About Us:
WordSwell was founded by a group of Bay Area poets and writers brought together by Clive Matson, a Beat Generation direct expression lyric poet and creative writing teacher who is approaching his 82nd year and is looking to continue the work begun by WordSwell and leave behind a haven for the literary and arts community.
We believe that increasing one’s ability to write, think, and be aware makes an important step in dissolving differences between people. We believe these abilities interact and augment each other. When one ability increases, so does the potential of another. This principle of authentic communication applies from small groups to larger groups with major differences, such as class, race, gender, economic, educational, age, geographical and political differences.
We believe that increasing one’s ability to write, think, and be aware makes an important step in dissolving differences between people. We believe these abilities interact and augment each other. When one ability increases, so does the potential of another. This principle of authentic communication applies from small groups to larger groups with major differences, such as class, race, gender, economic, educational, age, geographical and political differences.
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Clive Matson (he/him)
Founder & Editor-in-Chief Clive Matson began his writing career among the Beat Generation in New York City in the 1960s, mentored by Allen Ginsberg, Herbert Huncke, John Wieners, and Diane di Prima. He received his MFA from Columbia University in 1989. Clive has published nine volumes of poetry, numerous articles in literary journals, and the writing textbook Let the Crazy Child Write! He participated in the European Beat Studies Network Conference in Paris, 2017, where he gave the premier performance of his newest work, Hello, Paradise. Paradise, Goodbye. He was the recipient of the Pen Oakland “Josephine Miles National Literary Award” in 2004 and the East Bay Express “Best Writing Teacher” award in 2006. In 2012 the City of Berkeley honored Clive with their “Lifetime Achievement Award in Poetry.” More at matsonpoet.com. |
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Dawn Bratton (she/her)
Vice President Dawn Bratton lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and writes poetry that orbits the image of eyes and theme of perception as the gateway to the universe of experience. Specifically, her poetics seek to expand the horizon of perception of the field of experience, and to reconcile the seeming contradictions within that area of illumination, in the hopes of giving and receiving an increasingly widened and integrated vision of subjective existence. Her work has recently appeared in The Oracle, Matter, The Opiate, Modern Literature, The Metaworker, Global Poemic, and Disquiet Arts, among other literary journals. She's currently studying Spanish literature, among other subjects, independently and outside an academic setting. Visit her at dawnbratton.com. |
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Brenda Yeager (she/her)
Secretary Brenda Yeager is a poet and writer living in Northern California. Her work appears in The Bloom and the Noyo Review. She is a finalist for the 2022 Jane Underwood Poetry Prize, judged by Sharan Strange. Currently, she is listening with curiosity and wonder as her first full-length poetry collection gathers itself to the page. Working title: Torch Song // Transcendental. |
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Eroldi Idlore (they/them)
Director & Website Curator Eroldi Idlore (they/them) is a Jewish writer from the Chicago suburbs. They've been writing as a freelance artist since 2012. Their artistic intent is to reflect pure and liminal earth-based spiritual growth through the use of interpretive story. You can find other writings of theirs in Levitate Magazine and the Lake County Bloom. |
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Taya Vasilyeva (she/her)
Director & Managing Editor Taya Vailyeva is a Russian-American poet, mother, author, and she is both writer and illustrator of Gratitude, a book for children. She volunteers her time teaching creative writing to middle and high school students, and she loves bringing meaningful messages to young people through her clear language and easy-to-read rhymes. For her peers, she writes mostly on issues of the stigma of mental health, political and cultural bias, emotional trauma, honesty, pain, and love. True rhyme always plays a key role in her poetry. She also hopes her poetry can be an agent for change, by engaging others so deeply they will tackle issues outside their comfort zones. |
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Tressa Berman (she/her)
Advisor As a longtime student and collaborator with Clive Matson, Tressa Berman, Ph.D., is proud to serve as an Advisor to Wordswell. She has published two non-fiction books, poetry chapbooks, art essays, and countless academic articles she hopes someone has read. Current works-in-progress include Postcards from Indian Country, USA and My Life as Faye, an “inspired-by” fictional memoir for the page and stage. She is the recipient of Rockefeller and Mellon Fellowships, and received the 2022 Judy Chicago Art Education Award. Her poems have appeared in The Walrus Literary Journal, South Ash Press, Sharksreef, anthologies with the Los Angeles Poets and Writers Collective and with the San Francisco 23rd Street Poets. She has received recognitions from the Ventura Poetry Project, the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, and the Jack Grapes Poetry Prize. Her writing has been supported by residencies at Vermont Studio Center, Fine Arts Work Center and Dorland Arts Colony. |
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Bhavana Gesota (she/her)
Associate Editor Bhavana is an artist, a writer, a thinker, and a meditator with a 20-year career in the hi-tech sector behind her. Writing or rather scribbling, has been a hobby for her since an early age. In 2019, she published her first book, The Art of Slow Travel: See the World and Savor the Journey on a Budget. Currently, she is writing a collection of short stories that weave together her global and diverse experiences and observations spanning different timelines. When not writing and taking care of the mundane, she picks up her paintbrush as a form of non-verbal self-expression, an inner landscape and movement that articulate what words can't. She lives and works between the USA and India. Find her at bhavanagesota.com. |
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Rachaell Gabrielle (she/her)
Associate Editor Rachaell Gabrielle grew up in Hawaii and the Pacific NW, wandering into the wilderness. The lull of the ocean and the majesty of mountains juxtapose humility and exaltation in her life. Her philosophy is to enact and model a deep love and awe for the world, to feel content with a smidgen of understanding while paradoxically not fixing it. She has studied Philosophy|Ethics, English as a Second Language, and English. Rachaell has worked in education at the University and State levels. And as a wilderness guide in Alaska, Oregon, and Northern California. |
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Robin Christine Honigsberg (she/her)
Social Media Editor Robin Christine Honigsberg is a writer who lives in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her writing explores living with mental illness, as well as opinion pieces, personal narratives, poetry, memoirs and short stories. She graduated from Concordia University with a B.A. in Psychology, from McGill University with a Graduate Certificate in Mental Health & Illness, and then from Cegep Marie-Victorin with an Accreditation in Speech-Language Pathology, as a Language Intervention Technician. Her writing has been published in the First Fruits Anthology and online at Medium, Vocal, and Substack. She is currently working on preparing her first collection of poems for publication, as well as writing her first novella. |
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Victor Owens (he/him)
Regular Contributing Videographer & Photographer Victor Owens lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a photographer, videographer, and sole owner of Eye Art Digital Media, a local professional photography and videography service that specializes in capturing the talents of artists engaged in their crafts, providing visual presentations of special events, portraiture, musical performances, dance, theater, spoken word, and nature programs. |
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Angelina Tolstykh (she/her)
Regular Contributing Videographer Angelina Tolstykh is a freelance videographer and photographer based in Novosibirsk, Russia. She is mostly known for her experimental projects of intimate and provocative fusion style. In the last few years Angelina has worked on a variety of projects, mostly for nonprofit and arts organizations. She also has created music videos, commercial projects, video portraits, social ads, and poetry videos. “I see the beauty in raw emotion and energy that a person exhumes. Every body is perfect.” |
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Archive of Previous Members:
Georgina Marie Guardado
President
Summer 2022 - Summer 2023
Jennifer Mills Kerr
Secretary, Treasurer
Fall 2022 - Spring 2023
Risa Peris
Treasurer
Summer 2022 - Fall 2022
President
Summer 2022 - Summer 2023
Jennifer Mills Kerr
Secretary, Treasurer
Fall 2022 - Spring 2023
Risa Peris
Treasurer
Summer 2022 - Fall 2022
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