Back to school
Some of our favorite writers who teach
by Gregory Luce and Norah Vawter
With the school year now underway, we thought a feature on teacher-writers would be in order. Since we began publishing, Washington Unbound has featured a number of DMV writers who are also professional educators. In fact, our most-read story to date was our interview with poet-instructor-performer-literary entrepreneur, Regie Cabico, published on June 18.
Our very first poetry review, on April 14, written by Greg, looked at purl, the debut collection by Michele Evans, a veteran high school English teacher in Loudoun County, Virginia. The poems in purl use ancient myths to illuminate women’s struggles and triumphs throughout all of history, not excluding the present. As Greg wrote, Evans “present[s] these timeless stories with modern psychological insight in clear contemporary language, simple yet polished to a sheen like the pearl that the collection’s title echoes.” Buy purl.
Regie Cabico
Michele Evans
Also in April, guest contributor Naomi Thiers reviewed Dear Empire, by former Arlington Poet Laureate and Marymount University professor Holly Karapetkova. According to Naomi, “Karapetkova seems to me a poet who understands the power of spells, of arranging words so that they get to a more primal level of meaning beyond whatever ordinary situation her words describe.” Buy your copy of Dear Empire directly from the publisher, and support this independent press. Greg followed up with an interview with Karapetkova in May.
In August, we interviewed dedicated long-time Northern Virginia high school English teacher Beth Konkoski, who maintains a prolific writing career of both poetry and prose with devotion to the education of her students. Check out her most recent book, a collection of short stories, A Drawn and Papered Heart.
In our fiction coverage, guest contributor Tom Navratil reviewed Universally Adored and Other One Dollar Stories by Elizabeth Bruce in June. In addition to her work as fiction writer, Bruce is an actor and theater educator and the author of The Journey Project: Introducing Science to Early Learners through Guided Pretend Play. She and her husband host the wonderful Creativists in Dialogue podcast, which we were honored to be featured on.
Holly Karapetkova
Beth Konkoski
Elizabeth Bruce
Another fiction writer and teacher featured in our coverage is Rita Feinstein, whose debut novel Meet Me in the Fourth Dimension was a pick for our summer reading list. Feinstein is the D.C. Regional Manager of Writopia Lab, an organization that provides creative writing workshops and camps to kids and teens.
Norah was also lucky enough to have wonderful teachers while pursuing her M.F.A. at George Mason University. One of her favorite books remains Breaking Her Fall by Steve Goodwin, who she’s known since she was twenty-three and who was kind enough to let her into a class before she’d entered the program and to help her refine her craft in order to get in. Over two decades ago, Norah’s first book review was about this raw, gutsy novel.
Norah’s thesis advisor and true mentor in the program, Susan Richards Shreve, has a long body of work that has really inspired Norah’s craft and her approach to characters, sticky situations, and how to weave one’s personal perspective and experiences into fiction. Shreve’s novel You Are the Love of My Life and memoir Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood at FDR’s Polio Haven stand out in Norah’s mind.
We both have teaching experience, and we actually met while overseeing a summer youth writing program, where we taught writing while also providing real-world professional writing experience to teenagers. Greg gained teaching experience while in grad school. He has been volunteering with 826DC as a writing tutor and mentor in the D.C. school system for almost 10 years. He has also served as a teaching artist for Day Eight. Norah worked with students from elementary school through college, in after school programs, camps, and as an adjunct instructor at Northern Virginia Community College. She’s been a teaching artist for both creative writing and theater programs.
We love working with students but are in awe of those who do it full-time, and are honored to be able to feature in Washington Unbound so many amazing writers who are also dedicated teachers. As the 2025—2026 school year starts off, and teachers are under incredible pressure in this present political climate, we are holding our educator friends and colleagues in our hearts and wishing them safety, kindness, and inspiration. It’s going to be an interesting year, a crucial year for young people to learn, grow, be cared for, and have positive role models. Now, more than ever, we’re aware of the importance of good teachers.
Who are your favorite teaching writers in the D.C. area community? Who should we feature next? Let us know in the comments, and join this conversation!
Gregory Luce is the co-founder and poetry editor of Washington Unbound. He has published six chapbooks. He lives in Arlington and serves as Poetry Editor of The Mid-Atlantic Review and writes a monthly column for the online arts journal Scene4.
Norah Vawter is the co-founder and fiction/nonfiction editor of Washington Unbound. She’s a freelance writer, editor, and novelist, represented by Alisha West. Follow her on Instagram @norahvawter and check out her Substack, Survival by Words, here.
