THE MUSE WRITERS CENTER - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Emeritus Board
Alicia Dekker's work has been published in The Quotable, Barely South Review, Pithead Chapel and will appear in Fractured Lit's 2021 anthology. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and selected as a finalist in Mikrokosmos Journal's 2019 fiction contest. She is an emeritus board member of The Muse Writers Center and earned an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte while serving as an editorial assistant for Qu Literary Magazine. She lives in Virginia, where she teaches at The Muse Writers Center.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Emeritus Board
- Founder and Senior Managing Partner of the Sullivan Collins Law Group
Ann, founder and senior managing partner of the Sullivan Collins Law Group, has been recognized as one of the best lawyers in America for employment law, management and employees. She has been voted Super Lawyer for more than 15 years. She has held many board and officer seats in local civic organizations. A lifelong learner, she enjoys her classes at The Muse.
Beth Oast Williams is the author of the chapbook, Riding Horses in the Harbor, due out late 2020 by Finishing Line Press. Her work has appeared or is upcoming in West Texas Literary Review, Wisconsin Review, Glass Mountain, Poetry South, and Fjords Review, among others, and was nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize.
Job Titles:
- Co - Head
- Founder
- Member of the Emeritus Board
- Writer
Brad McMurran is the founder, co-head writer, and performer in the sketch/improvisation group, The Pushers. He is a member of the board of directors of The Muse. He studied long form improvisation at the heralded Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City and studied history and acting at Old Dominion University. McMurran and The Pushers have performed all up and down the east coast, and have headlined numerous comedy festivals, most notably The Charleston Comedy Festival and The North Carolina Comedy Festival. He has acted in numerous plays, done stand up comedy, and will be starring in a one man show touring across America this winter. He likes pizza and describes himself as "adorable and pudgy."
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Director of Birthright
Carol, a native New Yorker, retains her accent after living in Virginia for forty years. A Thomas Hunter Honors Scholar, the classics were taught in the historical Eleanor Roosevelt House in Manhattan, and a Bachelor's Degree attained in Communication Sciences and Chemistry. A Mountaineer, at West Virginia University, a proposal of marriage by a second-year dental student was followed by a M.S. degree in Speech-Language Pathology. Seven years as a night student yielded a Ph.D. from Old Dominion University in Urban Services, which is referred to as "our family degree".
Carol worked as a Speech Therapist at The Veterans Hospital, a Juvenile Detention Center, and rural and urban public schools. Improving vital communication skills added to the "sweetness of life" for both clients and clinician.
Carol is the Director of Birthright, a pregnancy crisis center in Norfolk, a church volunteer, and lover of the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. The Muse Writers Center is Carol's source of artistic inspiration in writing, and her second family. This nonprofit organization is unique in its generous scholarship/tuition help with outreach programs to youth, seniors and the military community. Your donation will help sustain The Magical Muse, a true wonderment.
A practicing neuroradiologist with special interest in MRI of multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury, Charles has had a lifelong interest in poetry. He has a special interest in The Muse's mission to enrich the lives of seniors and the elderly by encouraging the writing of memoir.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- 2nd Vice Chair, BOD Development Committee
Cindy grew up in the snowbelt of western New York, and, when not traveling and birding with her husband, has spent most of her adult life along the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. After a long career in youth development, she is enjoying retirement as a writer and member of the Muse community. A winner of the Hampton Roads Writers contest for creative nonfiction, she is co-founder of the local chapter of Women Writers Who Submit (WWS). Her work has appeared in several travel journals, The Quotable, The Wayfarer, Bird's Thumb, Tiferet, Barely South Review, Chautauqua, The Common, and Accolades anthology.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Secretary, Co - Chair of the Book Lovers Bash Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Emeritus Board
Ellen Bryson authored The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno, a novel set in P.T. Barnum's American Museum in the New York of 1865, about human appetites and longings, and what it means to be profoundly unique. Transformation was selected Indie Pick of the Month, Notable, in July 2010, the Book-of-the-Month Club Alternative, 2010, and won the San Diego Book Award for Historic Fiction, 2010. Ellen earned her BA in English from Columbia University and her MA in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Marketing Committee
- Member of the Board
After a career in technical writing for a large computer software company, Gretchen began volunteering in her community, working with her children's schools, the Junior Women's Club of Hilton Village and the Newport News Medical Society Alliance, for which she served as president. Her essays have been featured on NPR's Writer's Block.
Holly has had a diverse career, much of it spent as an awardwinning graphic artist. For the past 20-plus years, she has worked with her husband as co-owner and art director of Colley Avenue Copies & Graphics. She has trained many graphic artists over the years.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Co - Chair of the Book Lovers Bash Committee
Jane is originally from NYC and comes to Norfolk VA via the Navy and her family who all migrated south over 20 years ago to escape the snow.
NYC enabled her to experience the world at her doorstep but it wasn't enough, so she joined the Navy to see the world and ended up with a 20 + year career between active duty and the reserves. She's been lucky enough to spend three years in Wales, six months in Crete, and been to over nine different countries in her years of service.
Writing has also been a part of her life since she was a young child - though she first began to think about it more seriously when finishing her BA in History and took a creative writing class with Leslie Lee, a award winning playwright. After moving to Norfolk, Jane discovered The Muse in its early days on Orapax Street and took an Intro to Fiction Studio class. From there, she has been involved with the Fiction Studio and also helped with the 10th Anniversary/1st Annual Book Lovers Bash - and has chaired the event the past several years. She joined the Board in 2018 to continue to help The Muse Writers Center flourish.
Her day job is as Director of Convention Services for the Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau. She takes care of her mom and her cat, Hercule Poirot, and is an avid knitter when she's not busy writing or reading.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board of Directors
- Member of the Board
Karen Corrigan serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for The Muse Writers Center, a nationally-recognized, nonprofit literary program based in Norfolk, Virginia. She grew up in the mountains of Virginia where the local storytelling that flourished in written, visual and oral forms inspired her life-long passion for writing. Karen moved to Norfolk in the early 80s and spent the next 30 years as a healthcare executive, strategy consultant, and small business entrepreneur. Over the course of her career, she published two books, authored numerous articles and white papers, and was a sought-after speaker on industry trends and innovations. More recently, she joined her daughter's growing coffee company to advise on business operations.
Karen is a graduate of Virginia Wesleyan University, serves on both the local and national boards for the FBI Citizens Academy Alumni Association, and is a board member and judge for the Healthcare Internet Hall of Fame.
Ten years ago, she wandered into the Muse to take a poetry class and quickly found a new home within its talented, diverse community of writers.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Emeritus Board
After spending 25 years in business development with both Exxon and Herman Miller, Kate started her own business assisting non-profits and co-produced an award-winning weekly television program highlighting volunteers and philanthropists in San Francisco. She was the creator and president of A Taste of France, Ltd., offering high-end European excursions.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Emeritus Board
Leslie Entsminger graduated from Purdue University in 1979 in Interdisciplinary Engineering. She worked for Mobil Oil as a geophysicist before retiring in 1986 to raise three children. While in Houston from 2000 to 2011, she worked as an artist in oil painting and printmaking. She graduated this May from Old Dominion University's MFA program in Creative Writing/Fiction. Her recent work can be found in The Cincinnati Review, the Barely South Review,/em>, and Shark Reef Journa. She received an Honorable Mention for the 2015 ODU Ruhi Dayanim Poetry Prize and was nominated for a Pushcart by The Cincinnati Review in 2016.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Member of the Board
Michael Khandelwal is the Executive Director of The Muse Writers Center, a nationally recognized literary center in Norfolk, Virginia. An award-winning writer and teacher, he has written poetry and fiction as well as editorials, profiles, and feature articles for Coastal Virginia Magazine, Alt Daily, and others and teaches poetry and fiction workshops for The Muse.
Michael attended USC as an undergraduate and graduate student (MPW with three theses: fiction, poetry, screenplay) and has studied under poets James Ragan, William Matthews, and Yevgeny Yevtushenko and writers Betty Friedan, Shelly Berman, Paul Gillette, John Rechy, Ben Masselink, Sy Gomberg, Shana Alexander, and Gay Talese. In Los Angeles, he also worked in film and on the radio while teaching neuroscience at USC and poetry writing, drama, and acting in the city. He is a past web content management specialist for The American Council on Education, is the past President of the 2008 Electoral College of Virginia, and is the current Vice Chairperson of the Norfolk Electoral Board.
Mike Krentz writes medical suspense, psychological thrillers, and military fiction featuring complex characters and relationships.
Born and raised in Arizona, Mike earned a classical degree in English from the University of San Francisco, a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin, and a Master of Public Health Degree from Johns Hopkins University.
Following a civilian career as an emergency physician, Mike rededicated his professional life to serve America's Navy and Marine Corps heroes and their families, and to honor their sacrifices in defending our freedom and way of life. His last active duty assignment was as 7th Fleet Surgeon on board the flagship, USS BLUE RIDGE.
After retiring from the US Navy, Dr. Krentz continued his service as a consultant supporting the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center. Upon completion of that mission, he returned to his earliest life passion as a full-time writer.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Emeritus Board
Patti Hinson holds an MFA in Creative Writing from American University where her collection of personal essays, Pulls Like Gravity, was awarded the Myra Sklarew Prize for Outstanding Thesis. Her prose and poetry have been featured in a variety of venues, literary and otherwise, including past photography exhibits at The Mariners' Museum.
Richard is the owner of Levin's of Norfolk, The Ghent Market Shops, and other
shopping centers and retail properties. He is an active member of the Ghent Business Association.
Job Titles:
- Co - Head
- Executive Producer
- Member of the Emeritus Board
- Writer
Sean Devereux is the executive producer and co-head writer of the sketch comedy group, The Pushers and a member of the board of directors of The Muse. He graduated with a B.A. in English from George Mason University and has studied improv at The Upright Citizen's Brigade in New York. With The Pushers, he has performed up and down the east coast, most notably headlining The Charleston Comedy Festival and The North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival. In his civilian guise, Sean is an Emmy Award winning writer/producer at WVEC-TV 13.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Emeritus Board
Job Titles:
- Immediate past Chair
- Member of the Board
Stephen is past board chair and now serves on the executive committee, and the education and outreach Committee. He is retired from the practice of law.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Emeritus Board