Poetry Students

Steve Bankert grew up in Pennsylvania and attended the University of Delaware.  He graduated with degrees in Economics and Creative Writing, and spent two years working in finance before yielding to his true calling.  When he's not spending his time with his amazing family, Steve enjoys writing poetry, golfing, and competing in international gaming tournaments.

Taylor Bratches has been writing poetry for the majority of her life. In 2015 she was a finalist for the Montreal International Poetry Prize. She writes nonfiction as well, in addition to pursuing her hobbies of DJing and dancing.

Hannah Dow is from New Hampshire. She holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Loyola Marymount University, and the University of Southern Mississippi's Center for Writers. She liked unicorns before Target realized they were cool.

Cassandra Dowd has a B.A. in English Literature from Smith College, and has lived most her life in and around the Bay Area. She is 33 years old, significantly the same number of stab wounds inflicted upon Shakespeare's Caesar. The overwhelming ambiguity of existence makes it difficult to encapsulate exactly who she is, but she feels fairly certain about poetry, pizza and dogs.

Brooke Harries is from Sacramento. She was awarded the Academy of American Poets Harold Taylor Prize at San Francisco State University in 2016.

Daniel Levin grew up in New Jersey above a basement carpeted in leopard print. Before Irvine, he was responsible for Robert Frost’s house in New Hampshire and nearly burned it down on a regular basis. Before that, he was winning low-stakes baking contests against public school teachers in Brooklyn. He feels least unhinged when he writes poems or bakes pie.

Tim is from California and received his BA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Someday he will be a hobbit.

Alex Stanley hails from Phoenix, Arizona. As an undergraduate, he attended Boston College, where he earned a degree in English with a minor in philosophy. He does not know why he pursued a degree in a language he is already fluent in. After college, Alex worked as a sports journalist in a small, New Mexican town. His one claim to fame is that he was published by Sports Illustrated's technology section. Alex's favorite poets are W.S. Merwin and Young Thug.

Lauren grew up between NM and CA and is most recently from Davis, where she finished up her M.A. in English. She hopes to never encounter a Sith Lord, but if she did she would probably just smile awkwardly and fidget a lot.

Inez Tan grew up in Singapore and the US. She holds a B.A. in English from Williams College and an M.F.A in Fiction from the University of Michigan. She is pretty good at fitting things into suitcases and refrigerators.

Justine is from Fremont, CA, studied architecture at Yale, and has spent much of the past three years traveling within China.