Meet the editor!
Hey y’all, I’m Zyen Mingo-Smoot or Mz.bambaataa and I am very proud to be the editor of Revise This! I began my graduate journey last year, so this summer I will be graduating with my MA. I plan to stay an extra year and earn my M.F.A in poetry to teach in higher ed. When I am not exploring and meditating on Southern Gothic and Black Indigeneity, I am figuring out the best way to decolonize our school systems at a high school. Nice to meet you all!
Please contact zyen.smoot@wilkes.edu if you have any story suggestions, interview opportunities or want to contribute!
And So We Give So That Others Can Succeed: The Henry Borgsmiller Scholarship Story
Many of us can attest to feeling financially frustrated. We can become confused by the contradiction of knowing the value of writing and the instability of our struggle as a writer. These unmitigated factors can often make us feel uninspired or, worse, shameful for even wanting to tell a story, write a poem, or make a film. However, many of us can also attest to having that person or people who pushed for you to take a chance by offering their financial support, because maybe they also see the progression that could be made if you were given the chance to succeed.
Meagan Borgsmiller is a 2024 Wilkes alumna from Champagne, Illinois. While attending Wilkes, she studied screenwriting for her MA and creative non-fiction for her MFA. In February of her last year she lost her father, Henry Borgsmiller. The writer, still having to finish March, April, and May, states, “I was going on a grief journey.”
Before being diagnosed with kidney disease Henry Borgsmiller was a bone cancer survivor. He had lost his leg to the disease when he was eighteen. By the time he became a father to Meagan, he was 52. She states that Henry was, “very wise and retired for the most part. He worked on and off as an accountant. However, before that he was vice president of a railroad company out in Chicago. The way he began flying planes is also a part of my personal journey.”
Meagan’s grandfather passed away when her father was in his thirties. As Henry’s father was dying, Henry split the cost of a plane so he could fly back and forth to his father. Just as Henry was a caretaker for his dad, Meagan became the caretaker for Henry. Meagan admired her father’s compassion for other people. However, Henry was not just a pilot-turned-accountant, “He opened doors for people,” Megan says. “I fell in love with writing because of him.”
Growing up Meagan noticed how Henry would write a letter or send an email, and it would get a problem resolved. Once he wrote to her sister’s school because she did not want to attend. During 9/11, her mother, who was a veteran, got called back into service, but Henry wrote a letter to get her honorably discharged.
Meagan states, “He was the first time I recognized writing as progressive. Something that is free, something that is powerful.”
Before applying to Wilkes, Meagan was originally set up to attend a different program. However, the program had closed due to a lack of enrollment.
“I stayed up all night researching and found Wilkes. I worked on my application immediately. When I got to the end the fee showed sixty bucks. I knew I did not have sixty bucks, so I snuck downstairs. I knew my father would be up watching plane simulator videos or Seinfeld. I sat in his wheelchair while he was sitting in his bed and told him about the fee. He opens up his old side bed table, a creaky drawer, and pulls out an old wallet with expired ID cards. He slid me a card that had eighty dollars on it and said, ‘Go get them. Go show them who you are.’”
It was during the 2024 graduation ceremony that Meagan thought of the idea to create a scholarship in honor of her father.
“I was thinking of what I went through. I also knew at the end of your MA and MFA you get charged for your last fee. He helped me begin and I wanted to help someone end.”
She then went on to say, “I think when you are freshly graduated inspiration can be so hard because you’re away from your friends, you may experience loss, and the last thing you need is a fee that could discourage you further. Making money can be what stops people from being creative. Whether someone uses it for their fee or not as long as it helps them get over a barrier or jump start their career.”
And so we give so others can succeed. To not only have writers like Meagan be able to attend a program that progressed her writing forward, but giving her the freedom to tell her story to all of us. As Meagan states, “I was more of a person that did not talk much, but harnessed my voice on paper.”
Meagan is currently an assistant Pre-K teacher at a nature school called BlueStem. By this fall she will be an official lead teacher. After graduating from Wilkes, her creative motivation began plateauing. However, the writer had an interesting encounter recently that re-ignited her.
“Before my dads passing, I had gotten this tattoo. Back in undergrad I had failed my first two semesters and was put on academic probation. When I got home after getting this letter there was a note from my dad that read ‘It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, it is all about what you do next.’ I got the tattoo for hard times to remind me where I’ve been and where I can go. I worked at a bar during the summer and a woman noticed it with her son who went to URI. We conversed about tattoos, school, and writing. She brought up a writing retreat and I told her how much I missed my friends. I get her email and she gets my number. She then flipped her phone around where it read that she would pay for my flight to San Diego for the writing retreat. The retreat kicked off my creativity. Writer Bob Goth was hosting it. While I was there I remember he said, ‘Who wants to write a book? All you need is 90 stories: thirty stories and three stories per chapter.’
“In the evenings I am working on this book about my dad before, during, and after his diagnosis. Before when I was writing about him, I got feedback about where I was in the story. Now I feel like I have finally honed in on how to make myself the main character. Who I was, becoming, and after.”
You can find Meagan Borgsmiller via email: meagan.borgsmiller@yahoo.com
Fun fact about Henry Borgsmiller, he used to own seven Taco Bells.
Maslow Family Graduate Creative Writing Program Updates
Wilkes Alumni published in Keystone Poetry: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania
A number of Wilkes Creative Writing alumni and faculty are included in a landmark poetry anthology published by Penn State Press’s Keystone Books, alongside such luminaries as Jan Beatty, Toi Derricotte, Lynn Emmanuel, Sonia Sanchez and Terrance Hayes: among the Wilkes representatives are alumni Chris Bullard, Craig Czury, Brian Fanelli, Sandee Gertz, Michael Hardin, and Dawn Leas, and faculty mentor Christine Gelineau.
New Winter 2026 Residency Dates
Because of the early start date (Jan 12) to the Wilkes undergraduate spring semester, our program’s winter residency was scheduled to begin on January 2, when the university won’t be open. Therefore, we will begin the residency on January 3 and end it the following Sunday, January 11. Furthermore, with the exception of the CW501 residency (for new students), the first weekend of the residency may take place online. Look for details in an email from the director at the end of June.
New Community Members
We welcome to our already stellar outside reader team the following agents and editors:
Jackie Christy, film producer and theater director at Access Theater
Maureen Corrigan, book critic at NPR’s “Fresh Air”
Kristina Darling, publisher and editor-in-chief at Tupelo Press
Michelle Dotter, publisher and editor-in-chief at Dzanc Books
Alyse Knorr, publisher and co-editor-in-chief at Switchback Books
Rebecca Olander, publisher and editor-in-chief at Perugia Press
Rebecca Rodd, literary agent, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency
Marin Takikawa, literary agent, The Friedrich Agency
ReShonda Tate, editor/publisher, Brown Girls Books
Margaret Talbot, writer at The New Yorker
Jade Wong-Baxter, literary agent, Frances Goldin Literary Agency
Faculty Updates
Rachel Weaver sold a novel to Lake Union Press, which will be out in June 2026, and a memoir to West Virginia University Press, publication date March 2026. Rachel exclaims, “It’s going to be a busy year!”
You can contact Rachel at her website: https://rachelweaver.net/
Ken Liu is excited to announce the publication date for his next book: ALL THAT WE SEE OR SEEM, a techno-thriller featuring Julia Z, an AI-whispering hacker who saves the world. The book will be published by Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, in the US on October 14, 2025. On October 9, 2025 the book will be published by Head of Zeus, a part of Bloomsbury, in the UK.
Editor’s note: Taking it international!
You can find Ken Liu by email: kyliu99@gmail.com or through Bluesky: @kyliu99.bsky.social
Gregory Fletcher says, “Since January, I’ve written over 30 drama reviews of Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, all of which have been published at www.stageandcinema.com. If interested, there’s a search bar that will give easy access to them.”
You can find Gregory at his website: www.gregoryfletcher.com
Jessica Goudeau’s book, WE WERE ILLEGAL was recently named a Finalist for the LA Times Book Prize in Biography, shortlisted for the Reading the West Memoir/Autobiography Award, and she was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters.
Juanita Rockwell was named one of 6 finalists for the Baker Artist Award in Performing Arts for the second year running, a regional award recognizing excellence in Mastery of Craft, Depth of Artistic Exploration, and Unique Vision: https://bakerartist.org/about-us/blog/2025-baker-artist-award-finalists-announced
You can contact Juanita at her website: https://bakerartist.org/portfolios/juanitarockwell
Robin McCrary’s essay “Beloved, Bewildered” is forthcoming in The Cimarron Review, issues 223 & 224 (Spring/Summer 2023). He states, “Back issues are coming soon.”
You can find Robin McCrary at: robin.mccrary@wilkes.edu
Student and Alumni Updates
Lori Coughlin (M.A. in progress) says, “A stage adaptation I wrote of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland opens Friday, May 9th at Wild Wonder Collective in Azle, Texas.”
You can find Lori at her email: lori@parkercountytheatre.com or her website: www.loricoughlin.com
Terrence Dwyer (M.F.A in progress) CW520 creative nonfiction manuscript was accepted for publication by Bloomsbury and will be out in early 2026. His short play Parade Route was performed by the Brewster Theater Company in March 2025 and a collaborative script, VFW Hall, written with five other writers from the Onondaga Veteran Writers was performed as part of Voices in Verse at the Loft Theater of Syracuse Stage in May 2025.
You can contact Terrence at his email: terrencepdwyer@gmail.com or his website: www.terrencepdwyer.com
Marcie Herman Riebe (M.A. in progress) says, “In April, I received a Northeastern Pennsylvania Theatrical Alliance Award for Best Full-Length Original Play for Writing with my co-playwright, Paul J. Gallo, for our play Inconveniences.”
Adam Seiwell (M.A. in progress) says, “A local filmmaker is filming a script of mine titled The Garden.” He also recently held a reading of his children’s book Nosferatu at the Teachers as Parents Fair in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
You can find Adam on social media at: thesawyergreen
Toni-Lyn Sorger (M.F.A 2021) co-created “Artium”, a literary journal, through Lackawanna College with Kevin McDonough and John Baldino. She states, “we accept submissions from emerging and established authors in poetry, fiction, and non-fiction from across the country, and hopefully farther in the future.” They are publishing their second issue later this month, and it’s been a great success!
You can find Toni-Lyn and her colleagues at artiumjournal.com to read their mission and incredible pieces.
An essay by Michelle Polizzi (M.A. 2023), “States of Exploitation,” received runner-up and publication in the 2025 Witness Magazine Literary Awards. She also received a grant from the Economic Hardship Reporting Project to write a reported essay about housing loss and mental health (forthcoming).
You can find Michelle on social media at: michellepolizzi or Substack: https://sundaydrive.substack.com/
Vicki Mayk (M.F.A 2013) recently published two flash nonfiction pieces: Throat Chakra in the journal Bending Genres and What I Wanted to Say in Cleaver. She was one of Cleaver’s featured readers for its Issue No. 49 reading. In addition, her essay April 22 will be anthologized in Big Table Press’s “The Year 2025.” This spring she taught the community workshop Places and Spaces in Nonfiction for the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing.Vicki also was interviewed about her work on the show Troubadours and Raconteurs on Radio Free Brooklyn,
You can find Vicki at her website: www.vicki.mayk.com
Cassandra O’Sullivan Sachar (M.F.A 2024), within the past year, has had multiple publications: the short horror story collection Keeper of Corpses and Other Dark Tales (Velox Books, 2024), the middle-grade mystery The Hidden Diary (Baynam Books Press, 2024), the horror novella Close the Door (Baynam Books Press, 2025), and the young adult thriller Lake of Secrets (Horrorsmith Publishing, 2025). Additionally, she curated and edited the Bram Stoker Award-nominated multi-author volume of horror scholarship No More Haunted Dolls: Horror Fiction that Transcends the Tropes (Vernon Press, 2024) and Wicked Universe: A Wicked House Publishing Anthology (Wicked House Publishing, 2024).
You can find Cassandra on her website: https://cassandraosullivansachar.com/
Lori Myers (M.A. 2008) recently produced and acted Off-Broadway in That’s (Not) All She Wrote a creative format she created showcasing women playwrights. Several of her plays have been or will be produced including Ruthie Lives Here (Westchester Collaborative Theater) Civil Disobedience (Axial Theater) and A Stand-Up Guy (Philipstown Depot Theatre). Ruthie Lives Here was chosen as one of the Best 10-Minute Plays 2025 and will be published by Smith & Kraus.
Michael Hardin (M.F.A 2022) says, “Between my MA in non-fiction and my MFA in poetry, I have created a hybrid form which I think of as prose poems, but editors accept as creative non-fiction. I have had short form creative non-fiction recently accepted by BODY, Moon City Review, Lunch Ticket, LANGUAGE, and others.”
Cody Marsh (M.F.A 2024) says he has a few good things to share: “I was accepted as a 2025 Writers League of Texas fellow. Next, I am super excited to be teaching a memoir workshop inside a men’s prison this summer. Also this summer, I will be presenting at a professional conference on topics related to prison reentry. I am grateful to everyone at Wilkes for their continued support.”
Editor’s Note: This is very beautiful work you are becoming a part of Cody.
You can find Cody by email: codymarshworkshops@gmail.com
Gerald Gurka (M.A. 2007) wrote and directed his new play The Cross of Decision presented on April 11, 2025 in St John the Baptist Church Larksville, PA. The play was also featured on PA Live Homepage TV and in Wilkes Barre Times Leader newspaper. Gerald wrote and starred in the video “Human & Pet Treats” for Season 4 of the Diocese of Scranton’s fundraising series Rectory Set Cook. The funds raised go to helping feed the homeless. Gerlad is also currently writing his first nonfiction work.
You can find Gerald by email at: GJG201@aol.com
Zyen Mingo-Smoot (M.A in progress), also known as Mz.bambaataa and the editor of Revise This! recently had her poem, “Aron B.,” a piece about the late Aron Bushnell who committed self-immolation to stand against genocidal operations while serving in the U.S. military, accepted for publication in the 51.1 Literature & The Arts in the African Diaspora issue of the Black literary journal Obsidian.
You can find Zyen by email: zyen.smoot@wilkes.edu
Feeling very excited about our students and alumni this summer. Feel free to congratulate your community members at our upcoming residency! Great accomplishments writers.