Loft Spotlights

Jessica Mattson is a graduate of the MFA program in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She enjoys writing middle grade and young adult and likes to play video games in her spare time.

Tasslyn Magnusson received her MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University in Saint Paul, MN. Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in Broad River Review, Room Magazine, The Mom Egg Review, The Raw Art Review: A Journal of Storm and Urge, and more.

Angela Ajayi's essays, book reviews, and author interviews have appeared in The Common Online, Wild River Review, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where she is a contributing book critic. She holds a BA in English lit from Calvin College and an MA in comparative lit from Columbia University.

Nicole Kronzer is the author of the young adult novels Unscripted and the forthcoming The Roof Over Our Heads. Unscripted was named a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association and was a Minnesota Book Award Finalist. Nicole is also a high school English teacher and former actor.

Steve Woodward is an editor at Graywolf Press. Authors he has worked with have won the Man Booker Prize and the NBCC Award and have been finalists for the National Book Award and the LA Times Book Prize. He has an MFA in fiction from the University of Michigan.

Cristina Oxtra is a Filipino American author and educator. Her books include Stephen Hawking: Get to Know the Man Behind the Theory, Stan Lee: Get to Know the Comics Creator, Tae Kwon Do Test, Tara and the Towering Wave: An Indian Ocean Tsunami Survival Story, and a Manga graphic novel.

My wish for every member of the Loft’s writing community is that you find your own Mary Gardner, a friend and a mentor who inspires you to do your best, to persist when the work gets hard, and that, in turn, we all become that person for another writer who needs the support as much as we once did.

Diane is the producer of First Person Live, a monthly storytelling show in Chicago. She's a three-time Moth StorySLAM winner; her work has been featured on the Moth Radio Hour, its podcast, and at live Moth events. Diane has told stories on stage at Second City, the Park West, and Victory Gardens.

David Adjmi's debut memoir Lot Six explores "how human beings create themselves, and how artists make their lives into art." For decades now, David’s plays have been produced to critical acclaim, and he’s received multiple prizes, including a Guggenheim fellowship and a Whiting Award.

Jessica Goudeau has written for the New York Times, Atlantic, and Washington Post, among other places and is a former columnist for Catapult. She has a PhD in literature and issues of representation. She is the author of After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America.

Matthew Kessen is a writer, actor, dramaturg, and producer. He is best known for his ongoing series of solo shows, "Reverend Matt's Monster Science," which was a major hit at the Minnesota Fringe, and which has played at theaters, conventions, museums, and libraries throughout Minnesota.

Emily Strasser received her MFA in nonfiction from the University of Minnesota in 2016. Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, Guernica, Colorado Review, Catapult, and The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, among others. One of her essays was named a notable for Best American 2016.