Personal Statement

Alyson is a writer, editor, and instructor from New Jersey. She holds an MFA in Fiction from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College and a B.A. in English from Rutgers University. She has been published in more than three dozen literary magazines and has received accolades and nominations for prizes including the Pushcart, the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, Best Small Fiction, and Best Microfiction. She has experience editing and teaching writing to students of all ages. Recently, she was chosen to be a fiction mentor in the highly competitive Adroit Review Summer Mentorship program.

Alyson's teaching philosophy is deeply rooted in the idea that reading makes us better writers. She believes in the importance of a reading practice, and she demonstrates how reading the work of others can help students to develop their own writing style and to recognize their own tastes and strengths. Alyson stresses that writing is not a "one size fits all" endeavor and that students can achieve success in English Language Arts through a variety of different approaches. She is an enthusiastic and encouraging instructor. Her goal is for each student to leave a class or a tutoring session with improved writing and reading skills as well as improved confidence. She's a parent of two, and a voracious reader. Her favorite question is, "Have you read anything good lately?"

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Awards and Recognitions

Testimonials