CREATIVE WRITING FACULTY

Lois Ann Abraham

Lois Ann studied creative writing at CSU Chico with Clark Brown, Gary Thompson, and Carole Oles. She regularly attends writing workshops and spent two weeks studying with Philip Lopate. Her fiction and non-fiction have been published in Sojourner, Chico News & Review, Sacramento News & Review and Writing on the Edge. Her first novel, Tina Goes to Heaven, is in the hands of an agent and bound for glory. In addition to creative writing, she teaches English grammar, composition, and literature at American River College.

John Bell

John Bell is professor of English and currently co-chair of the English Department and co-coordinator of the Writing Skills Center at American River College, where he has taught since 2003. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Wichita State University and BA in Spanish from the University of New Mexico.

Traci Gourdine

Traci Gourdine’s poetry and stories have been published in numerous literary magazines, and she has been anthologized within Shepard and Thomas’ Sudden Fiction Continued (Norton Publishing). Traci and Quincy Troupe were paired in a year long exchange of letters for the anthology Letters to Poets: Conversations about Poetics, Politics, and Community (Saturnalia Books). She is co-editor of Night is Gone, Day is Still Coming (Candlewick Press), an anthology of writing by young Native writers, as well as We Beg to Differ, poems by Sacramento poets against the Iraq war. She has also co-edited the Tule Review with Luke Breit for the Sacramento Poetry Center. Traci Gourdine is a professor of English at American River College and chairs the Creative Writing department for the California State Summer School for the Arts. She was Chair of the Sacramento Poet Laureate Committee for four laureate terms. For ten years she facilitated writing workshops within several California state prisons in the Arts in Corrections program for the William James Association. She is a professor of English at American River College in Sacramento.

Christian Kiefer

Christian Kiefer is a musician, poet, novelist, and a widely published music journalist and scholar. He holds a Ph.D. from UC Davis. His new novel, The Infinite Tides, will appear in July from Bloomsbury.

David Merson

David Merson received his B.A. in English and Philosophy from Westmont College and his M.A. in English (Creative Writing, Fiction) from UC Davis. He teaches creative writing at American River College, where he served as faculty adviser for the American River Review from 2001 until 2010.

Harold Schneider

Harold Schneider, Professor of English at ARC, has taught creative writing here for over 20 years, and also at UC Irvine and UC Davis. He advised the American River Review from 1991-2001, and in 2000 received The Patrons Chair, an award for excellence in teaching. His literary influences include the inestimable William H. Gass, with whom he studied while pursuing an M.A. in English at Purdue University, a degree finalized later at U.C. Irvine (MFA, fiction writing). On his mantle stands an Emmy for television writing (The Hollywood Squares, 1974).

Michael Spurgeon

Michael Spurgeon is a tenured professor of English at American River College, where he teaches composition, literature, and creative writing and serves as the Editorial Advisor to the American River Review. He has authored two chapbooks and four short stage plays, and his writing has appeared in multiple regional and national journals. Michael’s first novel is currently seeking publication. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation.