Words and Pictures Festival 2021

Originally from New Jersey, Andrew (he/him) has a PhD in English literature from the University of Southern California, where he also taught freshman writing for six years. He was a postdoctoral fellow at USC’s Institute for Multimedia Literacy at the Annenberg Center for Communication, where he worked with digital media pioneer Bob Stein. Andrew is now a professional editor, author, and musician based in Portland, OR. Before founding Yellow Bike Press, he was an editor at Inkwater Press, where he edited hundreds of books. Andrew is the author of Decomposition: A Music Manifesto (Pantheon, 2014), one of Los Angeles magazine’s “Best Little Music Books” of 2014.

Chamisa is an illustrator, animator and art director based in Portland, Oregon. She holds a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design, and makes work for children’s books, brands, games and animation. Her lush and textural illustration style consistently provides notes of nostalgia and whimsy with a fresh playful twist. Chamisa’s debut illustrated book, Crying is Like the Rain (by Heather Hawk Feinberg), was published by Tilbury House in September 2020, and her next book, Some Days (by Julie A. Stamm, published by The Experiment), will be out in September 2021.

Once a Silicon Valley software engineer, Curtis C. Chen (陳致宇) now writes stories and runs puzzle games near Portland, Oregon. He's the author of the Kangaroo series of funny science fiction spy thrillers and has written for the Realm originals Ninth Step Station, Machina, and Echo Park 2060 (forthcoming). Curtis' short stories have appeared in Playboy Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, Oregon Reads Aloud, and elsewhere. His homebrew cat feeding robot was displayed in the "Worlds Beyond Here" exhibit at Seattle's Wing Luke Museum.

Gabi Snyder’s debut picture book, Two Dogs on a Trike, illustrated by Robin Rosenthal, received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, who said it “perfectly captures the rollicking, manic joy of dogs off the leash.” Her second picture book, Listen, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin, released in July 2021. She studied psychology at the University of Washington and creative writing at The University of Texas and is a member of SCBWI. When she’s not writing, she loves taking nature walks, visiting Little Free Libraries, and baking sweet treats. She lives in Oregon with her family.

Heather Finley is a freelance comic writer based in Vancouver, WA. She is best known for Zombies vs Cheerleaders. When not writing, she is surrounded by cats and foster kittens while dreaming about climbing Mount Everest.

Jessica Brody is the author of more than 20 novels for teens, tweens, and adults including The Geography of Lost Things, The Chaos of Standing Still, I Speak Boy, A Week of Mondays, 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, the Unremembered trilogy, and the System Divine trilogy, which is a sci-fi reimagining of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, co-written with Joanne Rendell. She’s also the author of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel (the #1 bestselling plotting guide for novelists) and several books based on popular Disney franchises like Descendants and LEGO Disney Princess. She lives with her husband and three dogs near Portland, OR.

As a board-certified art therapist with a thriving practice, Jocelyn loves directing her clients to tap into their own creativity to connect with what they're feeling on the inside and bring it to life on the outside. Jocelyn plays with color in a variety of mediums. She’s taught fine arts classes, run women’s workshops on collage-making, organized healing-centered group art projects, and led guided visualizations on how to activate creativity with schools and nonprofits. When she’s not working, you can find Jocelyn hiking in the beautiful Pacific Northwest mountains, creating art, doing yoga, or enjoying dance parties with her little family.

Emmeline Duncan is a mystery writer based out of Portland, Oregon. The first installment of her new Ground Rules series, Fresh Brewed Murder, was released on March 30th, 2021. Emmeline also writes for teens as Kelly Garrett. Her debut YA novel, The Last To Die, was an Oregon Book Awards finalist and was re-issued by Sourcebooks Fire in November 2019. Kelly is also a 2020 Oregon Literary Fellow.

Emmeline/Kelly is a board member of the Northwest Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and co-organizes Friends of Mystery’s Bloody Thursday lecture series. She’s also a member of Sisters-In-Crime, Willamette Writers, and SCBWI.

Laura Stanfill is the publisher of Forest Avenue Press and the author of the novel Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary, forthcoming in April 2022 from Lanternfish Press. In 2021, she was the runner-up for the Publishing Professionals Network’s Distinguished Service Award, and Forest Avenue earned an Oregon Literary Fellowship as well as a place on Reedsy’s list of best small presses. Stanfill is a 2018 graduate of the Yale Publishing Course after winning the inaugural scholarship from the Independent Book Publishers Association. Publishers Weekly designated her as a 2017 Star Watch honoree. She founded the Main Street Writers Movement to encourage writers to build community at the local level. Her zine, Sad House: Parenting, Grief, and Creativity in the Coronavirus Crisis, was published by Microcosm Publishing. She believes in indie bookstores and wishes on them like stars from her home in Portland, Oregon, where she resides with her family and a dog named Waffles. Join her newsletter at laurastanfill.substack.com.

Growing up in Fort Worth, Texas, LeeAnn Elwood McLennan was always looking for any opportunity to read—under the covers in bed, in the car, and in class using the book-hidden-in-the-textbook trick. When her father introduced her to sci-fi/fantasy through a book of short stories from Astounding Stories, the possibilities in every word captivated her interest, and her daydreams involved other worlds, magical powers, and time travel. Despite graduating from Clemson University with a degree in English, LeeAnn has spent her career working in computer engineering-related fields.

Lisa Gerlits is an art teacher, muralist, and author of the middle grade novel, A Many Feathered Thing. She lives with her Dutch husband, three kids, one cat, and a varying number of chickens in beautiful Silverton, Oregon, where she can walk behind waterfalls and pick berries all summer long. She coordinates SCBWI OR’s Great Critique events.

Melissa Wiley is the author of The Nerviest Girl in the World, The Prairie Thief, Fox and Crow Are Not Friends, the Inch and Roly series, and other books for kids. Melissa has been blogging about her family’s reading life and tidal homeschooling adventures at Here in the Bonny Glen since 2005. She is @melissawiley on Twitter and @melissawileybooks on Instagram.

Robin Robinson writes and illustrates books and comics for kids, including 2021's No One Returns from the Enchanted Forest from First Second, and lives in a house that looks like someone threw a Halloween party in a library and forgot to clean up afterwards.

Sheela Preuitt is an author of children’s books and a freelance writer for publications with a south Asian slant. In her nonfiction works, she enjoys focusing on STEM/STEAM topics for children. As a fiction picture book writer she finds it immensely gratifying to share inclusive narratives featuring differently-abled kids who simply want to be who they are.

Sheela holds a Master's in Science Education and a Master’s in Computer and Information Science. When she is not writing or reading or coding, she can be found hiking in nature trails, cooking mostly-healthy foods, sewing or crocheting utilitarian things.

Stephanie Feldstein is the Population and Sustainability Director at the Center for Biological Diversity, where she heads a national program that addresses the connection between human population growth, overconsumption, and the wildlife extinction crisis. She created the innovative Take Extinction Off Your Plate campaign, and her work has been featured in The Huffington Post, NPR, Salon, The Guardian, The Washington Post, and more. When she’s not advocating for animals and the environment, she can usually be found writing young adult and middle grade fiction in the company of her rescued dogs and cats named after literary figures.