Kari Nygaard

Director and Instructor

Kari Nygaard has taught middle school English for twenty years. For six of those years she was the Instructional Lead of her department, and for another six years she mentored teachers who were new to the profession. She currently teaches English and Creative Writing at JLS Middle School in Palo Alto. She has also taught in a variety of summer programs for youth all over the Bay Area, developing courses in civic leadership, design thinking, creative writing, college essay writing, Italian, music, and even HIV/AIDS education (in Malawi, Africa, back in 2003). Kari received a BA in International Studies from Middlebury College and an MA in Educational Administration from Santa Clara University. She has worked with the San Jose Area Writing Project both as a participant and an instructor; she is a regular volunteer with Poetic Justice; and in 2015, she co-wrote a staff-student musical for her middle school.

Justin Brown

Instructor

Justin Brown has taught high school English for more than nineteen years. He currently works at Henry M. Gunn High School, where he teaches Film Literature, Advanced English (grades 9 and 10), and Honors English (grades 11 and 12). Justin received a BA in Modern Literature from UC Santa Cruz and an MA in Creating Writing from San Francisco State University. He has tutored many students in creative writing and the art of the college essay. In his spare time, Justin enjoys acting and has performed on stage in two Palo Alto Players productions: Death of a Salesman and The Man Who Came to Dinner. 

Sam Prestianni

Instructor

Sam Prestianni is a widely published writer/editor (SFWeekly, New York Press, Jazziz, and elsewhere) and veteran Humanities educator who has taught writing for nearly three decades in Bay Area independent schools, including, most recently, Marin Horizon in Mill Valley. In 2021, he founded 21st Century Learning, an online platform that provides students of all ages uplifting education and personal growth experiences that transcend the traditional classroom. He's a Language Arts, Humanities, and SEL Development curriculum specialist. His individualized workshops and 1:1 courses include Creative Writing, Expository Writing, Songwriting, College/HS Application Essay Prep, Executive Function, and Media Literacy. A complete bio may be found here.

Renée Johnson

Instructor

Renée Johnson has a passion for helping others express themselves through writing. She moved to California from Massachusetts and graduated from California State University, Hayward with a BA in English and a focus in creative writing. She has been a full-time seventh and eighth grade English teacher in the Palo Alto Unified School District since 1998. She has experience teaching a variety of summer writing courses, including Future Author Camp, a writing camp for gifted creative writers. She also enjoys coaching adults and teens in a variety of writing projects, from personal statements to essays and speeches. Renée has worked with the San Jose Area Writing Project both as a participant and an instructor, and she is also a certified Heartwork Journaling coach.

River Sutaria

Instructor and Communications Assistant

River Sutaria (formerly known as Jharna) is a spoken-word performer and creative writer. They were introduced to slam poetry during their freshman year of high school and have been sharpening their craft ever since. River’s writing style is a kaleidoscope of haunting confessions, vivid imagery, and poetic metaphors. It is through sharing their intimate pieces of work that the twenty-four-year-old poet encourages others to use their voice. River is the author of three published books (it hurts to breathe, The Twinkle in Her Eyes, and Write It in Lipstick). Their writing has been showcased on multiple online platforms, including Palo Alto High School’s Verde Magazine, The Script (Foothill College’s Student News), Swim Swam Magazine, Bottlecap Press, Creative Communication, The Gay & Lesbian Review, American Swimming Magazine, Kings River Review, and the Coppell Gifted Association.

Lita Kurth

Instructor

Lita Kurth holds three Master's degrees (UC Berkeley, San Francisco State, and Pacific Lutheran) including an MFA in Creative Writing and has taught in numerous venues from ages eight to eighty, from Santa Clara University and De Anza College to arts nonprofits and jail inmates. The author of One Creative Writing Prompt a Day from Callisto Press, she has published fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, winning the Diana Woods Prize from Lunchticket. A multiple nominee for both Best of the Net and Pushcart Prizes, she co-founded San Jose’s reading series, Flash Fiction Forum.  She has been a featured reader for Peninsula Literary Society, Play on Words, and Poetry Center San Jose, and Poets n' Film for Cinequest, and organized readings and presentations at Filoli, the Euphrat Museum, and Working Class Studies conferences. Sample publications include Chicago Literati, Atticus Review, Rappahannock Review,  Brain,Child, The Millions, and others.

Tarn Wilson

Founder

Tarn Wilson has been teaching creative writing to high school students and adults for over twenty years. She currently works at Gunn High School. She earned an MA in education from Stanford and an MFA in creative writing from the Rainier Writing Workshop, specializing in memoir and the personal essay. She is the author of the memoir The Slow Farm (2014), the award winning memoir-in-essays In Praise of Inadequate Gifts (2021), and 5-Minute Daily Writing Prompts: 501 Prompts to Unleash Your Creativity and Inspire You to Write (2022). Her essays have been published in numerous literary journals, including Brevity, The Harvard Divinity Bulletin, River Teeth, and The Sun, and she has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.​​

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Christopher Bell

Co-Founder and I.T. Support

Chris Bell has been teaching math and computer science since 2006.  He has taught courses intended for beginning students and advanced students alike, including Programming for Mobile Devices, which he created. Having received degrees from UC Davis and Notre Dame de Namur University, he has also dedicated a large part of his career to teaching teachers how to effectively integrate technology into their courses, speaking at conferences, providing professional development, and teaching at local colleges.