Festival of Words

Martha Garner, Executive Director, is a happily retired early childhood teacher, who is now free to pursue her passion for nature through the Acadiana Master Naturalists and her enjoyment of art through the creation of collages.
Her main focus, of course, is leading Festival of Words into an ever brighter future."

Bruce Snow, Treasurer, grew up in Boston but has lived in Lafayette for most his life. Studied liberal arts in college and engineering in graduate school. Married with one grown daughter. Came to Louisiana as a petroleum geologist and then later became a database administrator, now (mostly) retired.

In retirement, stays busy maintaining websites (pro bono), teaching ESL, studying linguistics and flamenco guitar and enjoys international travel.

Serves on the board for several organizations: Shining Light Foundation, VITA, Unitarian Universalist of Lafayette and Food Net, mainly as a webmaster and/or treasurer.

Denise Rogers is a teacher of literature and composition and the Director of the Writing Center at UL Lafayette. Her poems and book reviews have appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Louisiana Literature, WordRiver, Glass, The Ekphrasis Review, and other journals. In 2002, she won a Louisiana Division of the Arts Artist's Fellowship. Her book of poems, The Scholar's Daughter, was published through Louisiana Literature Press. She is currently an Associate Editor for the Mockingheart Review.

Dr. H. Michelle Kreamer is an Assistant Professor of Educational Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a former high school English Language Arts teacher. Kreamer says that participating in the National Writing Project of Acadiana's (NWP-A) Summer Institute in 2013 was the best professional development experience she has ever had, and this has continued to shape her as a writer and educator. Today, she serves as Co-director for NWP-A and has opportunities to work with students, teachers, and community members through various writing events and initiatives. Though most of her writing is academic in nature at the moment, she is continually inspired by the written word and believes everyone is a writer!

Krishna Guilbeau-Thierry says: My name is Krishna Guilbeau-Thierry. I am a mother to my beautiful daughter and a supportive wife to my amazing husband of 4 years. I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology with a minor in African American Studies-AAS from Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge, LA, and a Master of Social Work Degree from Walden University. I am a Licensed Master Social Worker approved by LABSWE . Prior to my career change to Social Work, I held a Generalist 4-8th valid Texas Teaching Certification and a middle school 4-8th LA Out-of-State Certificate, where I was an educator in the classroom for 13 years teaching subjects such as English, Language, & Arts, Reading, History, Science, and Math. My primary subjects were ELA and Reading. I have approximately 3 years of social work and mental health experience, including internships and medical experience, and I have 13 combined years in Louisiana and Texas as being a solid elementary/middle school teacher; displaying commitment and dedication. My dedication to students and to learning extended beyond the regular classroom. I am the founder of the WE are Write program, a literacy program which aims to supply students in title one schools artistic supplies such as journals and art pads. This program focuses on creating a positive outlet to our children within our community, by giving them the skills needed to become better learners, writers, artists, etc.

My passion to promote the beauty of artistic literature and expression stems from my very own love for poetry and literature. I am a published poet, inspirational speaker, and published author. My love for words and poetic expression were established at the very tender age of 10, the day the dear grandmother Hazel Richard placed a pen and dollar store purchased journal in my hand and said, 'you have a lot to share with the world.' I continue to feed my hunger for artistic expression through my podcast show, 'Coffee and Christ with Krishna Janee', poetry reciting for the elderly, and arts of publication.

I would love to one day bridge my passion for writing and poetry with my skills and love for mental health advocacy in a clinical setting using narrative therapy as my main ingredient to promote healthy personal growth and change.

Dr. James McDonald retired in 2022 after 35 years as Professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Before UL, he spent a decade teaching composition as a graduate assistant at the University of Texas at Austin (where he earned a PhD in English with a concentration in rhetoric way back in 1987) and Saint Louis University and as an adjunct instructor at Winthrop University and Northern Illinois University. At UL, he served as Head of the English Department, Director of First-Year Composition, Writing Center Director, and president of the Faculty Senate. He is the author of "The Reader," a composition textbook, and editor of "The Allyn & Bacon Sourcebook for College Writing Teachers" and (with co-editor Marcia Gaudet) "Mardi Gras, Gumbo, and Zydeco: Readings in South Louisiana Culture," and he has authored a number of articles on the teaching of writing and the history of rhetoric and composition. He continues to write in retirement, for pleasure and to non-academic audiences, often about baseball history.