Featured Writers: 

Poet Casey Rocheteau, the recipient of the inaugural Write A House permanent residency in Detroit in September 2014. Casey attended Callaloo Writer’s Workshop, Cave Canem, and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in Sicily. Their first collection of poetry, Knocked Up On Yes, was released on Sargent Press in 2012. Their second collection of poetry, The Dozen, was published on Sibling Rivalry Press in 2016.

Poet Marlin M. Jenkins, born and raised in Detroit. A graduate of University of Michigan’s MFA program, his work has been given homes by The Collagist, The Offing, The Journal and Bennington Review, among others. He has worked with students in Detroit Public Schools through the Inside Out Literary Arts program and received a fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center. He is also a runner and a dancer.

Moderators: 

Kyle Dacuyan is the Senior Manager of Literary Outreach & Activism at PEN America, where he facilitates partnerships with other cultural and advocacy organizations, and leads PEN’s community engagement funding for members, writers, and other allies. He currently manages PEN’s Press Freedom Incentive Fund, a resource for locally led projects on issues around media truth, representation, and information access. He has been an organizer for LGBTQ+ rights and immigrant justice, and has published poetry in Best New Poets, Lambda Literary, and DIAGRAM, among other places.

Collumnist Tony Norman, an award-winning columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Tony began his career at the PG as a news clerk in 1988 before being elevated to the pop music/pop culture beat a year later. In 1996, he became a columnist. In 1999 he joined the PG’s editorial board where he was a member until Dec. 2016. In 2005, Tony took a year-long sabbatical at the University of Michigan where he was a Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellow. In 2012, Tony was named the PG’s book review editor. Today he writes art features, edits books reviews and continues a hard-hitting column that is very critical of the Trump administration.