Dawn Thompson holds an M.A. in Creation Spirituality from Naropa University and a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Oregon. She has worked as a staff member for Write Around Portland and has facilitated workshops there for adults in drug and alcohol recovery and for individuals experiencing homelessness, living with disabilities, metastatic cancer, breast cancer and HIV/AIDS. She is also a Certified Hypnotherapist.
Dawn has been published in VoiceCatcher and Thresholds and has self-published a collection of short stories and a chapbook of poetry with her father. She is also the writer for Divine Eros, a photography narrative about women mystics. Dawn believes writing our stories, whether they originate from our life experience or our imagination, is a sacred act that heals and transforms us.
Dawn currently holds writing workshops for caregivers, elders in assisted living and other groups. Please contact her at the below e-mail or phone number if you are interested in setting up a workshops for a specific community.
Rhea Wolf has been a workshop facilitator for thirteen years, bringing creative writing, theater arts and the Work that Reconnects to a variety of groups, including at-risk youth and women in prison. In 2005, she started on a new path as a professional astrologer, writer and mama. Before this, she worked as Program Coordinator for Write Around Portland and was a member of the Sowelu Theater Ensemble. Rhea has a BFA in Theater Performance, studied theater and deep ecology at the Naropa Institute, and has trained extensively with author and workshop leader Joanna Macy. In 2009, she graduated from Colette Gardiner's Blue Iris Mystery School in Portland.
Rhea brings her love of the Earth and her desire to deepen relationships to all that she does. She enjoys helping people connect to their creativity and to the larger world, so we can claim more beauty and magic in our daily lives. Rhea has a regular column appearing in Alternatives Magazine, and her work has appeared in New Connexion, Tarot.com and two VoiceCatcher Anthologies. She is the author of Persephone Rising, a self-published book of poems and stories, and the performance-poem Bones in the Earth. Rhea lives in SE Portland with her husband, two daughters, two friends, and some chickens.
Emily Trinkaus started leading AWA-style writing workshops in Brooklyn, NY in 1999, after training with Pat Schneider. She founded Portland Women Writers in 2003, took a hiatus in 2007-8, and is now thrilled to be back. She is an astrologer, BodyTalk practitioner and writer. She also teaches Yin Yoga at OmBase. For more info see virgomagic.com.
Emily edited the first edition of VoiceCatcher, writes astrology forecasts for New Connexion magazine, and in 2008 served as the in-house astrologer for Tarot.com. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Brandeis University and completed an M.A. in Women's Studies at Emory University.
Nancy Linnon, a former journalist for U.S. News & World Report, is a writer, editor, and teacher. Her essays have appeared in Creative Nonfiction, Yoga International, Brevity, Los Angeles Review, and Mothering as well as the anthologies What Wildness is This: Women Write about the Southwest and Rage and Reconciliation: Inspiring a Healthcare Revolution.
Nancy has a master’s in teaching from Brown University and an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University. Her passion is exploring ways of accessing and honoring the creative self through the powerful act of writing.
We are blessed to have these compelling, compassionate and grounded facilitators from our community offer workshops in partnership with Portland Women Writers from time to time. Here is more information about some of our guest facilitators.
Traci Schatz has been published in VoiceCatcher 4 and Wordstock 10. She also won the Ooligan Press 2010 Flash Fiction contest. Traci is a freelance writer for Demand Studios; she also gets paid to write other people's blogs (but refuses to have her own). She holds an MBA as well as an undergraduate degree in English Literature. Traci facilitates writing groups and is the host of Qliterati!, a queer literary salon. She is also serving as an editor for the VoiceCatcher 5 anthology. Traci lives in Portland with her partner and their small petting zoo of animals. With years of teaching and training experience, Traci is excited for each new opportunity to explore the power of writing in a group.
