junior year at the University of Michigan. She’s fixated on fairy tales, historical dramas, and sketching portraits. Her life’s ambition is to become a hermit who lives by the ocean, and to write her own favorite book.

JEAN HENG

Junior

Major: Psychology and Creative Writing & Literature

Reading: Super-Short Fiction

Jean is a junior hailing from Malaysia, a land two time zones and at least a hundred degrees Celcius (they speak SI) away from Ann Arbor. She is a Psychology and Creative Writing and Literature major. She spends what is left of her free time outside classes contemplating the thoughts going on in her cats’ minds, getting her housemate’s car hopelessly stuck in snowdrifts, and brushing lint off her coat. She is pictured here with Pushkin. Jean is the one in glasses.

BELLA ISAACS-THOMAS

Senior

Major: Social Theory & Practice and Creative Writing & Literature

Reading: Essay

Bella Isaacs is a senior studying Social Theory & Practice and Creative Writing & Literature with a minor in Environment. Upon graduating this spring, she hopes to pursue a career in environmental journalism. In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking, making jewelry, and being outside.

SAMUEL KARNOFSKY

Sophomore

Major: Economics

Reading: Fiction

I’m from Westfield, New Jersey. In my free time, I enjoy watching sports with my friends and I grew up playing soccer competitively. After taking my creative writing class, I realized how much I love writing short stories and poems. I want to continue to write in the future.

ANNE KOZAK

Junior

Major: Biomolecular Science

Reading: Fiction

Anne hails from Bloomfield Hills, MI. She likes learning about science, but writing has been a love of hers since she was seven years old. Anne has one dimple. She has recently discovered a love for candles and the color maroon. Her old loves include running and sitting in a big chair with a blanket, a cup of tea, and a good book.

GREER LAFONTANT

Junior

Major: Industrial Operations Engineering & Physics

Reading: Poetry

I grew up along Chicago’s lakeshore in Lake Forest and Wilmette. I came to Michigan to pursue a degree in engineering. I am majoring in Industrial Engineering and minoring in Physics. I am currently trying to watch every movie on the Top 250 IMDB list. I also love fashion and architecture, two things

I hope to pursue in the next coming years. I spend my summers out west hiking, climbing, and playing cards in Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho. I started writing poetry when I came to college as a form of release from my environment. I love it and am excited to share my work with you. Enjoy.

YUANYUAN LIU

Freshman

Major: Movement Science

Reading: Poetry and Short Story

Yuanyuan decides to use this space to describe the pronunciation of her name. It’s just saying “yee-woo-ann yee-woo-ann” really fast. Try it! Yuanyuan likes to write from time to time.

CHRISTINE MACKENZIE

Freshman

Major: Creative Writing and Psychology

Reading: Poetry and Fiction

Christine A. MacKenzie is a freshman majoring in creative writing and psychology. She is a regular writer for Mentality Magazine and The Odyssey, as well as a Crisis Counselor, anatomical dissector research assistant, and volunteer creative writing instructor. She has been published in The Inflectionist Review (2018), Visitant (March 2018), Eunoia (March 2018), The Underground (April 2018), Teen Ink Print (November 2017), and Blueprint (April 2018). In the future she hopes to attend graduate school for either English or psychology, but ultimately would like to integrate the two subjects.

EMMA MCGLASHEN

Senior

Major: English and BCN-Biopsychology, Cognition and Neuroscience

Reading: Poetry

Emma is an Ann Arbor native, a coffee addict, and a wearer of mismatched socks. She has recently taken to entertaining delusions about her future as a neuropathologist, but she continues to love writing in all forms and genres, and continues to spend the majority of her time working on literary, theatrical and musical projects.

PAVEL MELCHOR

Sophomore

Major: BCN-Behaviour, Cognition and Neuroscience

Reading: Poetry and Fiction

I was born in Brooklyn and raised in Detroit. I am a reserved person who prefers to spend time alone with a book or listening to music. I listen to everything from death metal to ambient electronic. My other hobbies include hiking, biking, traveling and writing. I’ve written a bunch of short fiction stories that have all ended up in the paper shredder. One day; however, I hope to write something that I can be truly proud of.

JULIANNA MORANO

Freshman

Major: Undeclared

Reading: Poetry

Julianna wishes she didn’t have to keep designating her major as undeclared, but she doesn’t really know what she’ll be doing with her life. In an ideal world, she would work in one of many industries she loves but that lacks in job security and the possibility for a steady income, and she would marry Rami Malek. In this non-ideal world, she loves writing, vast amounts of indie music, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, singing songs and pantomiming the corresponding lyrics while driving, being a member of PCAP, being a Catholic, and school. She hates few things, but physics tops that short list.

NADIA MOTA

Junior

Major: Creative Writing & Literature

Minor: American Culture

Reading: Poetry

Nadia is from Adrian, Michigan. She is majoring in Creative Writing and Literature and minoring in American Culture. She enjoys watching Netflix in bed, baking cupcakes for her friends, and playing bass guitar in her sub-par band.

BHARAT NAIR

Senior

Major: Information

Reading: Poetry

Bharat is from Kerala, India. He loves comics, film, and writing. He believes he has understood the few great and ineffable desires of his life. The first is to be a good man. The second, to have a good family. Third, to create unceasingly, and fourth, to create something genuinely amazing.

PILAR O’HARA

Freshman

Major: Architecture

Reading: Poetry

Pilar O’Hara is an 18-year-old Freshman at the University of Michigan pursuing a degree in architecture from Rochester Hills, Michigan. She happened to stumble upon poetry by accident in high school, finding that her fragmented thoughts were better suited for poetry than prose. Currently, she is being mentored by John Buckley, a lecturer for the university’s English department, through his Creative Writing & Publishing project. Besides writing and design, she enjoys attending alternative rock concerts and traveling the world.

ABBY PROVENZANO

Junior

Major: Biomolecular Science

Minor: Creative Writing

Reading: Fiction

I am originally from Maine, but now live in Midland, Michigan. In my free time, I like to read, write, work in a research lab on campus, go to the UMMA, and participate in the Harry Potter Alliance at U of M. I also enjoy classical music, dance, The Beatles, and Star Trek. My current plan is to go to medical school, though I hope creative expression through writing will always be a constant in my life.

SHASHANK RAO

Junior

Major: English and Creative Writing

Minor: Japanese

Reading: Fiction

Shashank Rao is a junior double majoring in English and RC Creative Writing and minoring in Japanese. He hopes on day to become a novelist, but wouldn’t mind working as a journalist either, preferably for The New Yorker. He enjoys long walks in the Arb and anything by Toni Morrison.

TAMARA RIGSBY

Freshman

Major: Undeclared

Reading: Poetry

A brief list consisting of things I enjoy other than reading and writing poems: painting, photography, dancing, video games, music, napping, and playing the piano.

RYAN ROSENHEIM

Senior

Major: Theatre Performance: Acting

Minor: Creative Writing and Asian Studies

Reading: Fiction

Twenty-two years ago, Ryan was born in the notorious “Valley,” a suburb of Los Angeles. He does not talk like a “valley girl,” but he does—in fact—surf. When he’s not in the Michigan snow, he’s probably in the Malibu sand, breathing in that fresh ocean air. He’s nearly done with his acting degree in the School of Music Theatre & Dance, and his piece is inspired by the shenanigans of senior year’s infamously nerve-wrecking Clown Class.

CAROLINE ROTHROCK

Junior

Major: English

Reading: Poetry

Caroline grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. She studies English at the University of Michigan, and has been the recipient of three Hopwood prizes in poetry. She has vague ambitions of moving to New York City and becoming a penniless writer after college. We’ll see. In the meantime, she enjoys petting kitties, worshipping David Bowie, and trying on fancy clothes with no intentions of purchasing them. She has a very serious phobia of mushrooms.

CHRISTIAN SCILLIAN

Senior

Major: Acting

Reading: Fiction

Christian Scillian is a senior acting major finishing her final semester at the University of Michigan. While much of her schedule throughout her time in school was dominated by the drama department, any time she could spare was spent in Angell hall hiding away in creative writing classes. She would like to thank any of her classmates over the last couple of years who have offered their feedback and support of every story she turned in. Go Blue!

JESSIE SHER

Sophomore

Major: Industrial and Operations Engineering

Minor: Creative Writing

Reading: Fiction

Jessica Sher is a San Franciscan stereotype. She is composed of kale and chickpea and was last seen drinking flavored vinegar from a Dixie cup. At birth, she demonstrated a deep fear of imposing by slipping out entirely unnoticed by even her own mother and had long exited the event before crying out for help. It was not the last event she would leave naked, crying, and covered in blood.

MATTHEW SOLWAY

Junior

Major: English – Pre-Med

Minor: Creative Writing

Reading: Poetry

Matthew is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Michigan. His is an English major and plans to apply to the poetry sub-concentration. He has worked in various labs on campus studying diabetic complications and is committed to understanding the natural world through poetry and science with a specific focus on improving the lives of those who cannot help themselves.

ETHAN SZLEZINGER

Sophomore

Major: English

Reading: Fiction

Ethan is a Sophomore studying English. He is going to be an astronaut someday.

GRACE TOLL

Sophomore

Major: Creative Writing & Literature and Psychology

Reading: Fiction

Originally from Jackson, Michigan, Grace Toll is a sophomore majoring in creative writing and psychology. She finds joy in writing large chunks of novels that never quite seem to find an ending, spending hours at a time discovering new music, and trying to comprehend how the brain works. Grace one day hopes to complete a novel, and also possibly pursue some sort of career in editing. She additionally finds some way to incorporate peanut butter into every meal and is really bad at describing herself.

MAXIM VINOGRADOV

Junior

Major: Screen Arts & Cultures and English

Minor: Playwriting

Reading: Fiction

Maxim Vinogradov was born in a Russian circus tent and looks forward to accidentally dying in one.

CLAIRE WOOD

Senior

Major: Economics

Minor: Creative Writing

Reading: Fiction

My name is Claire Wood! I am a senior at the University of Michigan studying economics and creative writing. I am an aspiring romance novelist and an active member of UM Groove.

SHERRY ZHANG

Senior

Major: Biomolecular Science

Minor: Creative Writing

Reading: Fiction

Sherry Zhang is a senior from Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is a LSA student majoring in Biomolecular Science and Creative Writing. In addition to writing, she enjoys drawing, cooking, and petting her friends’ cats.

MATTHEW ZHAO

Senior

Major: Environment

Reading: Fiction

I always had a fondness for literature and film, but taking a creative writing course here truly inspired me to start writing. My other interests include nighttime bike rides and Oolong tea.

EMILY ZUO

Senior

Major: Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity

Minor: Music

Reading: Poetry

Emily has always loved writing and was overjoyed to finally take a creative writing class senior year. She is majoring in Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity and asserts that writing in nature is an incomparable experience. Emily plays violin in the Campus Symphony Orchestra and the Michigan Pops Orchestra. Her other interests include food, watching random documentaries on YouTube, and keeping pet spiders in plastic cups in her bedroom.

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