Wilson College Creative Writing Colloquium

Kirsten Hubbard is an author, entrepreneur, and founder of Ghost Writer LLC. Her debut novel, Milwaukee Deep: An Ambrose Nobel Novel, was released in 2023 under her pen name Kirstie Croga. The story blends emotional depth with intense action, reflecting her signature style of raw, authentic storytelling. The novel’s audiobook and sequel, One White Mule, are set to debut later this year. Ghost Writer, a company specializing in storytelling that drives impact for nonprofit organizations, has connected world-changing missions with over $12 million in funding. An athlete and sports lover, Kirsten often draws on sports to mirror our human experience. 

Katy Giebenhain is the author of Sharps Cabaret from Mercer University Press. Along with Marty Malone and Alan Bogage she co-hosts a First Friday poetry series at The Ragged Edge Coffeehouse in Gettysburg. Her creative writing MPhil is from University of South Wales (Glamorgan). Her MA is from University of Baltimore. Her BFA is from Oregon State. She is on the Health Humanities Consortium’s Arts & Health Equity Committee. A rotational exhibit (one piece per month) of mixed-media collages “Prescriptions for Change: Value Voting in Healthcare” is on display this semester in the WVU Health Sciences Library.

Jeffrey Bardwell wrote epic fantasy with elements of darkness, steampunk, and romance set in the Metal vs. Magic Universe. His character-driven books are guaranteed to include gritty realism, political intrigue, lurid entanglements, dry wit, and dragons in differing proportions. The author devoured fantasy and science fiction novels. He was most comfortable basking near a warm wood stove. When not writing or reading, Jeffrey enjoyed cooking, gardening, and shooing baby dragons from the compost bin. 

Sherri Buerdsell is a professor in Wilson College’s Biology department and a good friend of Jeff’s. 

Noel Sloboda earned his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. His dissertation about Edith Wharton and Gertrude Stein became a book. His writing on Shakespeare has appeared in a variety of journals and edited volumes. As a creative writer, Sloboda has published two poetry collections, seven chapbooks, along with hundreds of poems and stories in periodicals. He is currently a Professor of English and Creative Writing at Penn State York, where serves as coordinator of English and of Liberal Arts.

Alicia Drumgoole is an Associate Professor of English at Hagerstown Community College. She began her career as a political writer, producing speeches and other government documents for state and local politicians. Alicia wrote her first novel, Premonition, under the pen name Agnes Jayne in 2015.  She was the founder of a local writing group called The Mountain Scribes in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. She contributed to two anthologies: Last Writes: Haunting Tales from the Mountain Scribes (2017-2023), and The Appalachian Compilation (2018). She was the Project Director for a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant entitled Bridging the Antietam, a project designed to boost student performance through local storytelling and folklore. Alicia has a Bachelor’s degree in English and Political Science from Binghamton University, a Master’s Degree in English from the State University of New York at Albany, and she is currently earning an MFA in Creative Writing though Southern New Hampshire University. She teaches English, including creative writing at Hagerstown Community College.

Matt McBride's work has recently appeared in Action, Spectacle, The Banyan Review, Conduit, The Cortland Review, Figure 1, Impossible Task, Guernica, The Rupture, Rust+Moth, and Zone 3 among others. He is the author of one full-length poetry collection, City of Incandescent Light, published by Black Lawrence Press in 2018, and four chapbooks. His most recent, Prerecorded Weather, co-written with Noah Falck, won the 2022 James Tate Prize and is available at SuVision Books. Currently, he is a professor of interdisciplinary practice at Wilson College.