LILA Executive Board bios

  • Carol Ann Davis (President) was graduated from Vassar College, which later awarded her the W. K. Rose Fellowship, and from the MFA Program in Poetry Writing at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is directs the undergraduate creative writing program at the College of Charleston, where she is Associate Professor and where, with Garrett, she edits Crazyhorse. Her book Psalm: Poems will be published in the spring of 2007 by Tupelo Press.

  • Marjory Wentworth (V. President). Wentworth’s poems have appeared in numerous books and magazines, and she has twice been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. Noticing Eden, a collection of poems, was published by Hub City Writing Project in 2003. She is the Poet Laureate of South Carolina.

  • Harold Singletary (Treasurer)

  • Sean Scapellato (Secretary)

  • Jane Baker is the Neighborhood Services Director for the City of Charleston and does special projects for Mayor Riley. She was born and raised in Charleston, received a BA in English from the University of South Carolina and a Certificate of Literary Studies from the University of Sheffied, England. Jane has previous experience as the Economic Development Project Manager for the City, Special Project Manager for the South Carolina Department of Revenue, and Development Director for a local non-profit. She lives on Wadmalaw Island.

  • Jessica Bundschuh, recipient of a Fulbright Lecture Award, taught American Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Stuttgart in Germany from 2002-2005. Since returning to Charleston in 2006, she has launched her marketing venture Fluency Creative. She holds a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Houston.

  • Ellie Davis is the founder and co-producer of Monday Night Blues, the longest running weekly literary event in Charleston, Ellie Davis organized the Turner South My South Speaks competition and is an active member of the Charleston Poetry Society. She is co-founder and owner of Pressque Editing, a manuscript editing and publishing consultation firm in Charleston. Davis has worked for environmental and human rights issues with Amnesty International and the Black Sash Trust. She lives in Charleston with her daughter, Periel.

  • Lindy Carter is a fund-raising professional with more than 20 years of experience in journalism, public relations, and fund raising. She serves on the board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Lowcountry chapter, as communications chair. She has recently completed her first novel

  • Frances Pearce writes fiction, poetry and non-fiction. Her work has been published in The Saturday Evening Post, MD News, the My South anthology and the Poetry Society of South Carolina’s Yearbook. Ms. Pearce is a certified public accountant with the Charleston firm of Dixon Hughes, PLLC. She previously worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers. In addition to serving on the LILA board, Ms. Pearce is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Charleston and currently serves as the Treasurer of the Center for Women and as the Vice-President and Publicity Chair of the Poetry Society of South Carolina. She previously served as a board member and officer of the South Carolina Writers Workshop and as co-chair for that organization’s October 2005 Writers Conference.

  • Susan Meyers is president of The Poetry Society of SC and was the 2005 poet-in-residence at the Gibbes Museum of Art. Her book Keep and Give Away (USC Press, 2006) won the SC Poetry Book Prize, sponsored by the SC Poetry Initiative. She has an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte.

  • Patti Morrisonmanaged a family owned bookstore in Hilton Head Island, SC for 15 years. She is currently the Assistant Store Manager for the Mount Pleasant Barnes & Noble ~ A friend and supporter of all readers and writers.

  • Marcus Amaker

  • John Thompson spent 25 years as an investment banker in New York before retiring to write full time. He is now a full time writer, and his novel, Armageddon Conspiracy, will be published by Harbor House Books in Spring of 2008. He lives with his wife and daughter and divides his time between Charleston, SC, and a mountain home in Hawley, PA. Mr. Thompson is actively involved in his local community and serves on a number of non-profit boards. In those capacities, he has chaired the board of one of the nation’s leading Children’s Hospitals and served as interim headmaster of a private school. He currently serves as Chairman of The Charleston Education Network and a founding trustee of the South Carolina division of Donors Choose, a charity selected by Amazon.com in 2005 as America’s Most Innovative Non-Profit.

  • Catherine McCullough

  • Jonathan Sanchez has been writer-in-residence at the Jack Kerouac House in Orlando and runs writing camps and workshops for children. A former newspaper reporter, he is the author of Bandit, a collection of short stories about the Cooper River Bridge Run. He lives in Charleston.