Board President, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and the author of Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge (Sundress Publications 2016). A former Steinbeck Fellow, Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange winner, and Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grantee, she’s received residencies from Hedgebrook, Ragdale, National Parks Arts Foundation, and Poetry Foundation. She has work published in Acentos Review, CALYX, crazyhorse, [Pank], and American Poetry Review among others. Most recently her poem, “Battlegrounds” featured at The Academy of American Poets, Poem-A-Day. She’s coordinated workshops and panels with artworxLA, Latina Writers Conference, and #dignidadliteraria. Learn more at her website.
Board Secretary, Désirée Zamorano is the author of the highly acclaimed literary novel The Amado Women. An award-winning and Pushcart prize nominee short story writer, a sampling of her writing can be found in Catapult, Cultural Weekly, Huizache, The Kenyon Review, and [PANK]. She is a past scholar of the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and a frequent contributor to the LA Review of Books. As the director of Occidental College’s Community Literacy Center, Désirée brought in writers to lead dynamic workshops or participate in engaging panels. She was instrumental in unionizing the adjunct faculty.
Board Treasurer, Angela M. Franklin is an award-winning poet, whose poems and essays are published in journals: Dionne’s Story Anthology IV, These Black Bodies Are…, Transformation and The Gathering-Women Who Submit anthologies, Cholla Needles 88, Peregrine Volume XXXV Black Poets Speak, and other publications. She has taught poetry to high school students, and teens in detention. A former volunteer writing coach and fundraiser for PONGO, (a poetry program that helps students address their problems and find their voices), she earned studentsrespect, and fostered a welcoming environment where troubled teens learned to express themselves through their writing. She lives in Los Angeles.
Toni Ann Johnson won the Flannery O’Connor Award with her linked story collection Light Skin Gone to Waste, forthcoming October 2022 from UGA Press. In 2021, Accents Publishing released Johnson’s Homegoing after it won their inaugural novella contest. A novel, Remedy For a Broken Angel was nominated for a 2015 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work by a Debut Author. Johnson has served on the board of the Empowerment Congress Southwest. She’s been a college professor at The University of Southern California and in June she joins the faculty of Antioch University Los Angeles.
Luivette Resto is an award-winning poet, a mother of 3 revolutionary humans, a Wonder Woman fan, and a middle school English teacher. She was born in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico but proudly raised in the Bronx. She is a CantoMundo and Macondo Fellow and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She also sits on the inaugural board of directors for Women Who Submit. Her two books of poetry Unfinished Portrait and Ascension have been published by Tía Chucha Press. Her recent poetry collection Living on Islands Not Found on Map, published by FlowerSong Press, is a finalist for the 2022 Juan Felipe Herrera Best Poetry Book Award at the International Latino Book Awards. She lives in the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles.
Rachelle Yousuf has worked and volunteered in the Los Angeles literary community for the past decade. She has served as both National President and L.A. Chapter President of the Women’s National Book Association. She has also worked with literary organizations such as YALLWEST, the LA branch of The Freya Project, and Bookswell, coordinating events and programs. Previously, she was the head of membership at PEN Center USA, a literary arts and human rights nonprofit. Rachelle holds a master’s in English Literature from California State University, Northridge, where she currently works in fundraising as the Annual Giving Manager.
Noriko Nakada is a multi-racial Asian American who creates fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art to capture the stories she has been told not to talk about. Her memoir Through Eyes Like Mine, was shortlisted for the 2040 Book Award. Excerpts, essays, and poetry have been published in Hippocampus, Catapult, Linden Ave, and elsewhere. She is an LAUSD teacher and parent as well as a UTLA union organizer. Noriko is represented by Emily Keyes of Keyes Agency.
Sakae Manning, a Choctaw/Nisei two-spirit, centers storytelling on alliances and intersectionality amongst BIWOC. Manning is committed to creating inclusive and intersectional spaces for BIPOC and underrepresented writers. They facilitated strategy and implementation for the most recent Altadena Co-Poet Laureates. For AWP Seattle, they co-produced BIPOC Women/Nonbinary Writers Cultivating Community and Safe Writing Spaces. They co-produced a LAMBDA LIT event amplifying BIPOC LGBTQIA+ writers, and as the Annenberg Community Beach House writer-in-residence, they produced salons featuring BIWOC writers. They are the former social media editor for non-profit Women Who Submit, an AWP Writer-to-Writer Program alum, and an Anaphora fellow. Manning is a board trustee for First Entertainment Credit Union after an extensive career in entertainment global and strategic marketing.
Juanita E. Mantz (“JEM”) is a USC Law educated deputy public defender, writer, performer, and podcaster. JEM has 2 books, a memoir titled “Tales of an Inland Empire Girl” (Los Nietos Press, 2022) which won a bronze medal at the 2023 Latino Books to Movie Awards and a hybrid chapbook titled “Portrait of a Deputy Public Defender, or how I became a punk rock lawyer” (Bamboo Dart Press, 2021) which won a gold medal at the 2022 International Latino Book Awards. Her stories have been published in literary journals, newspapers & anthologies. She is an alumni of VONA and Macondo and received a 2023/2024 California Arts Council Grant at the Established Artist level. She’s presented at UCR Writers’ Week, the UCR Punk Conference, Pasadena LitFest, AWP & Beyond Baroque. She was a cast member in the 2024 production of Manecdotes at the Colony Theater in Burbank and is currently putting together a one woman show. JEM is in the low res MFA writing program at the University of New Orleans. On her “Life of JEM” video podcast, she does live interviews with writers. Find everything on her author website: https://juanitaemantz.com.