WiR Professional Writers

Sarah Conover began her career as a producer for public television and subsequently spent many years teaching both English and radio production at the secondary level. A recent addition to the WiR program, she is excited about bringing multicultural perspectives into classrooms through writing. She is the founder and editor of the This Little Light of Mine series, which seeks to introduce children and their parents to the world's great traditions of wisdom and spirituality. The series includes: Kindness, a collection of Buddhist tales,  Ayat Jamilah: Beautiful Signs, which draws on Muslim tradition, and Harmony, a collection of Chinese folk stories. Conover holds a degree in education from Gonzaga University and an MFA in creative writing from Eastern. Her poetry has appeared in Rock and Sling, The Santa Clara Review, and Pontoon 10. For more information, visit  Conover's website.

Renee Roehl, our WiR at Barker Alternative High School, has held reading and writing workshops for both children and adults within our community for more than fifteen years. She has worked in a number of different venues, including Crosswalk, a drop-in agency for homeless teens. Her direct talk, her sense of humor, and her ability to approach students on their own terms create a safe atmosphere in which even the most intractable teenagers learn to believe that they have something of value to give. She holds an MFA from Eastern, and her poems and essays have appeared in a variety of literary journals.

Susan Virnig has enjoyed working as a WiR teacher for three years now, sharing her passion for writing with a variety of elementary ages. She has also taught writing workshops in Spokane and the Yakima Valley and has been a rostered artist through the Washington State Arts Commission. In addition to an MFA in creative writing, she has a master's in organizational leadership and an undergraduate degree in Japanese language and culture. She founded the Garfield Young Writers Conference in Spokane.