About James River Writers

Board of Directors Documents
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Board of Directors

Maya Payne Smart (JRW Chair, 2012) is a professional writer who has written hundreds of articles for newspapers, magazines and websites including Black Enterprise and CNNMoney.com. She also helps writers master the business side of the craft through coaching and courses offered through her website WritingCoach.com. She received a bachelor's degree in Social Studies from Harvard University and a master's degree in editorial journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Maya has served on the board of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and also is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and The Society of Professional Journalists.

Gigi Amateau is the author of the young adult novel, A Certain Strain of Peculiar (Candlewick Press, 2009), and the middle-grade novel, Chancey of the Maury River (Candlewick Press, 2008). Her debut young adult novel, Claiming Georgia Tate (Candlewick Press, 2005), was selected as a Book Sense Children's Pick, a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, and a VOYA Review Editor's Choice. She also contributed to the acclaimed anthology, Our White House: Looking In Looking Out (Candlewick Press, 2008). Gigi is a native of Mississippi. She grew up in Mechanicsville, VA and graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in Urban Studies and Planning. She lives in the city of Richmond, VA with her husband and daughter.

Kristi Tuck Austin has been a JRW member and volunteer for a number of years, leading auction efforts for the 2011 June on the James and the 2011 Conference, as well as volunteering at Writing Shows. Kristi has worked as a museum technician at The Valentine Richmond History Center and Henrico Museum Services and organized events for a local bookseller. Her writing has appeared on websites for an international nonprofit and in a short story anthology. She created River City Fiction, a blog of Richmond literary happenings. Kristi is currently working on a YA manuscript.

Carol Billingsley is a communications and strategic marketing professional with over 25 years of experience. In addition to her own firm, Billingsley Communications, she serves as the vice chair of the Marketing Committee at the World Pediatric Project (formerly the International Hospital for Children). Previously she served as director of marketing communications at Rutherfoord, a risk management and insurance brokerage firm, and was director of marketing and communications at St. Catherine's School for more than a decade. She has also served on the Board of Directors at Commonwealth Girl Scout Council. She is a graduate of Ohio State University.

Diane Black manages Bbgb tales for kids (formerly Narnia), a children’s bookshop in Richmond’s Museum District. A bookseller of children’s literature for twenty-three years, Diane also serves on the Virginia State Reading Associations’ Virginia Readers Choice Committee. In her spare time, she tutors neighborhood students in reading. She is interested in helping JRW develop its Focus on Students initiative and in connecting readers with books and authors.

Ellen F. Brown is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in a variety of print and online publications including Virginia Living, Modernism, and Fine Books & Collections. Her first book, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind: A Bestseller’s Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood, co-authored with John Wiley, offers a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most popular and controversial novels in publishing history. Publishers Weekly selected it as a top pick for spring 2011. Brown lives in Richmond’s historic Fan District and also serves on the board of the Library of Virginia Foundation.

Janice Campbell is a professional writer and editor with a focus on entrepreneurship, publishing and the homeschool market, topics that she also speaks about. She is a director of the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors and writes regularly for NAIWE publications; she is already an assistant editor of JRW's Get Your Word On newsletter. In addition, she has authored several successful books about non-traditional education and has written instructional manuals, magazine articles and other materials. She is a graduate of Mary Baldwin College.

Shawna Christos has written manuals, booklets, and papers for a variety of companies, including a local Fortune 500 company, and has earned inter-company recognition and awards for graphics, art, computer, and database work. She served on several JRW conference committees and was JRW Treasurer 2009 and 2010. She is a long time JRW volunteer and supporter, serving on the board and the 2011 Conference Committee. She is currently at work on novels and other writing, including young adult, middle grade, poetry, and blogs.

Christina S. Draper is the Program Specialist of Personal Enrichment in the School of Continuing Education at the University of Richmond. She plans and coordinates non-degree personal enrichment as part of the school's outreach agenda, especially focusing on partnerships with community organizations to offer culturally diverse programs. Prior to working at UR, she was Director of the African-American Heritage Program at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, providing leadership for community-based projects seeking to collect, preserve and interpret African-American history in Virginia. Christina hopes to help JRW expand our student programs into more diverse settings and to enhance our ties to the University of Richmond. She is passionate about young people and reading and writing.

Ryan Frazier is a corporate communications and editorial services specialist at Dominion Resources, Inc., where he focuses on communications, media, and speechwriting. His background is in politics and editorial journalism. Dominion has a history of sponsoring the JRW Conference and programs, and Ryan will serve as a liaison between JRW and Dominion.

Julie Geen is a freelance writer for Style Weekly and has a monthly column in Richmond's Belle magazine. Several of her essays are published in anthologies. She teaches creative writing through Richmond Young Writers and has also been a program assistant for ART 180. Currently, she is turning one of her screenplays into a novel, and from there maybe a facebook post. Before she had the courage to start writing, she did a variety of things in a variety of places, including numerous retail jobs in Colorado, nannying in Scotland and a stint as a massage therapist in San Francisco.

Charles Gerena is online editor for the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, where he focuses on developing content to enhance the public’s understanding of the economy and the Federal Reserve System. Before coming to the Richmond Fed, Charles worked as a business reporter and editor; his features appeared in local, regional, and national publications. He holds a B.S. in technical writing from the New York Institute of Technology, and is a member of the Online News Association. He leads JRW’s Tech Committee and has been involved in podcasting JRW programs and overseeing the redesign of the JRW website.

Lee Gimpel has formerly served as treasurer, vice-chair and chair of JRW's board of directors. His writing has largely covered business, technology and the intersection thereof for such publications as Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Inc., Worth and BusinessWeek SmallBiz. His articles about culture, lifestyle, travel and history have appeared in such publications as Budget Travel, Executive Traveler, Best Life, Las Vegas, Men's Journal and The Washington Post. His first book, Fighting Wars, Planning for Peace, recounts the life of Gen. George C. Marshall and the Marshall Plan

Jessica Ronky Haddad is an award-winning communications professional with 17 years experience writing and editing news and feature packages for newspapers, magazines, marketing campaigns and websites. She began her career as a feature writer with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, then moved to Style Weekly where she was arts and culture editor. She is currently a frequent contributor to R Home magazine and writes for the communications department at the University of Richmond. She has served on the board of Virginia Press Women as chair of the Agnes Cook Scholarship contest and has run PTA "One Book, One School" programs to encourage families to share a love and appreciation for reading.

Katharine Herndon has taught middle school English and drama at Millwood School in Chesterfield County for the past 12 years. She received her B.A. in English from Davidson College and her M.A. in English, with a concentration in creative writing, from the University of Central Florida. Katharine placed second inStyle Weekly’s 2003 fiction contest and published a zombie western in The Great Richmond Zombie Book. She chaired the 2011 Conference Planning Committee and currently serves as the JRW secretary.

Douglas Jones writes plays for children and adults, 40 of which have been produced in venues around the country. Jones holds degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Virginia. He has taught at the University of Virginia, TheatreVirginia, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the UVA Center for Continuing Education, and the Virginia Opera, as well as in private schools in the Richmond area. Jones has also published short stories, poetry, and nonfiction, as well as scripts for radio and video. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild and The Authors League of America. His interests in JRW’s work include: The Writing Show, the JRW Conference, and JRW contests.

Madeline Mayhood, a native of Richmond, has been a garden writer for many years. She has written for a number of national and international publications on the subject of horticulture, garden design and garden history and has served as the garden editor of Richmond’s Style Weekly. She began her career in New York, first as an editorial assistant at several large publishing houses, then as an assistant agent for two well known literary agents where she helped develop their fiction lines. She then became a founder and managing editor of two educational magazines, and together with several colleagues, she started a creative writing program for disadvantaged city youth. She would like to bring her marketing and PR experience to JRW.

Rebecca Joines Schinsky is the creator of the popular literary site The Book Lady's Blog. She works as a writer and editor for Book Riot and is a freelance critic and social media consultant. Rebecca is a co-founder of Bookrageous, a partner in online reading meme FridayReads, and the chair of the 2012 James River Writers Conference.

Derome Scott Smith has dedicated his artistic career to empowering the Richmond community through the theatre arts by providing career, educational and entertainment opportunities to those who have been traditionally overlooked; his vision is to build a long-term theatrical institution that will bring prominence to Richmond. In 1997, Smith became the theatre instructor at George Wythe High School of the Arts where he revitalized the drama program, leading his students to win major state and regional awards. In 2002, Smith founded the African American Theatre Company for which he received a Theresa Pollak Prize for Excellence in the Arts. He was commissioned by the Science Museum of Virginia to write a play and he has forged partnerships with Richmond Recreation and Parks and Richmond Region 2007. Smith has previously served on the boards of the Fire House Theatre and the Virginia Theatre Association, and was selected for Leadership Metro Richmond.

Kris Spisak has taught writing at Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Richmond, John Tyler Community College, and J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. Beyond teaching, she also works as a freelance editor, copywriter, and journalist. Her writing has appeared in R Home Magazine, Dark Sky Magazine (fiction), within the archives of the Richmond History Center, and in the marketing materials of companies world-wide. Presently, Kris is working on a novel based on historic American secrets. 

JRW Office Staff

Administrative Director
Anne Westrick has been a teacher, paralegal, college administrator, and volunteer for organizations from Odyssey of the Mind to the Reading Olympics, the READ Center, and the Girl Scouts. She is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Divinity School, and in January 2011 received her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her first novel is forthcoming from Viking Children’s Books. Contact Anne via email at: anne@jamesriverwriters.org

Development Coordinator
Meg Medina has written for adults and children for over fifteen years. Her stories and poems have appeared in numerous literary magazines. MILAGROS: Girl from Away (Henry Holt, 2008) is her first novel for young readers. Her first picture book, TIA ISA WANTS A CAR, is forthcoming from Candlewick Press in 2011. She's currently working on a new young adult and new middle grade novel. She lives in Richmond, VA, with her husband and three children. Contact Meg via email at: meg@jamesriverwriters.org

Bookkeeper and Database Manager
Erin Cundiff, a graduate of James Madison University and Virginia Commonwealth University, is an elementary school teacher currently staying home with her two children. Erin writes when she can and reads even when she can't. Her current interests include opera, geology, 18th-century America, trains, classical music, the Spanish language, and Latin American culture.

Advisory Board

Virginia Pye (Chair) writes novels, short stories and poems. Her work has appeared in numerous literary magazines including The North American Review, Failbetter, The Baltimore Review, The Potomac Review, Arts and Understanding and upcoming in an anthology of writing about AIDS. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and a BA from Wesleyan University. She has taught writing and literature at New York University, the University of Pennsylvania, in high schools, community centers and in her home. She has been a fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and at the Acadia Summer Arts Program in Maine. Virginia was chair of James River Writers from 2008-2010.

Susann Cokal is the author of two critically praised novels, Mirabilis and Breath and Bones, and of short stories that have appeared in numerous journals. She holds two PhD's: one from Berkeley in comparative literature, and one from Binghamton University in creative writing, and she has published critical work on writers such as Jeanette Winterson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Georges Bataille. She also reviews fiction for The New York Times Book Review. She moved to Richmond in 2004 to teach creative writing and contemporary literature at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Constance Costas is editor of skirt! magazine's Richmond edition. A former staff writer for Self magazine, she has also covered health, fitness, medical, and parenting topics for Redbook, Health, Fitness, Shape, Ladies Home Journal, Working Woman, and Harper's Bazaar. Her essays have appeared in skirt!, where she has also been a contributing editor and columnist.

Kirk Ellis won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, a WGA Award, a Peabody and the Humanitas Prize for his work on the HBO miniseries “John Adams” and won the WGA Award and Humanitas Prize for the ABC miniseries “Anne Frank,” which he wrote and co-produced. His miniseries "Into the West," "Life With Judy Garland" and "The Beach Boys: An American Family," all received multiple Emmy nominations. He is currently adapting David McCullough's "1776."  Upcoming feature projects include a two-film biography of the Marquis de Lafayette; the Mormon polygamy drama "Escape"; and "Flying Tigers," a story of Claire Chennault's famed WWII fighter pilots. A graduate of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema and Television, Ellis began his professional career as a film critic for The Hollywood Reporter. In 1992 he formed Shadow Catcher Productions, an independent production banner under which he develops his own indie features and documentaries. Ellis currently serves as chairman of the Santa Fe, New Mexico Arts Commission, and on the board of directors of Western Writers of America.

William C. Hall, Jr.

Phaedra Hise is a founding co-chair of the James River Writers and the senior editor of Colloquy magazine. As an award-winning journalist, her work has been anthologized and has appeared in publications including Glamour, Salon, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Popular Mechanics, Ladies' Home Journal, and Smithsonian. Hise has been a staff writer for Inc., a contributor to Fortune Small Business and a contributing editor to Virginia Living. As an author, she has written five books, most recently The Secret Lives of Hoarders (with Matt Paxton). She regularly gives radio commentary and interviews, appears on national television, and speaks at conferences and universities.

A Richmond native, Dean King is the nationally best-selling author of, most recently, Unbound: A True Story of War, Love, and Survival (Little, Brown, 2010) and eight other works of non-fiction, including the Daily Telegraph book-of-the-year Patrick O'Brian: A Life. For Unbound, which follows the struggles of the women marchers on Mao's 4,000-mile Long March, Dean interviewed the last surviving female marcher and trekked through the Tibetan Snowy Mountains of Northwest Sichuan province (see also "In the Land of the Human-Sucking Bogs" in Outside magazine, April 2010). The subject of a two-hour History Channel documentary, Dean's book Skeletons on the Zahara (2004) is currently being developed as a feature film by Independent Film (London). Dean's writing has appeared in Esquire, Garden & Gun, Granta, Men's Journal, National Geographic Adventure, and the New York Times. He also serves on the foundation board of the Library of Virginia and on the board of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA).  

Jon Kukla aims to present first-rate historical scholarship to a general readership. His recent books, Mr. Jefferson's Women (Alfred A. Knopf, 2007) and A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America (Alfred A. Knopf, 2003), were selections of the History Book Club and the Book of the Month Club. Born in Wisconsin, Kukla was graduated from Carthage College and took his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. He lives and writes in Richmond, where he is working on a fresh narrative of the American Revolution under contract with Simon and Schuster.

David L. Robbins was born in Richmond and received his undergraduate and Juris Doctorate degrees from the College of William & Mary. He has been writer-in-residence as well as visiting professor of creative writing at W&M, and now teaches advanced creative writing for the VCU Honors College. David has published nine novels, including his most recent, Broken Jewel, released in November 2009. He is a founding co-chair of James River Writers. At present, David is at work on his tenth, The Devil's Waters, a novel about Somali piracy. He is also the co-founder of The Podium Foundation, working in partnership with Richmond Public Schools to support and advocate the teaching and practice of writing skills in the city's high schools, and to create city-wide platforms of expression for RPS students. His first play, an adaptation of his novel Scorched Earth, will debut in Richmond in April of 2012, and his first movie script, The Rock In The Sun, is currently in production after three weeks of shooting in Haiti.

David B. Robinson, CPA is an extremely well-rounded accountant whose greatest strength is that he has actually done and participated in things about which most other CPAs only talk, consult and advise. In 2005, after selling a large 1,300 client firm which he started in 1990 with five clients, he formed a new firm – Custer Robinson, LLC – that specializes in providing tax preparation and business strategy services to individuals engaged in media and the performing arts. He also accepts periodic employment contracts to be Chief Financial Officer of emerging and evolving entities. In fall 2009, he completed his 21-month position as Acting Chief Financial Officer of Richmond CenterStage, where his principal duties involved the final investor negotiations of the Federal and Virginia Historic and New Market tax credit portions of the $73.5 million dollar renovation of the Carpenter Theater and vacant Thalhimer’s Department Store into a new performing arts venue. While at Richmond CenterStage, he was also held responsible for financial statement preparation, external audit management, accounting and information systems design, tax preparation and pledge and cash flow forecasting.

Kirk T. Schroder is a partner in the Richmond-based law firm of Schroder Fidlow, PLC. A nationally recognized lawyer in the field of entertainment and art law, he is a lecturer in Entertainment Law at the University of Virginia School of Law and is currently the Chair of the American Bar Association Entertainment and Sports Law section. Kirk was named to the 2008 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® in the field of entertainment law. His clients in the entertainment field come from all over the United States and the world.

Ron Smith is Writer-in-Residence at St. Christopher's School and teaches in the Master of Liberal Arts Program at the University of Richmond. He is the author of two books of poems, Running Again in Hollywood Cemetery (University Presses of Florida) and Moon Road (LSU Press). A winner of the $10,000 Carole Weinstein Prize in Poetry, he is now one of the Curators for that prize. His essays and poems have appeared most recently in The Georgia Review, Shenandoah, Blackbird, Poetry Daily, and Aethlon: The Journal of Sport Literature.

Sandra Treadway is director of the Library of Virginia. Prior to her appointment as Librarian of Virginia in July 2007, she served as deputy director of the Library and also as head of the Library's publications program. She is a graduate of Manhattanville College and holds a doctoral degree in American History from the University of Virginia and a master's degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Tennessee. She is the author of Women of Mark: A History of the Woman's Club of Richmond, 1894-1994 and has edited several other volumes on southern and Virginia history. She is a frequent speaker on Virginia and women's history topics.

John Ulmschneider