About Us

Mary Ann Scognamiglio, President

MaryAnn has been with Straw Dogs Writers Guild since its public debut. She has served on the Program, Finance, and Pandemic Poetry Committees and was assistant Editor for Jane Yolan on the Compass Roads poetry anthology SD published. She is currently serving on the Westfield Cultural Council as chair. The experience of learning how Grant councils operate and allocate funds combined with her work experience in the financial sector and volunteering with non profits has provided a great base for working with Straw Dogs Writers Guild as we continue to grow into the future.

Macci Schmidt, Clerk, Board of Directors

Macci Schmidt is a retired geologist and science librarian who enjoys research, her own and helping others with theirs. At present she’s writing a soulful companion volume to her dull MS thesis.

Becky Jones, Treasurer (ex officio)

Becky Jones leads bereavement writing groups and has an active volunteer life. She has published some poetry and works episodically on a manuscript of stories from her hospital chaplain days.

Lynn Bechtel

Lynn Bechtel has published articles, essays, and poetry in professional magazines, literary journals, and anthologies. She worked for many years as a social worker and health educator and then as an editor and writer for Center for Responsive Schools.

Alexis Johnson, Board of Directors

Alexis Johnson is co-founder and was Executive Director of International Language Institute for 31 years. Before that, she lived and taught in Barcelona for 9 years. Playing With A Full Deck is a wry look at her experiences.

Rick Paar, Board of Directors

Rick Paar taught psychology at Springfield College for thirty-three years. He has presented at local, national, and international conferences on topics ranging from psychotherapy to chaos theory to play. His book, God Bless American and Breakfast Burritos To Go was published in 2022.

Ellen Meeropol

Ellen is the author of the novels The Lost Women of Azalea Court, Her Sister’s Tattoo, Kinship of Clover, On Hurricane Island, and House Arrest, and guest editor for the anthology Dreams for a Broken World. Recent story and essay publications include Ms Magazine, Lilith, Solstice, Guernica, and Mom Egg Review.

Ed Orzechowski

Ed Orzechowski is the author of You’ll Like It Here—The Story of Donald Vitkus, Belchertown Patient #3394 (Levellers Press 2016) the first-person account of a man who grew up in a former Massachusetts institution. An experienced radio and print journalist, Ed’s work has appeared in The Springfield Republican, The Daily Hampshire Gazette, The Journal Register, Early American Life, Southwoods Magazine and other publications.

Stephanie Shafran

Stephanie Shafran, a member of Florence Poets Society as well as SDWG, retired in 2017 from a dual career as a Spanish teacher and school counselor. Since then, she has found her identity and community as a writer, much to her satisfaction and delight. In 2020, she published a chapbook titled Awakening. Her most recent publication, a flash fiction essay related in content to her memoir-in-progress, was published in the September issue of The Sun.

Jacqueline Sheehan

Jacqueline Sheehan, Ph.D., is a New York Times Bestselling author. She is also a psychologist. Her novels include The Comet’s Tale a novel about Sojourner Truth, Lost & Found, Now & Then, and Picture This, The Center of the World, and The Tiger in the House.

Regine Jackson

Regine Jackson is a writer based in Springfield, Massachusetts, specializing in writing stories across science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres. Additionally, she explores themes of mental health, the effects of inner-city life and womanhood through her poetry and prose. In 2022, Jackson was the recipient of the Straw Dogs Writers Guild Emerging Writer Fellowship, and her work has since appeared in the 2024 Massachusetts Bards Anthology, Pán•o•ply: Inaugural MultiCreative Anthology, The Bitchin’ Kitsch, Gnashing Teeth Publishing, Red Rose Thorns Lit Mag, A Queen’s Narrative: Heavy is the Crown Anthology, and the Reimagining New England Histories Project. For more details, visit reginejackson.com or @theflimsyquill on Instagram.

Patricia Lee Lewis

(aka Pat Sackrey) is an award-winning poet, has published two books of poetry, A Kind of Yellow and High Lonesome, and led creative writing & yoga retreats at her Patchwork Farm mountainside retreat in Westhampton MA and internationally for 30 years. She moved to downtown Northampton MA in 2020, where she led 98 “Writer’s Cave” workshops online and is revising a too-long novel, gratefully in the company of other writers. patricialeelewis@gmail.com

Richard Michelson

Richard Michelson’s books have been listed among the Ten Best of the Year by The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and The New Yorker; a three-time Massachusetts BookAward Finalist, Michelson’s work was chosen to represent the Commonwealth at the 2018 Library of Congress National Book Festival. Michelson has received two Gold Medals from the Association of Jewish Libraries and the 2018 National Jewish Book Award. Michelson served two terms as Poet Laureate of Northampton, where he is the owner of R. Michelson Galleries.

Bill Newman

Bill Newman is a partner at the law firm of Lesser Newman Aleo & Nasser, the ACLU’s Supervising Attorney for Western Massachusetts, the host of the daily Bill Newman Radio Show on WHMP, and an author. Bill, who has been published in a number of periodicals, writes a regular column for the Daily Hampshire Gazette. He is the author and voice of the Civil Liberties Minute®podcast. His books are When the War Came Home and Life on the Co-op Plan.

Lesléa Newman

Lesléa Newman is the author of 80 books for readers of all ages including the memoirs-in-verse, I Carry My Mother and I Wish My Father; the novel-in-verse, October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard; and the children’s books Sparkle Boy, Alicia and the Hurricane: A Story of Puerto Rico, and Heather Has Two Mommies. She has received a National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship, two National Jewish Book Awards, and the Massachusetts Book Award. From 2008 – 2010, she served as the poet laureate of Northampton, MA.

Emily Parrow

Emily Parrow works in fundraising and development for the Preservation Society of Newport County. She has long been drawn to the intersection of history and storytelling, and her award-winning research has addressed topics ranging from Imperial Russian empresses to a formerly top-secret Cold War bunker. She is a contributor to the New England Historical Society’s popular blog. In 2024, she served on the selection committee for the Edith Wharton-Straw Dog Writers Guild Writers-in-Residence program. Her creative non-fiction appears in Fast Fierce Women: 75 Essays of Flash Nonfiction, published by Woodhall Press in 2022.

Jane Yolen

Jane Yolen’s 417th book has just come out. Her eyes are on # 500! She writes in almost every genre–adult and children’s books: poetry, comedy, adventure, picture books, verse novels, graphic novels, plain old novels. She teaches writing, too, writes lyrics for bands and operas, and now takes pleasure reading the books published by her children and grandchildren. Not to mention a book of poems written with her new husband (she is 83, he is 85). She has six honorary doctorates for her body of work.

Patricia Pin

Executive Consultant, exec@strawdogwriters.org, 413-341-4430

PD Pin received an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and worked as the Programs Director at The Mount, author Edith Wharton’s home, a National Historic Landmark and literary center in western Massachusetts. In partnership with the Straw Dog Writers Guild, where she serves as the Executive Consultant, Pin helped establish an Emerging Writers Residency at The Mount, now in its fourth year. Her favorite extracurricular activity is teaching kids (ages 5-12) karate–a practice in humility and stand-up comedy.

Arianna Alexsandra Collins

Administrative Director, admin@strawdogwriters.org, 413-341-4430

Through her business Offerings for Community Building, Arianna offers a variety of services in community engagement activities, outdoor immersion experiences, and administrative support. Arianna serves as SDWG’s part-time Administrative Director and facilitates seasonal Poetry Shares at the Belding Memorial Library in Ashfield. She holds a Masters of Science degree in Environmental Administration from Antioch University New England. Arianna writes natural science / natural history articles for local and regional publications and has featured articles in The Ashfield News, MassWildlife, Ecological Landscape Alliance, and Northern Woodlands. Arianna is also the part-time Executive Director for the Hoosic River Watershed Association (HooRWA).