Meet the folks behind the scenes!
Amy Freeman
Development Director
With years of experience raising funds for nonprofits large and small, Amy brings her trademark zest to growing The Writer’s Center’s vibrant literary community. When not at TWC, Amy’s a freelance writer, with bylines in The Washington Post, Parents.com, Santa Fe Writing Project, HuffPost, Furious Gravity anthology etc. Contact Amy with questions or comments about ways you can support TWC.
Emily Holland
Executive Editor of Poet Lore, Communications Manager
Emily Holland (they/she) is a genderqueer lesbian writer living in Baltimore, MD. Their debut collection of poems, NOTIFICATIONS ON, won the Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from the Washington Writers’ Publishing House and will be published in January 2027. Their work appears in publications including HAD, Shenandoah, DIALOGIST, Little Patuxent Review, and Black Warrior Review. In 2023, they served as the Chair of Outwrite, DC’s LGBTQIA+ literary festival. She currently teaches creative writing at the George Washington University. They are also the Executive Editor of Poet Lore, America’s oldest poetry journal, and the Communications Manager at The Writer’s Center.
Brandon Johnson
Events Manager
Brandon Johnson (Blue) is a black, queer poet, translator, and educator from the D(M)V. They hold a MFA in Poetry from Arizona State University and their work sits at the intersection of the ekphrastic, the body, the erotic, and the contemporary Black experience. He also holds a Master’s of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland and has worked with elementary and high school-age students in French and Creative Writing. His work has or will appear in Foglifter, Frozen Sea, &Change, and more. Their work is also featured in the Capital Pride Poem-a-Day event and has received support from Tin House, the Virginia G Piper Center for Creative Writing, and the Aspen Words Conference. His chapbook, Snap.Shot, has been published by Finishing Line Press and was named in Poetry Mutual’s Best Books of 2023. Keep up with their work at brandonbluepoet.com. Contact Brandon for literary event inquiries.
Elena Macdonald
Customer Service Associate
Elena Macdonald is a lesbian writer from Northern Virginia. They are one of the founding editors of Aftertouch Magazine. They received their MFA & BFA in Creative Writing from GMU. Their work has been featured in Silly Goose Press, The Ekphrastic Review, and Kitchen Table Quarterly.
Kevin Montique
Events Associate
Kevin is a DMV native, born and raised in Maryland, who lives and writes in Derwood. After graduating from George Mason University’s BFA program with a degree in Creative Writing and minor in Marketing, Kevin has taken on his fair share of roles, whether that be a copywriting internship or freelancing as a Social Media Manager. Through it all, he has maintained his passion for writing by hosting weekly workshops with former George Mason graduates, where he continues to develop his novel manuscripts. Under the pen name MK Ralston, Kevin primarily writes fantasy that intersects science fiction, dramatic world building, and imaginative but realistic characters who crave justice, acceptance, and meaningful relationships. If he isn’t writing, you can find Kevin indulging his sweet tooth with chocolate chip cookies or Black Forest gummy bears while playing Brawl Stars.
Zach Powers
Executive & Artistic Director
Zach is a native of Savannah, Georgia, and lives and writes in Arlington, Virginia. He is the author of the new novel, The Migraine Diaries, the novel First Cosmic Velocity, and the story collection Gravity Changes, winner of the Boa Short Fiction Prize. His book on the craft of fiction will be published by Boa Editions in 2028. He worked in television for a decade, winning four regional Emmy awards. He has worked and volunteered for numerous nonprofits, serving on the Board of Directors for the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home and on the Board of Advisors for Georgia Public Broadcasting, teaching youth creative writing workshops for Deep Center, and co-founding the literary arts organization Seersucker Live, Inc. He was an Adjunct Professor of Writing at University of South Carolina Beaufort and Northern Virginia Community College. He has an MFA in Fiction from National University.
Rhondalyn Primes
Customer Service Associate
Rhondalyn Primes is a practicing attorney with over 25 years of civil litigation experience. For the last six years, she has worked for the federal government in the area of administrative and regulatory law. Rhondalyn is the mother of two boys, Amare and Cameron. In her spare time, she enjoys running, tennis and writing. She is currently working on her first novel.
Charlotte Seay
Customer Service Associate
Caroline “Cara” Siebert
Customer Service Associate
Caroline “Cara” Siebert is a poet and first-year MFA candidate at American University (which is also her alma mater!). Although she is originally from Chicago, over the past four years she has come to consider Washington DC her true home. Her poetry and personal essays have appeared in AmLit, and her poem “Elegy for the Racine County Jane Doe” was published in the anthology Of Our Own Accord by Flying Ketchup Press.
Laura Spencer
Program Director
Laura is the cofounder and former poetry editor of the literary journal Big Lucks. Her poetry and photography have appeared in publications including A capella Zoo, Cosmonauts Avenue, Everyday Genius, and Fifth Wednesday. A Massachusetts native, Laura graduated from Chester College of New England where she earned a BA in creative writing. She is the writer in residence at Grow Food Northampton, writing quarterly articles for the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Contact her about teaching at The Writer’s Center.
Charlotte Van Schaack
Office Manager
Charlotte Van Schaack is a queer poet who was raised in North Carolina but now resides in Washington, DC after earning a BA in Creative Writing at American University. Their work often explores the relationship between identity, memory, and landscape. She is an associate creative nonfiction editor at JMWW Journal. In 2024 Charlotte was an Inner Loop writer-in-residence at the Woodlawn and Pope-Leighey Houses in Virginia. Find her work in WWPH Writes, Dialogist, and Thimble Lit. @cvanschaack.writes on Instagram.