EXECUTIVE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
KAT BODRIE
PRESIDENT
DIANNA COSTELLO
VICE PRESIDENT,
PROGRAMS CHAIR
Kat Bodrie is a writer and editor based in Winston-Salem, NC. Her articles have appeared in Winston-Salem Monthly, Triad City Beat, 1808: Greensboro’s Monthly, and Forsyth magazines. Her poetry has appeared in Poetry South, West Texas Literary Review, Rat's Ass Review, and elsewhere. She is a volunteer editor for the second edition of Crimson Letters: Voices from Death Row. She enjoys reading Stephen Dobyns and Kazuo Ishiguro and working on the house she shares with her husband, Ryan, and feline-friend, Rita. Read her work at katbodrie.com.
Dianna’s career in the film business started in her hometown of Boston where she became a producer, and then continued in Los Angeles where she lived for twenty-four years. While there, she earned her MFA in Film from the American Film Institute, and worked as a freelance producer, production manager, and film instructor. Her short action film “Graffiti” that she initiated and produced while at AFI earned an Academy Award nomination along with national and international awards. She also developed feature film projects, one of which landed a development/production deal at Paramount Pictures. She’s also held various film positions in Winston-Salem, D.C., and Keene, NH as a film commissioner, executive producer, and executive director of an international film festival. Her biggest passion has always been storytelling, both visual and literary. She finally finished her first novel, “Sea Across Time,” a supernatural mystery set on Nantucket Island, and looks forward to the day when she can share a printed copy with everyone. In the meantime, she’s thrilled to be back in Winston-Salem again where she plans to put down permanent roots, unless the call of adventure lures her away.
MAE LIPSCOMB
RODNEY
SECRETARY
RITA BENNETT
TREASURER
Mae Lipscomb Rodney has degrees in library science from North Carolina Central University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She worked in state-funded academic libraries in multiple positions for over forty years. During her professional years, Mae served on national, state and local committees, including the Salem Academy and College Board of Trustees. In 2015 the UNC School of Information and Library Science celebrated her extended career by naming her the Distinguished Alumna of the Year. Rodney’s life-time dream – writing – resulted in her writing several short plays and seeing them transformed into live productions. The plays included “Zelda is Dead,” “Black Diamonds,” and “India’s Story.” In addition, she compiled multiple biographies. The most comprehensive was the biography of her late husband, Cedric S. Rodney, which was compiled to commemorate his retirement from active ministry. She also completed Beyond the Business Man, a biography celebrating her brother’s 80th birthday. Her new interest is writing murder mysteries. Presently, she is a member of Winston-Salem’s Black Philanthropy Initiative, Women’s Fund board of directors, Winston-Salem Foundation’s Racial Equity Advocates. Mae has served as a director on the board of Winston-Salem Writers and currently serves as secretary.
Rita shares this about herself: I am a native of Winston-Salem and have lived here most of my life. I received my bachelor and masters degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Business and Marketing Education. After teaching high school for thirty years, I retired but continued at Reynolds High School for an additional four years working in the Arts Magnet office. There I handled the financial aspects of our $4.5 million federal grant. In March of this year I retired as the part-time financial secretary for READWS and the Augustine Literacy Tutoring program which is an outreach program of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. A large portion of my job there was to keep up with income and expenditures, prepare monthly treasurer’s reports for the board, and prepare necessary financial documents for grants. In addition, I currently serve on the Arts for Arts Sake (AFAS) board and am actively involved in the arts’ community.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DONNA EMMARY
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE
During her career in communications, Donna was sent on assignments to experience white water rafting, gliding, riverboat cruising, and a tour of Europe. During her time in public relations, she handled publicity for an auto club, a Girl Scout council, a construction company, and a cemetery. During her current period of editing/proofreading, she has reviewed magazine articles, graduate school essays, training manuals, and psychological reports. Her professional life has certainly been eclectic. Woven in and out of all her work experiences, Donna coined her own last name from those of her grandmothers Emma and Mary, took a stand-up comedy class which included a 5-minute “final exam” at a comedy club, learned how to tat lace, and traveled alone to visit online friends in Vietnam. Donna enjoys writing creative non-fiction short-short stories and is slowly building an autobiographical collection. She recently completed a series of eight educational books for pre-readers which are now being illustrated and she’s currently working on a long short story, her first work of fiction.
DWEDOR MORAIS FORD
MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR
Dwedor Morais Ford, Ph.D. is an educator, a writer, an author, and a master writing consultant. She has taught writing at the high school and college levels for several years and has self-published several successful books including L is for Liberia: An Alphabet Book (2013) and Dr. Francis W. M. Morais: His Fight for Humanity (2016) co-authored with her late husband, Dr. Charles Wesley Ford, Jr. Dr Ford’s next books, PeekSqueak: The Lost Duckling (in press) and Dreams Remembered (tentatively titled) are expected to be released in 2021. Over the years, Dr. Ford has edited several textbooks for companies including Pearson, Bedford-St. Martin’s, Thomson Wadsworth, and Prentice Hall. Her most recent edited work, Fierce and Fabulous by Glynis W. Bell, encourages and inspires young ladies to develop positive self-image in all aspects of their lives. Dr. Ford is now working with several soon-to-be authors whose works cover a variety of genres. To learn more about Dr. Ford’s work, visit winhtellingstories.com.
BART GANZERT
CRITIQUE GROUP COORDINATOR
Bart has taught composition, creative writing, essaying and even technical writing in over twenty years of teaching at the secondary and postsecondary levels. When not teaching he does freelance editing or nonfiction writing. He completed his first novel, After the War, a year ago, is shopping it to publishers, and is focusing on a new novel about hoboing through the Carolinas, finding value and meaning in life and something about General Nathanael Greene along the way.
DAVID JOHNSON
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE
David Mark Johnson is a writer from North Carolina. David has worked in the food industry, education, outdoor recreation, and social work, yet his passion and joy is creative writing. In 2017, he earned a B.A. in Psychology from The University of North Carolina at Asheville then moved back to Winston-Salem to be closer to his parents and sister. His creative interests are haiku, free-verse poetry, fantasy fiction, and creative nonfiction. Lamplit evenings with a book or video game help him unwind. Find out more at David’s website: www.davidmarkjohnson.com
HOWARD PEARRE
COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR
After a career as a counselor and manager with N.C. Vocational Rehabilitation and the Veterans Administration, Howard settled down to give serious attention to tomato growing, fig wine making, and story writing. His fiction and memoir pieces have appeared in Daniel Boone Footsteps anthologies, Flying South, and Greenprints magazine, and a story is scheduled for the January 2022, online edition of The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. He received an honorable mention for a short story at the 2020 International Human Rights Arts Festival and has written articles for the Winston-Salem Chronicle to encourage voting. He lives in Winston-Salem with his wife Kathy and tries to keep up with six far-flung grandchildren.
DAVID RATCLIFFE
TEN-MINUTE PLAY COORDINATOR
David Ratcliffe is a native of Waynesville, N.C. and has lived in the Triad since 1994. He is a financial advisor with Principal Financial Group in Winston-Salem and lives in Lewisville with his wife, Cherie, and son, Corbin. David is a past member of the Greensboro Playwrights’ Forum and had five short plays produced in their Evenings of Short Plays. Since 2002, he has written, directed and acted in contemporary holiday dramas and skits at Mt. Tabor United Methodist Church. Most recently, he was the winner of the 2017 Cary Playwrights’ Forum Play Slam. He is past board member of Authoring Action and The Little Theatre of Winston-Salem.
DWEDOR MORAIS FORD, PH.D.
PROGRAM COORDINATORS
JULIE KOLISCHAK
WEBMASTER
Julie’s entire professional career has been in the Communications field. She has over thirty years experience in producing written and visual content for Fortune 500 companies, commercial and nonprofit organizations. Her training in graphic design, coupled with her experience in video production, copywriting and project management, uniquely positions her to organize content into a viewable, engaging user experience. Her writing interests include Poetry and Creative Nonfiction.
STEVE LINDAHL
FLYING SOUTH LITERARY JOURNAL COORDINATOR
Chasing Margie is Steve Lindahl's sixth novel. His first three, Motherless Soul , White Horse Regressions, and Hopatcong Vision Quest (a CIPA 2017 Evvy award winner) are historical fiction stories wrapped in modern mysteries. In these books the characters must look into their past life memories to find clues concerning crimes in the present. His fourth and fifth books, Under a Warped Cross and Living in a Star’s Light, are also historical novels, but without the regression twist. Under a Warped Cross is set in the tenth century, in Scandinavia, Ireland, and Britannia. Living in a Star’s Light follows the life of Lotta Crabtree, a nineteenth century actress who achieved great fame and wealth. Steve’s short fiction has appeared in Space and Time, The Alaska Quarterly, The Wisconsin Review, Eclipse, Ellipsis and Red Wheelbarrow. Steve is married to Toni Lindahl, a pastel artist. They currently reside in North Carolina, but still spend time each summer at Lake Hopatcong, NJ. They have two adult children, Nicole and Erik, and one grandchild, Ava.
MATTHEW McLEAN
BOOKMARKS COORDINATOR
Although a recent transplant to North Carolina, Matthew C. McLean has been writing and editing for 20 years, in various forms ranging from comic books to novels. His most recent novel One Sore Rib was released in 2017. Matthew has a passion for literacy and has sought to become actively involved in Bookmarks and Forsyth County child development and education. Whenever he can attend he enjoys the monthly Salem Writers' Open Mic nights, encouraging anyone who has the courage to create and share with others.
