The Swarthmore Writers Room

Mike Aronovitz
Michael Aronovitz has taught tenth grade language arts for the last eight years. He was English Department Head at the Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School, and currently teaches tenth grade American Literature at Strath Haven High School. He has done adjunct work with Rosemont College in the Masters Creative Writing Program, and has published ten short stories. Michael has a Masters in Education from Saint Joseph’s University, and a Masters in Literature from Villanova University. Last May, Michael won a Teacher of the Year Award sponsored by the Inquirer Newspaper and the Philadelphia Phillies. Michael’s hobbies are coaching baseball and writing fiction. He is currently working on a novel.

A.V. Christie
A.V. Christie’s first book of poems Nine Skies was selected as a winner in The National Poetry Series and was published in 1997. Her second book The Housing (2005) was a winner of the Robert McGovern Prize, nominated by Eamon Grennan. She has received artist grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, The Maryland State Arts Council and the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation. Her work has appeared in Poetry, Agni, Crazyhorse, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, and the Seneca and Iowa Reviews, among other magazines. She has been Writer-in-Residence at Villanova, LaSalle, Penn State Abington and at Bryn Mawr College as well as being a Poet-in-the-Schools for over 15 years.

Emily Mendell
A native of the Philadelphia suburbs, Emily Mendell loves writing about those things closest to her heart –family, friends, and children. Her essays have appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer and she is a regular contributor to the popular parenting websites iParenting.com and Babble.com. Her essay “No Longer a Rookie” is included in Chicken Soup for the Soul: A Tribute to Moms (2008). Emily is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and applies those skills as a vice president of strategic affairs for The National Venture Capital Association in Washington, DC where she has authored dozens of articles and regularly drafts Congressional testimony on business and policy issues. She lives in Wallingford with her husband and two sons.

Reisa Mukamal
Reisa Mukamal worked on the editorial staffs of the Westminster Press, E.P Dutton, and Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and is currently a freelance writer and teacher. She received her B.S. from Cornell University and M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is the mother of four, including a high school senior and college freshman.

Loretta Rodgers
Loretta Rodgers has been a correspondent for The Delaware County Daily Times and Press Newspapers of Delaware County for 14 years. She is also a frequent contributor to the Town Talk Newspapers. A reporter, columnist and photographer, Loretta is the author of the 2007 Delaware County Daily Times Story of the Year titled; “The Year that Was Penn-Delco.” Loretta is also the author of “The Trackless Train; Tracking Delaware County’s Role in the Underground Railroad. This year, Loretta won first place for spot reporting in the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors (PAPME) State-wide Journalism contest.

Joanne Sutton-Smith, Founder & Director
A former high school History and English teacher, Joanne has served as Poet-in-Residence at Swarthmore-Rutledge School and Greenwood Elementary School in Kennett Square for the past 10 years. She is a teaching artist with “Young Writers” a community arts organization that brings regional writers to schools throughout the Philadelphia region. Joanne is also a playwright who has written the book for the musical Stand By The River, featured at the 2004 ASCAP Workshop with Stephen Schwartz. The musical was performed in New York, Seattle, Chicago, and throughout the Delaware Valley.