Staff List
Meet the people of Poets & Writers
- Administration
- Poets & Writers Magazine
- Information Services
- Readings/Workshops (East)
- Readings/Workshops (West) and California Office
ADMINISTRATION
Elliot Figman – Executive Director
As an earlier admirer of Poets & Writers, Elliot came to the organization as a volunteer in 1977. Four years later he was appointed the organization’s executive director. Elliot graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors in English from Oberlin College in 1971 and earned an MA in Teaching from the University of Massachusetts in 1972. He has served on the Board of Directors of Oberlin College and The Corlears School. An accomplished poet, his book, Big Spring, was published by Four Way Books in 2003.
Jennifer Benka – Managing Director
Jen joined Poets & Writers as the managing director in January 2001, bringing nearly 15 years of nonprofit experience at social justice and arts organizations. Her collection of poems, A Box of Longing with Fifty Drawers, was published by Soft Skull Press in 2005, and she has received grants and awards from Intermedia Arts, the Poetry/Film Workshop, Wisconsin Arts Board, and Xeric Foundation. She holds a degree in journalism from Marquette University, a certificate in arts management from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and an MFA in poetry from The New School.
William F. Hayes – Controller
Bill has been controller of Poets & Writers since 1999. He has been involved in the media industry for the past 25 years. Prior to joining Poets & Writers, Bill served as the controller of the Talman Company, a small press publisher and distributor located in New York City. Bill has also held the position of assistant to the treasurer/controller of Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI), and controller of United Artists Cablesystems Inc., eastern division. He is a graduate of Rutgers University’s CPA emphasis program.
Alexanne Pemberton – Full-charge Bookkeeper
Alex has been the full-charge bookkeeper of Poets & Writers since 2006. She has served as the accounting coordinator for Niche Media and has worked in the finance departments at Brooklyn Academy of Music and The Alan Guttmacher Institute.
Jason Chapman – Director, Information Technology
Jason has worked in the IT industry for over twenty years, and joined Poets & Writers in 1997. His diverse experiences include mainframe operations for the Georgia Institute of Technology, application development for a military contractor, and Web development for a variety of businesses. He is also the author of the novel, The Heretic, an early success in the still-developing arena of electronic publishing.
D. Sulaitis – Administrative Coordinator
D. has worked at Poets & Writers since 1991. Her short stories have appeared in Inkwell, New York Stories, and Painted Bride Quarterly, and one of her essays was included in My Father Married Your Mother (WW Norton, 2006). In 2006, D. won the Boston Review’s annual fiction contest and she has been a finalist in both the New Letters and Zoetrope fiction contests, and for the Flannery O’Connor award for a collection of short stories. She is the recipient of two fiction fellowships from The New York Foundation for the Arts, and holds a BA in English/Creative Writing from the University of Hartford.
Linda Rondinelli– Development & Marketing Manager
Prior to joining Poets & Writers in 2008, Linda held various
development and communications positions with social justice and social
service nonprofits, was an AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer, worked for a
corporate marketing consulting firm, and in academic publishing. She
holds a Bachelor’s degree in English literature from The College of
William and Mary and a Master’s degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School
of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin where her
graduate studies focused on nonprofit and philanthropic studies, media
studies, and cultural policy.
Chris Reichheld– Development & Marketing Coordinator
Chris
graduated from NYU’s College of Arts & Science with a degree in dramatic
literature and theater history, and joined P&W in 2005. He served for two
years as associate theater editor of Washington Square News, NYU’s daily newspaper, and has previously worked in the
publicity department of Harry N. Abrams, completed a year-long fellowship at
the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), and interned at
Playbill.com.
POETS & WRITERS MAGAZINE
Mary Gannon – Editor
Mary has worked in the editorial department of Poets & Writers Magazine since 1996; she became editor in 2005. She is also co-editor of the book, The Practical Writer: From Inspiration to Publication, which was published by Penguin in 2004. She has worked at Hearst Magazines, and has taught writing as a faculty associate at Arizona State University where she received her MFA in poetry and where she was a poetry editor at Hayden’s Ferry Review. Mary has published her poetry in a variety of literary magazines, including the Antioch Review, the Paris Review, SHADE, and Washington Square, among others, and book reviews in Chelsea, the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette, and Poetry International.
Kevin Larimer – Deputy Editor
Kevin has been with Poets & Writers since 1999. He holds a degree in journalism and received his MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he was the poetry editor of the Iowa Review. He has also been the sports editor of a daily newspaper, an editorial assistant for a science book publisher, and a proofreader for a university press. His poems have appeared in Fence, Pleiades, Verse, and a dozen other literary magazines. He has written book reviews for American Letters & Commentary, American Book Review, Chelsea, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Suzanne Pettypiece – Managing Editor
Prior to joining Poets &
Writers in 2002, Suzanne worked as a book editor for Pearson and also served in
various positions at several magazines and newspapers. She received her MA in
journalism from Ball State University. She is cofounder and editor of the print
and online literary journal Ballyhoo Stories.
Jean Hartig – Editorial Assistant
Jean joined Poets &
Writers in 2007 after receiving her MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College.
She has worked as an associate regional editor for Lumina
, the graduate literary journal of Sarah Lawrence,
and as an editorial assistant at A Public Space
magazine. Jean’s poetry has appeared in Dirt and Sink Review and her chapbook, Ave, Materia, was selected by Fanny Howe as winner of a New York City Chapbook Fellowship from the Poetry Society of America.
Joshua Mandelbaum – Advertising Director
Josh has worked in the advertising department of Poets & Writers Magazine since September 2000. He began as advertising assistant and has also served as advertising associate and associate advertising director, before his promotion to advertising director in 2004. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a BA in English in 2000. He is coeditor of the literary magazine Ballyhoo Stories. His fiction has appeared in Pindeldyboz and Small Spiral Notebook.
Maren Vespia– Advertising Associate
Maren Vespia received her BFA in writing for performance, publication, and media from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 2005 and joined Poets & Writers later that year. She previously worked as an intern for both Hanging Loose Press and the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s.
Sara Femenella– Advertising Assistant
INFORMATION SERVICES
Bram Hsieh – Director, Information Services
Before joining Poets & Writers in January 2005, Bram worked as an editorial assistant at One Story and NYU Press, and as a copywriter at Books of Wonder. His work has appeared in the literary magazines Fourteen Hills and Washington Square. He received a BA from the University of California at Berkeley and an MFA from New York University.
Francheska Melendez – Information Services Assistant
Prior to joining the Information Services department in 2007, Francheska served as an intern at Poets & Writers. She is a recent graduate of CUNY’s BaruchCollege where she majored in journalism/creative writing. At Baruch, she servedas the assistant to the Harman Program, Baruch’s writer-in-residence program. She has also taught and mentored teens as a volunteer SAT coach for the nonprofit organization, Let's Get Ready.
READINGS/WORKSHOPS (EAST)
Bonnie Rose Marcus – Director of Readings/Workshops (East) and the Writers Exchange
Bonnie joined Poets & Writers in July 2000, bringing more than 20 years of experience in the field of arts education. Ms. Marcus has conducted theatre and writing workshops at numerous community-based organizations in New York City and created a model program, Project VIP (Voice, Identity, Power), a theatre writing initiative for adolescent girls, which continues at New Settlement Apartments in the Bronx. A writer and performer, Ms. Marcus has presented her poetry at venues including ABC No Rio, Boricua College, Cornelia Street Café, the New School for Social Research, and Playwrights Horizon. Her theatre credits include a three and a half year run in the Off Broadway show, “Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding.”
Nicole Sealey – Program Coordinator, Readings/Workshops (East) and the Writers Exchange
Nicole joined Poets & Writers in 2004. She has written for a number of arts journals including Code Z: Black Visual Culture. Her interviews with acclaimed writers Sapphire, DJ Spooky and Patricia Smith can be found in Artists and Influence: Volume XXV, Studio, and Mosaic literary magazine, respectively. Her poems have appeared in Feeding the Soul: Black Music, Black Thought and His Rib.
READINGS/WORKSHOPS (WEST) and CALIFORNIA OFFICE
Cheryl Klein – Director, California Office and Readings/Workshops (West)
Cheryl Klein joined Poets & Writers in 2002. Her first book, The Commuters: A Novel of Intersections (San Diego City Works Press, 2006), won City Works Press’ Ben Reitman Award. Previously, she coedited the online queer fiction magazine Blithe House Quarterly and taught creative writing to homeless youth, high school girls, and teen boys in the criminal justice system. She received a BA in English from UCLA, and an MFA in writing from California Institute of the Arts.
Jamie Asae Fitzgerald – Program Coordinator, California Office and Readings/Workshop (West)
Jamie has worked for Poets & Writers since 2005. While an undergraduate at the University of Southern California, she received an Academy of American Poets College Prize and the Edward W. Moses Poetry Prize. She has taught creative writing, composition and literature at San Diego State University where she received an MFA in poetry. She also has extensive experience as a copywriter. Her poetry has appeared in Ariel, Fulcrum, LORE, Poetic Diversity,Speechless, and Snow Monkey, as well as the King County Poetry on the Buses Project. Jamie is originally from Hawaii.
