Staff

 Melissa Huggins is the director of Get Lit! Programs. She holds an MFA in Fiction from Eastern Washington University and a BA in English Literature from Pacific Lutheran University. One of her favorite Get Lit! Festival moments happened in 2004, when Kurt Vonnegut Jr. told the audience before dancing his way offstage: "No matter how bad things get, the music will still be wonderful." 

The Get Lit! Programs office relies on a range of student talent. Student assistants from various majors work through year-long internships. Their dedication is crucial to the success of Get Lit! Programs. Several classes also participate in preparations for the festival. For example, the poster design is selected from a Visual Communication and Design class contest and the festival surveys are created and analyzed by a marketing class. Get Lit! strives to create an interactive learning environment that connects all members of the community. Special thanks to all of our interns and Get Lit! participants. 

Karen Maner is the Get Lit! Programs Assistant Coordinator. She graduated from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, where she studied creative writing and French and taught supplementary language courses. She is currently completing her MFA in Creative Nonfiction at Eastern Washington University and enjoying her second year with Get Lit! Programs. When she isn’t working on her thesis or preparing for this year’s festival, someone needs to unplug her PS3. Please.

Mona Ashbaugh is the Get Lit! Editor and a first year MFA in fiction. She earned her law degree in 2001, and then decided teaching and drafting a novel are much more rewarding than drafting legal "briefs." After twenty plus years residing in sunny California, she chose Spokane to write (gray skies encourage face time with the PC) and spend time with her son and active granddaughter.

Laura Citino is a second year MFA in fiction and a Festival Assistant for Get Lit! Programs, where her responsibilities include content writing, grant writing, and acting as liaison to KPBX. She is from Michigan originally, but has enjoyed getting to know the mountains and lack of torrential downpours that Eastern Washington has to offer. She works as an English and creative writing instructor at EWU, and has a part-time job manning the boards at Spokane Public Radio. She also enjoys photography, sustainable living/being a hippy, cooking, community building, local music and radio, and bringing these passions together in cool and collaborative ways.

Diana Emmons is a first year MFA in Creative Nonfiction and an assistant marketing flunky for the Get Lit! Festival. With a background in marketing and an Irish heritage, Diana promises to only use her powers for good this time. A late bloomer and a Massachusetts native, her previous degrees in English and Psychology are from Salem State University in Salem, MA. While she has definitively stated that she is not a witch, she does still have a tendency to keep an eye out for falling houses.

Corinne Gould is a Get Lit! Festival Assistant. Dabbling in undergraduate studies in English Literature, Entrepreneurial Leadership (yeah), and Psychology at Gonzaga University has made Corinne well rounded and vastly better adapted than her left-brained companions. If she isn't wrapped in a fuzzy blanket reading, or speaking deeply with a new friend over tea, Corinne volunteers with Spokane Mental Health First Call for Help, serves as a Resident Assistant, and goofs off in the GU Theater department. As usual, she is overenthusiastic for the upcoming possibilities for newness and growth with the Get Lit! team.

Tim Pringle is a first year poetry student in the MFA program at Eastern Washington University. He received his BA from EWU in 2011 where he was swayed away from the scientific methodology of the Pyschology department to the chaotic happenings of the Creative Writing classrooms (conveniently after earning just enough credits for a psych minor, of course). He spends as much time as possible outdoors on bikes and snowboards and is excited to be a new part of the Get Lit! team.

Danielle Romero is a Marketing Assistant for Get Lit! Currently completing her Bachelors degree at EWU in Communications Studies with a minor in English Lit and successful completion of the Leadership Certificate. An avid bookworm Danielle spends most of her free time reading and writing to sate her bookish cravings. Her guilty pleasure is PNR and she actively blogs about her bookish conquests on her blog Coffee and Characters. When you manage to tear her away from her books, Danielle can then be found DIYing something in her home. Pinterest has brainwashed her into thinking anything can be a DIY job. 

Katrina Stubson is the Managing Editor for Willow Springs and Grant Writer for Get Lit! Programs. She received her BFA in Creative Writing from Minnesota State University, Mankato, and is currently a 2nd-year MFA candidate in the Creative Writing program at Eastern Washington University, specializing in nonfiction. When she isn't working on the magazine, reading, writing, or designing, she makes greeting cards and sells them on Etsy for a reasonable price. She's obsessed with arts and crafts and making things, probably to an unhealthy degree.

Kati Stunkard is the Get Lit! Web Editor. In 2012, she received her BA from Knox College (a delightfully strange place) after having an epiphany that caused her to change her major from genetics to creative writing. She is a first year MFA fiction student at Eastern Washington University, and enjoying her time in the writing world. To satisfy her left brain and other facets of her right brain, she continues to study genetics, music theory, and classical piano. When she does manage to pull herself away from academia, she can be found playing far too many video games or snuggling with her pet rabbit, Murphy. 

Andrew Vanden Bossche is currently completing his second year in nonfiction creative writing at Eastern Washington University. A graduate of Oberlin College majoring in Creative Writing and English, his vast powers give him sway over the forces of social media. In addition to his thesis, he spends a great deal of time writing about and creating video games, sometims even playing them when he has the time.