Staff

Calley Anderson (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based playwright from Memphis, TN. She is a graduate of Davidson College (BA in English with a Concentration in Film and Media Studies), and The New School for Drama (MFA in Playwriting). Anderson spent three years working in the Memphis non-profit arts sector before moving to NYC in 2017. Past and current affiliations include the National Black Theatre I AM SOUL Residency, American Theatre Group PlayLab, MacDowell, Liberation Theatre Company Residency, Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers Group, The Civilians R&D Group, Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellows, and Salzburg Global Cultural Innovators Forum.

Nicole Di Luccio (she/her) was awarded her Bachelor’s in Creative Writing and Linguistics at SUNY New Paltz, a small school nestled within the Hudson Valley, with minors in communications. She enjoys cooking, reading, volunteering, and exploring disparate parts of the world while trying to make sense of it all. She can usually be found playing with her dog or eating some kind of dumpling.

Daisy Flores(she/her)  earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Cultural and Deviant Studies from John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY), minoring in English. Daisy enjoys writing, reading fiction, listening to music and drawing.

Judith Ohikuare (she/her) is the Director of Special Programming & Communications at NY Writers Coalition. She was previously a writer and editor at Refinery29, Cosmopolitan, and Inc. magazines; she also served as an editorial fellow at The Atlantic on the "Sexes" and Health channels. Judith has performed at Lincoln Center’s “Poets on the Plaza” summer reading series, is a 2023 Fellow with poet Shira Erlichman’s “portable creativity school” In Surreal Life (ISL), and her 2023 Best Microfiction story “Occur” can be found in the literary journal CHEAP POP. Her poetry can be found in Variant Literature and HAD.

Ungrateful Black Artist (UGBA - 'oog ba') (pronoun inclusive) is a queer poet, rapper, playwright, actor, and activist based out of Brooklyn, NY. His essays and poetry can be found in The Rumpus, The Root, Afropunk, Black Youth Project, The Grio, THEM and elsewhere. UGBA is the founder/host of CEREMONIES—a Brooklyn based monthly Black-Queer artist showcase held in honor of Essex Hemphill. UGBA is also the founder of "Dark-Skin Support Group" a virtual support network for dark-skin Black Americans in need of a space to discuss the realities of colorism. In the summer of 2018, UGBA debuted his one-man show NEPTUNE as the headliner for Dixon Place's annual “Hot Festival.” Following rave reviews and sold-out performances, NEPTUNE was then restaged as the 2019 kick-off event for Brooklyn Museum’s acclaimed “1st Saturday'' series. In 2020, UGBA was named a “Black LGBTQ+ playwright you need to know '' by Time Out NY. UGBA is the current script assistant for the Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway show Fat Ham. He is an alumnus of the Public Theater’s #BARS program. He is a current member of the Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group 2020-2023 cohort. He is a 2023 Artivism Fellow through Broadway Advocacy Coalition, a 2022 MAP Grant recipient, a 2020-2021 BAM Resident, and current Artistic Director at NY Writers Coalition.

Aaron Zimmerman (he/his) founded NYWC based on the success of the workshops he began in April 2000 at The Prince George, a supportive housing community for low-income, formerly homeless and special-needs populations. Aaron is a former co-chair of the Board of Directors of Amherst Writers and Artists, is an AWA affiiliate, and has been leading creative writing workshops using the AWA method since 1997.

Aaron was named a 2005 Petra Fellow by The Petra Foundation for his “distinctive contributions to the rights, dignity and autonomy of others,” and he served on the Petra Foundation Board of Directors from 2011-2015. He was named as one of the “Top 100 New Yorkers” of 2003 by New York Resident magazine for his work with NYWC. He also has taught creative writing at City College.

Aaron has an MA in Creative Writing from City College. His novel, By The Time You Finish This Book You Might Be Dead (Spuyten Duyvil, October 2003), was selected by Poets and Writers as a “New and Noteworthy” book. His fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous literary magazines, including The Brooklyn Rail, Georgetown Review, South Dakota Review, Jeopardy and Mid-America Poetry Review. In addition, Aaron has extensive business and legal experience in the entertainment field, most recently as Director of Law Administration for Showtime Networks Inc.