July 1st - 11th, 2008

Faculty 2008

John Freeman

John Freeman studied at Bath Academy and the Chelsea School of Art and is a free-lance tutor and lecturer. He has most recently taught and lectured at Tate Britain, the Prince of Wales Drawing School, and West Dean College. His latest book is Portrait Drawing. Other critically acclaimed publications include I, London and Descent to Byworth. His etchings are in numerous public and private collections including the Ashmolean, the Glyn Vivian Museum and the Strang Collection. Back to top.

Kevin Jackson

The publisher of Kevin Jackson’s 1999 book Invisible Forms: A Guide to Literary Curiosities announced that he spent time that year on a fishing trawler in the North Atlantic, on board HMS Illustrious in the Eastern Mediterranean, an oil rig in the Caspian, a cattle station in Western Australia, a university campus in Ankara, and the Great Wall of China. He also made documentaries for BBC Radio 3 on Camoes, Potocki, Rousseau, Holderlin and Leopardi, wrote and presented a two-part BBC film about Anthony Burgess, completed a biography of the documentary film-maker Humphrey Jennings, and compiled The Oxford Book of Money. He is Visiting Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of London, and is presently writing a study of the moose (Alces alces). Back to top.

Patrick Janson-Smith

Patrick Janson-Smith is the London-based head of the newly-formed Blue Door imprint, a division of HarperCollins specialising in fiction. He was formerly Publisher of the Doubleday/Transworld group in London and a member of the Christopher Little Literary Agency. Transworld, one of the world's largest publishing groups, incorporating both Random House and Doubleday, publishes such authors as Dan Brown, Phillip Pullman and Danielle Steel, while among authors with current books from HarperCollins are Michael Crichton, Paulo Coelho and Bill Bryson. Back to top.

Toni Johnson-Woods

Toni Johnson-Woods teaches creative writing at the University of Queensland; several of her students have segued a 13-week semester course into writing contracts. Her books include Blame Canada: South Park and Popular Culture and Pulp: A Collector’s Guide to Pulp Fiction Covers as well as numerous academic articles. Back to top.

Jeff Koehler

Jeff Koehler lives in Barcelona, but has spent most of the last 15 years away from home. His writing on food and travel has appeared in Gourmet, Food & Wine, Saveur, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Atlantic Monthly, Tin House, and Dwell. His book La Paella: Deliciously Authentic Rice Dishes from Spain's Mediterranean Coast was named a 2006 notable cookbook by The New York Times. His new cookbook on rice, pasta, and couscous in the Mediterranean will be published in 2009. He is working on a memoir of his years traveling in Africa. He has also photographed four cookbooks. Back to top.

Jonathan Lloyd

Jonathan Lloyd is CEO of the Curtis Brown Group Ltd., one of the world’s largest and most diverse literary and talent agencies. He was formerly Managing Director of HarperCollins UK. Among the authors he handles personally are biographer Antonia Fraser, novelists Deborah Moggach and Jeffrey Archer, and celebrity chef Pierre Marco White. Back to top.

Patrick McGilligan

For 20 years, Patrick McGilligan has been principal editor of the highly successful Dragonlance fantasy series for TSR and Wizards of the Coast, including the international best-selling series of novels by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. He is on the faculty of Marquette University, Wisconsin.

Patrick’s books about Hollywood personalities include the New York Times Notable Biographies of directors George Cukor and Fritz Lang, and an Edgar-nominated biography of Alfred Hitchcock, as well as works focusing on the lives of Jack Nicholson and Clint Eastwood. His journalism has been published in numerous international magazines. He is also editor of the Backstory series of interviews with screenwriters and the anthology Tender Comrades, an oral history of the antiCommunist blacklist. Back to top.

Charlotte Puckette

Charlotte Puckette was born in Charleston SC. After living and working in Africa, she moved to France and graduated from the prestigious Cordon Bleu cooking school in 1992 with top honors and the Grand Diplôme. Thereafter she briefly worked at various restaurants before starting her own catering business. She is the co-author with Olivia Snaije of The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. Back to top.

Nahid Rachlin

Nahid Rachlin went to MFA programs at Columbia University and Stanford University. Among her publications are a memoir, Persian Girls, four novels, and a short story collection. Her individual stories have appeared in more than fifty magazines and she has written reviews for The New York Times. She has received a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a Wallace Stegner Fellowship (Stanford). Presently she teaches at the New School University and is an associate Fellow at Yale. Back to top.

Vijay Seshadri

Vijay Seshadri is the author of Wild Kingdom and The Long Meadow, both from Graywolf Press. His poems, essays and, reviews have been widely published and anthologized, and he has received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and has been awarded The Paris Review’s Bernard F. Conners Long Poem Prize, the MacDowell Colony’s Fellowship for Distinguished Poetic Achievement, and the Academy of American Poets James Laughlin Prize. He lives in Brooklyn and teaches at Sarah Lawrence College. Back to top.

Elizabeth Sheinkman

Elizabeth Sheinkman represents a broad range of authors, with a special interest in debut novelists, international fiction, journalism, memoir, and cultural history. As an American, prior to arriving at Curtis Brown, she spent ten years working as an agent with the New York-based Elaine Markson Literary Agency – the last two based in London where she set up and ran the the UK branch of the company as Senior Partner and Director. Still retaining strong ties to the American market, she continues to sell all of her authors' work directly in the U.S., while now actively seeking to expand her list of UK clients. Prior to becoming an agent she worked within the editorial departments of Oxford University Press and Alfred A. Knopf. Back to top.

Ann Snodgrass

Ann Snodgrass has published two collections of translations – Luciano Erba's The Hippopotamus (2003) and Antonella Anedda's Three Stations (2008), both from Guernica Press. Her Italian translations have received the PEN American Center's Renato Poggioli Award and the Academy of American Poets’ Raiziss de Palchi Translation Fellowship. She currently teaches writing at M.I.T. Back to top.

Cole Swensen

Cole Swensen’s twelfth book, Ours, will be out from the University of California Press in 2008. Her 2004 book, Goest, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her other honors include the Iowa Poetry Prize, the National Poetry Series, two Pushcarts, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She teaches at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Back to top.

Catherine Texier

Catherine Texier is the author of four novels, Chloé l’Atlantique, Panic Blood, Love Me Tender, Victorine, and a memoir, Breakup. She was coeditor of the literary magazine Between C and D and is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Award and two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships. Her latest novel Victorine won ELLE Magazine’s 2004 Readers’ Prize for Fiction. She is French and lives in New York City. Back to top.

Susan Tiberghien

Susan Tiberghian is the author of three memoirs, Looking for Gold, Circling to the Center, Footsteps, and most recently One Year to a Writing Life. Her narrative essays are widely published in journals and anthologies. She teaches at graduate programs, C.G.Jung Centers, International Women’s Writers’ Guild, and at writers’ conferences in both the U.S. and Europe. Susan resides in Geneva, where she directs the Geneva Writers’ Group and Conferences. She is also on the Steering Committee of the International Writers’ Residence at the Château de Lavigny. Back to top.

Karen Weir-Jimerson

Karen Weir-Jimerson is an editor/writer for magazines, books and other editorial and marketing projects. She is a columnist for Country Home and Horticulture magazines. She has a BA and MA, is a Certified Master Gardener, and specializes in editorial about gardening and country lifestyle. As a columnist for Country Home, she writes about living in the country, her many pets (horses, dogs, cats, sheep, donkeys, chickens, doves, pigeons, koi, canaries) and the wonderful wildlife around her in every season. Back to top.