North Ackley
North Ackley is an actor, singer, dancer, artist, and aspiring writer who enjoys writing fiction pieces. He is entering his junior year at Kinsella Magnet School of the Performing Arts in Hartford, where he is a member of the National Honors Society, apprentice of the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative at The Mark Twain House, and part of the graphic design team for the Journey 75 literary magazine. Other than his writing, his art has been showcased at the Hartford Legislative Office building and the East Hartford Public Library, and he has starred in the Hartt School Community Dance Division’s rendition of the Nutcracker Suite as Fritz. When North isn’t doing any of this fancy stuff (in other words, most of the time), he can be found composing, procrastinating, and fostering demons kittens at his home.
Jonah Chudzik
Jonah Chudzik is an apprentice at the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative at The Mark Twain House & Museum. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Journey 75. Jonah will be a senior at RHAM High School where he enjoys creative writing. He had poetry published in Eloquence, an anthology published by the American Library of Poetry.
Felix Everett
Felix Everett is a part of Journey 75’s layout team and a writer’s apprentice at the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative program, hosted by the Mark Twain House and Museum. Felix is an avid reader of Sci-fi, more specifically dystopian novels, and loves to write poetry and short stories. Felix also enjoys playing video games in his spare time, with a couple of his favorites being Hollow Knight and Terraria.
Gabrielle Fulton
Gabrielle Fulton is an apprentice at Nook Farm Writing Collaborative at The Mark Twain House & Museum. She is on the editorial team for the Journey 75 literary magazine. She enjoys writing both fiction and poetry, as well as reading works from the same genres. Some of her other interests include art, baking, and dance.
Kaylen Nearine
Kaylen Nearine is an aspiring poet and an 11th grader at Rockville High School. She is an apprentice at the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative at The Mark Twain House & Museum and is part of the layout team for Journey 75. She is an avid reader of all genres, and finds inspiration in nature and her own personal life for her works of poetry. She has been published in the 2022 issue of Poetry Ourselves and won an honorable mention in Connecticut Student Writer.
Tessa Nelson
Tessa Nelson is a 10th grade student at University High School of Science and Engineering in Hartford, CT. She enjoys writing poetry, fiction, personal narratives, and prompts. In her free time, she enjoys reading urban fiction and fiction, meditating with music, and sleeping. While she really enjoys the creative field of work, she’d like to be in the research field when she’s older. She is on the editorial team for Journey 75.
Tovah Oslovich
Tovah Oslovich is Agender and uses he/they pronouns. They are a rising senior at Rockville High School and Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts Half-Day Program. Tovah is on the Graphics team of Journey 75, and an apprentice at the Nook Farm Writing Collaborative with the Creative Youth Workforce. Although Tovah dabbles in all forms of writing their favorites are fiction and poetry. They write about the darker parts of humanity, delving into the forbidden and the forgotten as a source of inspiration. When they’re not writing, Tovah’s favorite activities are ballet and playing their electric guitar.
Sydney Parker
Sydney Parker is a Canadian-American writer with a focus on poetry. She is entering her sophomore year at the Kingswood-Oxford School in West Hartford, Connecticut, for which she has been awarded the Martin Nicholson Merit Scholarship to assist in her tuition. As a participant in the Nook Farm Writing Collaborative, Sydney focuses on themes of nature, introspection, and contemplation. Also with the collaborative, Sydney works on the graphic design team for the Journey 75 literary magazine.
Laura Rochedieu
Laura Rochedieu is an apprentice at the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative program, and is on the editorial team for Journey 75’s website. She enjoys writing both poetry and short stories. Though, when given the choice, the different sides of relationships is a popular theme found in Laura’s works. When she isn’t writing, Laura participates in color guard, and is in love with running when it isn’t incredibly hot outside.
Lauren Tedford
Lauren Tedford is an apprentice at the Nook Farm Writing Collaborative who is on the layout team for Journey 75. She has been involved in Rockville High School’s creative writing program for three years, as well as an advisor for the RHS writing center. Lauren has had three poems recognized in the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition and is platinum published in the Connecticut Student Writer Magazine. She recently was a part of an ekphrastic exhibit and reading at Arts Center East in Vernon, CT.
Rebecca Tsarkov
Rebecca Tsarkov is an Argentine-Russian-American high school student who lives in Hartford and West Hartford, Connecticut. She is a member of the marketing team of Journey 75, as well as an apprentice at Nook Farm Writers Collaborative. Moreover, Rebecca is the news section editor of Hall High School’s newspaper, The Hall Record. She loves writing journalism, fantasy, short stories, and poetry.
Gunnar Whalen
Gunnar Whalen is a member of Journey 75’s layout team and an apprentice at the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative Program. As a lover of fantasy, much of their writing is inspired by all sorts of fantasy readings and games. When they aren’t indulging themselves in a fantasy world, they love to listen to and create music. While they aren’t doing that they love to hang out with their two cats.
Kimberly Yankson
Kimberly Yankson is an apprentice at the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative program and part of the Journey 75 marketing team. She has been published in the Poetry Ourselves and Write On, Black Girl anthologies. In addition, Kim received a platinum published award in the Connecticut Student Writer Magazine for her poem. In her free time, she loves shopping, singing, and dancing, and traveling.
Victoria Nordlund
Victoria Nordlund is the director of creative writing at Rockville High School in Vernon, CT, an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut, and lead master teaching artist of the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative at The Mark Twain House & Museum. Her creative writing programs have won major state and national awards in every genre. Nordlund was a 2016 semi-finalist for CT Teacher of the year. She also won the 2016 New England Association of Teachers of English Poet-of-the-Year Award. Her poetry collections Wine-Dark Sea and Binge Watching Winter on Mute are published by Main Street Rag. She is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize Nominee whose work has appeared in PANK Magazine, Rust+Moth, Chestnut Review, Pidgeonholes, Maudlin House, and other journals.
Jamie Pisacane
Jamie Pisacane is an English Language Arts middle school teacher in Naugatuck, CT at City Hill Middle School. She is an assistant teacher at the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative at The Mark Twain House & Museum. Jamie’s writing focuses on high fantasy and world building. When she isn’t writing, Jamie enjoys spending time with her cat, Atlas, and playing Dungeon and Dragons.
Sara Cove
Sara Cove is a sophomore at Champlain College, where she studies secondary education, specializing in English. She is an intern at the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative program. Other than writing poetry that focuses on the dark side of human nature, Sara loves to spend her time reading, listening to music, and watching her favorite TV shows. She has participated in the Vermont Young Writers Conference in 2020 and has received a Silver Key award and Honorable Mention in the 2020 Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards. She was a finalist in the 2021 Eugene O’Neill Playwriting Competition as well as the 2021 Sunken Garden Poetry Competition.
Kohana Mehl-McKee
Kohana Mehl-McKee is a rising senior at The Gilbert School in Winsted, Connecticut. She was a copy editor for a teen-run magazine based in Avon, CT throughout 2021 and 2022, served as a writer’s apprentice for The Mark Twain House & Museum in the summer of 2021, and studied creative writing at Brown University and interned for the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative Program during the summer of 2022. She won a regional “Silver Key” award in the Scholastic Writing Competition for her novel and was also published in The Phoenix magazine for her short horror story, “Tears of Blood” and Teen Ink for one of her poems. Coming in early 2023, a couple of her poems will be featured in Taylor Mali’s new poetry anthology. Preferring to spend as much time as possible surrounded by books, Kohana volunteers at three different libraries and aspires to work as a literary agent in the future.
Elliot Orion
Elliot Orion is an intern with the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative. They are a queer author who enjoys writing LGBT and horror novels for a young or new adult audience. They are currently a senior at the University of Maine at Farmington, and have recently published their debut novel, “Sparks Fly.” When they are not writing, they enjoy playing with their cat, Van Gogh, baking, sculpting, and crocheting. They intend to pursue a master’s in library and information sciences in the following years.