Sock Eating Monsters and a Land Stranger than Oz (guest post by Sarah Russell)

Meet Sarah Russell (author of said monsters) and Courtney Llewellyn, two terrific writers who’ve been interning at Inkberry this semester…

I am Sarah Russell, the current workshop facilitator intern at Inkberry. I’m a senior at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, majoring in English with a concentration in Writing. I hope to attend graduate school next fall and to get my Master’s in either Writing or Literature.

School aside, I’ve been writing since I was very young. Beginning with outlandish fantasy stories about sock eating monsters and a land stranger than Oz and moving on to poetry inspired by Lifetime movies by the time I was 12. As I got older I moved away from short fiction and into poetry; writing was an emotional outlet for me as a typical angst ridden teen. I now write poetry, it seems, exclusively; I’ve put together several portfolios for various classes and I am currently in progress with yet another. I’ve recently been published in Other: __ magazine, a publication by Albany Poets, a non-profit writers organization located in Albany, New York. Outside of writing, I like to spend time with my two dogs, Sassafras and Schnookie (a Chihuahua and Toy Fox Terrier, respectively), my fiancé Carl, and my friends and family. I also enjoy old-lady activities, such as window shopping, going to flea markets, bingo, arts and crafts, and going to bed at 10 o’clock.

Interning at Inkberry has been a wonderful experience, and I will continue to intern next semester. Some plans for the future are an upcoming poetry and fiction reading at Papyri Books on Dec. 9 at 7:30 pm, and an upcoming chapbook featuring the students in my workshop to be published next semester.

Courtney Llewellyn would like you know the following about herself:

I enjoy short walks on the beach, puppies, unicorns (specifically, unicorns named Charlie), and my favorite author of all time is Aimee Bender. In high school, I was a nerd/drama dork/choir geek/punk rock outcast, which made for some good times. I participated in quiz team competitions, acted in plays and musicals, sang in concert choir and jazz choir, and skipped school many times to drive three or more hours for a show. I graduated fifth in my high school class and then went on to a prestigious community college. After that, I transferred to MCLA where I’m majoring in English/Communications with a concentration in journalism.
I’m no longer quite as active as I was in high school, although I am a member of the bowling club and I attend a lot of on-campus events. Although journalism is my intended field of work, I seriously enjoy fiction (and poetry to a lesser extent). I haven’t had much of a chance to write any lately but reading it is always fun and! you can find me the first Wednesday of every month at Café Latino either participating in or judging the 413 Poetry Slam.