Speaker Bios

Agata Szczeszak-Brewer

Agata was born and raised in Poland. She is Professor of English and John P. Collett Chair in Rhetoric at Wabash College, where she teaches literature and creative writing. Her publications include The Hunger Book: A Memoir from Communist Poland, winner of the 2022 Gournay Prize. She has also published scholarly books on 20th-century literature, as well as award-winning essays and short stories, and she co-edited a special issue of Interventions on Irish and South African literatures. Agata lives in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where she volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate. She is the founder and chair of Immigrant Allies.

Ty Williams

Ty J. Williams is a poet and essayist from Columbus, Ohio. Ty is a Creative Writing graduate of The Ohio State University. His work has been published in Sonder Midwest, Black Bough Poetry, Columbus Alive, 68to05.com and more. His latest chap-zine is entitled Love in Fits & Starts: Poems about a Life of Love, released in December 2023.

Maya Dixon

Maya Tsigie Dixon is a Writer/Director/Producer and native of Columbus, Ohio. She is a recent Film and Media Arts (MFA) graduate of American University (Washington, DC). A lifelong lover of the arts, she paints and writes narrative screenplays which contribute to her process as a creator of original meaningful media. During her tenure at American University she was selected to participate in the highly regarded FAMU study abroad program in Prague, Czech Republic.

In 2018, she was selected to present a paper “Representations of Black Super Heroes” for UFVA (University Film and Video Association) in Las Cruces, New Mexico. In 2021/2022 she showcased her short film "Indigo Child" on the film festival circuit which was shown at the 4th Annual Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival in Atlanta, Georgia; 6th Annual Origin's Film Festival in Columbus, Ohio and the 24th Annual San Francisco Black Film Festival in San Francisco, California. In 2023, Maya began her journey in higher education as a film professor at the illustrious Columbus College of Art and Design.

Recently she was selected to participate in Film Parlor Tuesdays at Drexel Theatre where she facilitates discussions of films that have an impact and influence on American culture. She will also serve as a moderator for "Conversations with Filmmakers" for Cinema Columbus Film Festival. Maya hopes that her future endeavors challenge her abilities to grow as an artist and filmmaker.

Jessie Scrimager Galloway

Jessie Scrimager Galloway is an adopted, queer poet with mommy issues. She is a graduate of Pacific University’s MFA program, author of a full-length collection titled not my daughter, Etched Press, and the chapbook Liminal: A Life of Cleavage, Lost Horse Press. She loves her wife’s fried chicken and enjoys riveting conversations with her best editor: Snacks, a wily, polydactyl, orange cat.

Josh Brewer

An award-winning poet and teacher, Josh A. Brewer professes creative writing at Purdue University. He has published an anthology of protest poetry and prose, Writers Resist, and a chapbook of his own poetry, When is a Will. His work also appears in Harvard Rev., Southeast Rev., RHINO, Booth, Yemassee, and Sargasso (and in other fine publications, including a publication of the MLA). He has taught at U. of Miami, South Carolina, Tennessee State, Ivy Tech, and Aquinas College.

Tony Brewer

Tony Brewer is a poet and audio artist from Bloomington, Indiana, where he is executive director of the Spoken Word Stage at the 4th Street Festival and co-producer of the Writers Guild Spoken Word Series and the Urban Deer Performance Series. He has published 12 books and chapbooks, including Fragile Batteries (The Grind Stone, 2023) and Good Job, Lightning (Stubborn Mule Press, forthcoming 2024). Tony has been offering Poetry On Demand at coffeehouses, museums, cemeteries, churches, bars, and art and music festivals for fifteen years, and he is a frequent collaborator with experimental music & field recording ensemble ORTET.

A.S. Green

A.S. Green is a comedian and writer whose comedic twist on the taboo and fringe has boosted them to center stage. This dead pan jester always delivers on slice of life. Chicago raised comedian has been doing comedy for 8 years. 

Travis McClerking

Travis McClerking is a poet and model born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He is co-host and collaborator for The Poetry Cauldron at Kafe Kerouac. He has been published in multiple journals including Hooligan Mag and is featured in the poetry collection “Tempest: Poetry for Earthly Renewal.” On an off day, you will catch him either perusing a thrift shop or discovering the best records your grandparents loved.

Kimberly Brazwell

Kimberly Brazwell, native of Columbus, OH, is the CEO and founder of a story strategy consulting firm called KiMISTRY. She has also recently launched the nonprofits My Cousin’s House and Our Healing Ink. She is the author of a 2018 self-published memoir Browning Pleasantville, her newly released trauma-informed and healing-centered journal workbook series Jotnal Books, featuring the Phoenix Edition, the Supernatural (Teen) Edition and the Manifest (masculine) Edition. Brazwell was a contributing author of Implicit Bias in Schools with a chapter entitled, “Practical Application of Implicit Racial Debiasing” and is working on a new manuscript about The Nine Asks. Brazwell had the honor of performing two TEDx Talks – “Over, Under, Around and Through Trauma” and “Crazy and Black and Poor.” She uses creative outlets including visual arts, writing and media projects to dispel stigmas and build power through narrative (re)creation.