Founder and Teacher

Jackson Pearce is the author of sixteen books for tweens and teens, including the Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures series (Scholastic), the Ellie, Engineer series (Bloomsbury), and the Doublecross series (Bloomsbury). Her books are published in twenty-three languages worldwide and have earned multiple state and national awards.

Jackson teaches creative writing as a form of play—an activity to be enjoyed, experimented with, and shared. She often observes that students can be their own harshest critics and strives to remind them that every piece of writing, whether good, bad, or in-between, has value and can be fun.

Her classes are dynamic, informative, and engaging. Jackson genuinely loves helping students uncover or refine their writing talents. She encourages active participation, welcoming questions and discussions, and tailors her lessons to align with her students' unique interests, ensuring a meaningful connection to the material.

Teacher

Tiffany Schmidt spent seven years as a sixth-grade teacher and has also taught kindergarten, preschool, and worked extensively with middle and high school writers as a tutor. She holds a Master’s in Elementary Education and a B.A. in English, both from Lehigh University.

Tiffany is the author of nine novels for teens and tweens, including the Bookish Boyfriends series, the Hold Me Like A Breath series, and Once Bitten, Twice Dead from the Monster High series. She’s also the momma of three spirited Schmidtlets.

Her goal for her students is always to help them "Grow and Glow"—creating a safe environment to try hard, take risks, and feel proud of their accomplishments.

Teacher

Tracy Banghart is the author of several young adult books, including the Grace and Fury series (Little, Brown) and the Perfect Girl (Feiwel & Friends). She also writes picture books, such as Love Like Chocolate (Little, Brown).

With a BA in English from Davidson College and an MA in Publishing from Oxford Brookes University, she brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to creative writing. An avid journal writer, traveler, Girl Scout leader, Army wife, knitter, stained glass artist, and mom to two children and three pets, she is eager to share her expertise and experiences with others. She looks forward to writing alongside you!

Teacher

Saundra Mitchell is an award-winning and critically-acclaimed author of twelve novels, including The Vespertine, Shadowed Summer, and the Camp Murderface series. She's also the author of two non-fiction history books, and an editor of four anthologies—all for young people, including All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages. She primarily writes for tweens and teens, and has spent the last fifteen years of her career fighting for the reading rights of young people, especially those from marginalized groups and backgrounds.

For almost twenty years, Mitchell was also the head screenwriter and an executive producer for Fresh Films, the largest filmmaking program for teens in the world. During her tenure, she wrote more than four hundred short films, half of which competed at film festivals all around the world. Ten earned Academy Award eligibility.

Mitchell also teaches creative writing and screenwriting to students of all ages, and enjoys reading, studying history, playing ttrpgs and video games, and spending time with her wife and daughters. After a lifetime in the midwest, she now resides in Maryland. Her pronouns are she/they.

Teacher

Jax McQueen brings nearly a decade of diverse teaching experience to the table, ranging from serving as an adjunct professor at two local universities to assisting in an elementary school classroom. Her background also includes providing personalized reading skills instruction and teaching English. She holds a B.A. in Communication Studies (with a minor in Writing for the Screen and Stage) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Interactive Media from Elon University.

Beyond teaching, Jax is a freelance developmental editor who loves helping authors refine their stories to shine their brightest. As a hybrid author. She has self-published ten romance books for adults and is represented by an agent for her women’s fiction projects.

Jax is passionate about empowering her students to embrace their creativity and boldly share their stories with the world. When she’s not playing with words, she loves to travel, attend live events, explore different styles of dance, curate the perfect playlist, and eat all the desserts.

Teacher

Janae Marks is the New York Times bestselling author of many middle grade novels, including the Zoe Washington series, A Soft Place to Land, A Split Second, and Starting Now (all published by HarperCollins). She has a BA in English Literature from Tufts University and an MFA in Writing for Children from The New School. Janae regularly does author visits at schools, where she talks to students of all ages about her books, publishing journey, and the writing process. She has also led many writing workshops for kids. Writing has always been part of Janae’s life, ever since she was a child. She started out writing illustrated autobiographical stories in kindergarten, and then journal entries, stories to submit to Seventeen Magazine‘s short story contests, and letters to her pen pals and summer camp friends. Now, she wants to help kids discover and cultivate their own passions for writing and storytelling. She strives to make her classes fun and engaging, where kids can let their creativity run wild!

Marisa Urgo writes young adult novels that mix humor and heart. She is originally from New York and still considers herself a New Yorker, but lives outside of Boston. By day, Marisa works in higher education. As a first generation student, Marisa has a passion for helping students succeed.

By night, she is supposed to be writing but is mostly chasing her cat away from the keyboard. Her work includes The Gravity of Missing Things and The Midnight Coven, with more books forthcoming. She holds a Bachelors in Psychology and Theatre from Providence College, and a Masters Degree in Education from Northeastern University, where she earned a 4.0 and graduated at the top of her class.