BOARD MEMBERS

Caitlin Buxbaum - President/Mat-Su Representative

Caitlin M.S. Buxbaum is a writer, teacher, and publisher born and raised in Alaska. She has a Master of Arts in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Japanese Studies with an emphasis in Creative Writing. She wrote more than 600 stories as a reporter for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman and  published her eighth book, The Birthday Picture: and Other Stories, through Red Sweater Press in August of 2021. She currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of The Poets' Touchstone, a publication of Poetry Society of New Hampshire. Learn more about Caitlin at caitbuxbaum.com or follow her on social media: @caitbuxbaum (Instagram & Twitter).

Laura Lancaster - Vice President/Interior Representative

Laura A. Lancaster is a foodie, sci-fi nerd and world traveler. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, she moved to Alaska in 2009 and never looked back. Well, she sometimes looks back at her family and the gorgeous deserts. She writes short stories and flash fiction. One day she’d like to be enthralled and adopted by a cat.

Find her on social media: Twitter @Phoenix40below, Instagram @xcountry90

Alex Otto - Secretary

Alexandra Otto is a teacher, mom, and writer from Kodiak. She writes short stories, short screenplays, and is in the revision stage of her first novel. Alex was selected to be a mentee in the Pitch Wars 2020 novel writing mentorship program. She is represented by literary agent Rena Rossner of the Deborah Harris Agency. When she isn't writing, Alex can be found in the mountains, outsmarting the largest bears in the world.

Brooke Hartman - Treasurer & Conference Co-Chair

Brooke Hartman is an Alaskan mom and award-winning author of books for children. She also serves as an occasional instructor of writing for Alaska Pacific University and member of the board of directors for the Alaska Writers Guild, and is a previous Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Tribute Fund Recipient. When she isn’t writing, you can find her flying, fishing, and having fun with her family, enjoying all the magic life has to offer. Follow her writing adventures at BrookeAHartman.com

, or on Instagram and Facebook @BrookesBooksAK.

Laura Carpenter - Membership Chair

Lambda Literary Fellow Laura Carpenter (they/she) is a queer writer and activist. Publications include The New York Times, The Guardian, Anchorage Daily News, small literary magazines, some anthologies, and independent, arty zines that only made it to a few people’s hands. Laura received a fellowship from the Rasmuson Foundation in 2021 and is a Lambda Literary Fellow. Laura studied Creative Writing and Spanish at Beloit College in Beloit, Wis. They are working on a queer young adult novel set in a world 20,000 years ago. Laura lives with their family in Anchorage, Alaska, the homeland of the Dena’ina peoples. Connect with Laura on Instagram and Twitter @LaLauraMarlene

MoHagani Magnetek - Programs Chair

M.C. MoHagani Magnetek (pronounced: emcee mahogany magnetic) resides in Anchorage, AK at her Wonder Woman Wonderdome aka Camp Magnetek. She’s is a prolific writer who is cooler than ice water and has a B.A.s in English and Anthropology, and an MFA in Creative Writing and Literary Arts (University of Alaska Anchorage). She is currently pursuing an M.S. in Forensic DNA & Serology.  A Coast Guard veteran, community organizer, and a human rights advocate, she is world renown, nationally recognized, and locally accepted as the undisputed people’s champ because she believes poetry is therapeutic.

Some of her published works include “Shhh Be Quiet” in the Lambda Literary finalist Building Fires in the Snow: A Collection of Alaska LGBTQ Short Fiction and Poetry (2016); “Acrimonious Black Woman Sparks Climate Change Debate with the President” in Alaska Women Speak (Spring 2019); and “Girlfriend, What’s Your Recipe for Lemonade” in Woman Scream: The International Poetry Anthology of Female Voices (2020). Her first novel is The Mad Fantastic, 2098 (2020). Most recently, she was a featured artist in the Anchorage Concert Association’s Community Artist Project, in which she performed her work "For Colored Ladies Who Have Considered Pull Tabs with Their Last Two Dollars." (2021)

Her list of accolades also include jumping over five cars on her bike and chaining herself to a tree for justice, equality, and respect for all people. Selling laundry detergent pods to crusty children and dusty adults who all just want to be fresh and clean is her favorite pastime.

Lorna Rose-Hahn - Digital Outreach Director

Lorna is a Pacific Northwest writer and speaker. Her narrative nonfiction and poetry have been recognized by Pacific Northwest Writers Association and the Oregon Poetry Association, and have appeared in Literary Mama, Jellyfish Review, Third Wednesday, and elsewhere. Lorna also speaks publicly on motherhood, finding resilience through writing, and her experience in AmeriCorps. She is at work on a memoir about going from LA party girl to trail worker in rural Alaska. When not wrangling her two young children, she fantasizes about being interviewed on NPR's Fresh Air. For more, go to lornarose.com.

Jamey Bradbury - Member-At-Large, Contest Coordinator & Conference Co-Chair

Jamey Bradbury is the author of The Wild Inside, a book about Alaska, murder, dog sledding, hunting, family, good dogs, smart dogs, loyal dogs, love, secrets, and also dogs. Her shorter work has appeared in Black Warrior Review, Sou'wester, and Zone 3. She works as a writer and storyteller for an Alaska Native social services organization; she also serves on the fiction faculty at Alaska Pacific University's low-residency MFA program. Jamey is represented by Michelle Brower at Trellis Literary Management. You can learn more at jameybradbury.com or follow Jamey on Instagram (@jameybee) for photos of moose, cats, and food.

Martha Amore - Member-At-Large, Grants Coordinator

Martha Amore lives in Alaska with her family and teaches writing at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in fiction and an Interdisciplinary Studies Ph.D. in creative writing. Winner of a Rasmuson Individual Artist Award, she is a contributing editor of the University of Alaska Press anthology Building Fires in the Snow: A Collection of Alaska LGBTQ Short Fiction and Poetry, which was a finalist for a LAMBDA Literary Award. Her collection of short fiction, In the Quiet Season & Other Stories, was published in 2018. She is currently hard at work on a new book.