Instructors
Marcus If
Founder
Maggie Saunders
Chairperson of the Board
2023 Summer Camp Director
Cicada Musselman
2016-17, 23 Summer Camp Director
Eric Fischman
Eric Raanan Fischman is an MFA recipient from Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Most recently, his work has appeared in Rabbit Catastrophe, Boned: Every Which Way, and The Microtext 2, and is forthcoming in an anthology from Punch Drunk Press. He has also had work in the Boulder Weekly, Bombay Gin, and…
Eliza Beth Whittington
Eliza is a poet, painter, parent, and musician. They are a college drop out who has helped organize Denver Free School, community gardens and poetry and music events in Denver including The Poetry Rodeo and Park Hill Hub. They are a guest poet with Art from Ashes, which teaches poetry workshops to struggling youth. They…
Aspen Everett
Aspen Everett is a poet and artist rising from the wind-tossed flatlands of Kansas. A practitioner of Heathen Mythology, he is haunted by extinctions and empty ecosystems. Undereducated and self-motivated (mostly), Aspen is a full-time father first and a writer when he can be. Utilizing paganism as activism, Aspen hopes to reanimate a living world…
Clark Riley
Clark Riley is a plant ecologist with 5 years of botanical experience. They are coauthor on a climate change paper published in Nature Communications journal, despite only holding an art degree. Clark is an experimental poet and artist remaining undercover within the scientific establishment.
Virginia Schultz
Virginia Schultz is a Poetry Expansionist, Planner, Minder of Resolve, Ideator, Systems Thinker, and grateful Breather of Air living within strawbale walls on the lower north side of Gold Hill, CO. Virginia, along with the late Kathryn Singey and Jack Collom, co-founded Word By Word Journeys, where they facilitated professional development for K-12 teachers using…
Ira Liss
Professor of Ridiculosity Ira G. Liss Ira G. Liss, in his multi-decade career as a performing artist and writer, has had the pleasure and privilege of working as an actor, MC, talk show host, interviewer, producer, director, comic, performance poet, improvisor, storyteller, monologist, pianist, accompaniest, singer, songwriter, ceremony officiant and more. He regularly performs at…
Jonathan Montgomery
Born ’80, Akron, Ohio, Sarah Lawrence College, Naropa University (MFA ‘05), Boulder Poetry Scene since 2003. Author of The MeToo Poems, Taxis and Shit, Pizzas and Mermaid. Published in Monkey Puzzle, Semicolon, Fast Forward, Love Shovel Review, Recipes for the Apocalypse, Lunamopolis, etc… Featured at Burnt Toast, Laughing Goat, Boulder Fringe Festival, Noname Bar, Innisfree…
Cooper Braun
Cooper Braun was raised by granola eating coyotes in Boulder Colorado and grew up without a television. Lacking the traditional American form of child pacification, he found a love for storytelling from records and cassette tapes. Drawn to performance and theater from a young age, Cooper started as an actor (what do you do with…
Louise Jayne Moriarty
Louise is affectionately known as the Headless Buddha. Professional poet, published author, powerful muse, passionate activist, shamanic sage, circus artist and emotional empath of unrivalled skill. Extensive life experience seeking out the edges, the depths, new frontiers and everything between, beyond and within. You will find her on the trail, the streets, at diverse festivals…
Brice Maiurro
Brice Maiurro is a poet, writer, editor, publisher and community organizer from Denver, Colorado. In January of 2019, Westword recognized his as one of 100 Colorado Creatives, a recognition of his contributions to the arts community in Colorado. He is the founding editor of Punch Drunk Press, the Editor-In-Chief of South Broadway Ghost Society, and the Poetry Editor…
Caitlan Mitchell
Chair of Esoteric Poetics Caitlan Frances Mitchell is a mountain mama and writer. She kens all Poetry to be Spell-Casting. She draws inspiration from Mother Earth, the Gateway to the Spiritual Realms. She sees echoes of the ancient, hears murmurs of the ancestors permeating through All. She prefers the company of trees and mountains to…
Caito Foster
Caito Foster is the founder and “shmeditor” of Spit Poet Publishing, was raised and is currently based in Boulder, CO. Caito hosts the Innisfree Open Mic and Mercury Cafe Sunday Open Mic at random, performs their poems for children with Art From Ashes in Denver and teaches zine making workshops for the Denver Zine Library…
Mike Malpiedi
Mike Malpiedi is a queerdo nerd boi, writer, singer, performer and friendly neighborhood panda currently residing in Warwick, Rhode Island. He is the event & distribution coordinator for Game Over Books as well as an editor and submission reader. Mike has been curating open mics, readings, and other events since his undergraduate days at Bridgewater…
Dionne Barry
Dionne has lived in many bodies and currently resides in a large body of water. Boulder native, Founder/Zine Editor of Writer’s Block, multidisciplinary visual artist, and dog friend to all canine companions, this hummingbird heartbeat can’t wait to art beat this summer at BAFS! Join Dionne and Dionysus in the sunshine as we honor the…
Jessie Thayer
Jessie McWilliam lives in Lafayette, Colorado. She is a performing vocalist and has been a creative writing teacher and voice teacher for over ten years. Jessie works to inspire kids and young adults to find their own unique voice. She’s been published in various literary magazines such as Rattle, 32 Poems, Acorn, and Adroit…
Shayna Lava
Interdimentional Cantaloupe. Aspen leaf sings golden. Overchewing lollipop stick in a grassy patch. Upstand staircase, spiral river runs between sandaled toe gap. Thought fills action.
Dani Ferrara
Dani Ferrara is a secret collector. Unsure what to call her. Poet, musician?, songwriter, pataphysician, pseudoscientific cosmologist, philosopher. Teaches creative writing and composition. Co-founded the .OFF Collective. Proud of it. Matarial, Bad Bath, Nothing’s Wrong and Warm Dad [RIP]. She enjoys doing absolutely fucking nothing in solitude. Here’s work she’s done that she likes.
Troy Conrey
Former USMC Captain, US Special Operations Command alum, experienced private military contractor, and lucky recipient of multiple ass-kickings from across the globe, Troy will be passing along lessons learned over the course of five combat tours and almost two decades living in conflict zones. Troy’s been shot at, blown up, car jacked, and had malaria more…
Madison Coia
Maddy Koifish is an enigma. Is an enemy of both sides of the gun. He does not party with politics, policies, or policemen. He believes we behave as we are told, and to think otherwise is to ensure immenant collapse into the system (be careful what you believe – Big Brother is watching you). He…
Sarah Rodriguez
2018 Summer Camp Director Sarah Rodriguez is a poet, educator, stage-practiced liar, bubblegum enthusiast, wine-led wanderer, failed manic pixie dream girl, Atlantic Ocean runaway, and the editor-in-chief of Punch Drunk Press. She organizes, hosts, and performs at arts events all over the Front Range. Her most recent publications include Spit Poet Zine and Stain’d Magazine.…
Jessica Rigney
Boarhog Press Acting Editor Jessica Rigney frequently performs her poetry along the Front Range, while also directing and producing short films of her longer works. She is published both locally and internationally and presently has an exhibit of her poems, Poetic Boxes, hammered into handmade steel boxes which house watercolors of a sensuous nature, painted…
Rachel Ann Harding
Traditional Storyteller and Musician, Rachel Ann Harding is passionate about telling the most beautiful folk, myth, and traditional tales. She has been a featured teller for the local Truth Be Told and a panelist for Intergenerational Storytelling at the National Storytelling Network Conference in 2015. Rachel Ann weaves story and song together to create unique and…
Seth Walker
“Neobeat slam poet Seth Walker’s words were a perfect counterpoint to the message at hand. With lyrics that celebrated triumph of the spirit over the degradation of life circumstances, Walker engaged the audience and, hopefully, galvanized them to take up the cause even after the show was over.”
Melonie Magruder | The Malibu Times
Clint Locks
Chair of Entry-Level Courses Beyond Academia LLC Board of Directors Founding Member Clint Locks works as a high school English literature and composition teacher in Jeffco Public Schools and previously in Boulder Valley Public Schools. He earned BAs in education/psychology from Howard Payne University, and his M.Ed. from University of Phoenix. He currently serves…
Roseanna Frechette
Chair of Contemplative Poetics Beyond Academia LLC Board of Directors Founding Member Roseanna Frechette is in love with words. Written. Spoken. Published. Or not. It’s all about words on page and energy on stage. Featured in a range of venues including rock shows, public TV, and art festivals, she has great passion for the beauty…
June Lucarotti
June Lucarotti MFA has facilitated writing and meditation workshops for over 10 years individually and at incredible organizations like: CU’s Wesley Foundation, Glide Foundation, UC Berkeley, Community College of San Francisco, Oakland Unified High Schools, Naropa University, Suitcase Clinic, the Women’s Day-Time Drop-In Center, Originateve, Soul Tree Yoga, Love Shovel, JCCSF, Costa Rica’s Aventuras Naturales,…
Nancy Stohlman
Chair of Flash Fiction Beyond Academia LLC Board of Directors Founding Member Born on Paradise Island to a race of Amazon Warriors, Nancy Stohlman came to America to fight for peace, justice, and truth. Her tools include her Lasso of Truth–a rope that compels truth-telling from those bound by it–her bullet-deflecting bracelets, and an invisible…
Jack Collom
8 November, 1931 – 2 July, 2017 Jack Collom was an esteemed professor of poetics, having taught poetry in Boulder and surrounding areas for over 40 years. His focus has ever been on teaching poetry to our youth, primarily school age children but also Master’s level courses at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics.…
Reed Bye
Reed Bye is a long-time resident of Boulder and has been described by Mr. If as “the only sane Buddhist I ever met in Boulder.” Reed’s most recent publications are Addled Smoke Material: Collaborative Poems with Jack Collom 1972-2017 (2018), Fire for Thought (BlazeVOX 2016) and What’s This (Lunamopolis 2016), Catching On (Monkey Puzzle 2013), a cd of original songs, Broke Even (Fast Speaking Music 2013), and Join…
Andy Clausen
ANDY CLAUSEN has travelled and read his poetry all over North America and the world. (New York, California, Alaska, Texas, Prague, Kathmandu, Amsterdam and elsewhere) He was co-editor of, POEMS FOR THE NATION, with Allen Ginsberg and Eliot Katz (Seven Stories Press). He was an editor at LONG SHOT Magazine. Andy has written about his…
Pamela Twining
PAMELA TWINING has traveled the US with her partner, poet Andy Clausen, performing her work in California, Colorado, New York City, Michigan, Wisconsin, Lowell, MA, and places in between. Her work has appeared in Big Scream, Big Hammer, poetrybay, The Café Review, Napalm Health Spa, and Heyday!, among others. With Andy Clausen, she is co-curator…
Ellie Swensson
Ellie Swensson is a queer southern ex-pat currently writing poems in Denver, CO. She earned her MFA from Naropa in 2015 and is the founder and co-director of Boulder Writers Warehouse, a mobile writers’ community resource. Swensson is a firm believer that poetics is what occurs where eros, divinity, and careful craft intersect. Her poems are…
Love Shovel Ranch 