It’s that time again! Please elect this new slate of officers down below to continue to guide our chapter through the next two years (2022-2024).
We welcome the opportunity for ongoing and new WNBA-SF leadership! (Please note that in accordance with WNBA-SF Bylaws, there are two Vice President positions). The WNBA-SF Bylaws also provide brief descriptions of the officer positions and are attached here for your review:
https://wnba-books.org/members-only/
VOTING DEADLINE – APRIL 20, 2022
If you wish, you may also nominate an active, qualified WNBA-SF Chapter member as an alternative to this slate with their prior, written consent not later than April 11, 2022.
Many thanks,
Elise Marie Collins, President WNBA-SF Chapter
2022-2024 WNBA-SF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ELECTION SLATE
PRESIDENT
ELISE MARIE COLLINS
Current WNBA-SF Chapter President, Elise Marie Collins has played major roles in the overall direction and strategy development of the chapter, leading teams to accomplish successful Pitch-O-Ramas, membership drives and mixers, and educational literary presentations. A yoga instructor, health coach, and author with a master’s degree in gerontology from USC, Elise became more in touch with how food and lifestyle affects us spiritually. This knowledge led her to author “An A-Z Guide to Healing Foods, A Shoppers Companion,” and “Chakra Tonics. Essential Elixirs for Mind, Body and Spirit,” published by Conari Press. As a gerontologist, she writes about how to be well and live a long life. Her latest book is “Super Ager: You Can Look Younger, Have More Energy, A Better Memory, and Live a Long and Healthy Life.”
CO-VICE PRESIDENT
JOAN GELFAND
Author of three poetry collections and a chapbook of short fiction, Joan Gelfand’s reviews, stories, essays, and poetry have appeared in national and international literary journals and magazines. Winner of twenty writing awards, Joan teaches for The Writing Salon. “You Can Be a Winning Writer,” a book for writers is an Amazon #1 best seller. “Extreme,” Joan’s debut novel (Blue Light Press) is set in a Silicon Valley gaming startup and received praise from Katie Hafner of the NYT and Ransom Stephens. A member of the National Book Critics Circle and a Juror for the Northern California Book Awards, Joan lives in San Francisco with her husband Adam Hertz and two beatnik kitties – Jack Kerouac and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. www.joangelfand.com
CO-VICE PRESIDENT
ANNIQUA RANA
Anniqua Rana is a writer and educator committed to eliminating inequities around her. She has done this in collaboration with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office providing professional development and training to colleges in the Bay Area. She co-founded Aalimocracy.com a volunteer organization providing professional development to educational institutions in Pakistan. She has taught English, ESL, EFL, International Education, and Creative Writing at San Mateo Community Colleges, DeAnza College, University of San Francisco, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan, and Stanford University. Her debut novel, Wild Boar in the Cane Field was shortlisted for Pakistan’s UBL Literary Award 2020. To create a platform for writers she co-founded the blog Tillism.
TREASURER
BRENDA KNIGHT
Brenda Knight began her career at HarperCollins, working with luminaries Paolo Coelho, Marianne Williamson, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Knight was awarded IndieFab’s Publisher of the Year in 2014 at the ALA, American Library Association. She is the author of Wild Women and Books, Random Acts of Kindness, The Grateful Table, Be a Good in the World, and Women of the Beat Generation, which won an American Book Award. Brenda is Associate Publisher and Director of Editorial Acquisition at Mango Publishing and has served the immediate past President of the Women’s National Book Association, San Francisco Chapter, as well an instructor at the annual San Francisco Writers Conference.
SECRETARY
KATHLEEN ARCHAMBEAU
Native San Franciscan, Kathleen Archambeau, is an award-winning writer and LGBTQ activist. She is author of four nonfiction works, Climbing the Corporate Ladder in High Heels (2006), “Seized,” an essay in The Other Woman (2007), edited by Victoria Zackheim, Pride & Joy (2017), and We Make It Better (2019), with gay dad, Eric Rosswood. Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black wrote the Foreword to Pride & Joy and endorsed We Make It Better. Archambeau’s work has been favorably reviewed in global and national literary publications and she has been a featured speaker at national and global Pride literary events. Her book was included as part of the Oakland Museum of California store’s Queer California Exhibit, and she is a founding member of the James Hormel LGBT wing of the SF Public Library. Currently, she is on a final draft of her novel, Liberty Street, about a gay presidential candidate and his Quixotic campaign for equal protection.
Vote here:
Voting stops as of midnight, April 20th, 2022
It’s a MIXER, so bring a bookish pal or two to join the virtual fun. We appreciate our members and would love for you to join us so we can hear about how this most challenging of years went for you and your hopes for the new year to come.
About the Book: One of the biggest reasons goals fail is that people often don’t put enough thought into what they really want before diving in. Your Goal Guide by Debra 
As a consultant and professor of strategic management, 
Kate Farrell is our host and facilitator. Kate is a storyteller, author, librarian, founded the Word Weaving Storytelling Project and published numerous educational materials on storytelling. She has contributed to and edited award-winning anthologies of personal narrative. Farrell’s new book, a timely how-to guide on the art of storytelling for adults, Story Power: Secrets to Creating, Crafting, and Telling Memorable Stories, was released in June 2020. Farrell has presented workshops for adults on the art of storytelling at the San Francisco Public Library, Mechanics Institute, and the San Francisco Writers Conference. She is now offering virtual workshops for libraries and writing groups, as well as performing virtually as a storyteller. 
Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte is a Pushcart Prize nominated author who has been described as a “Talented multidisciplinary writer whose works artfully succeed in getting across deeper meanings about life and the politics of race and economics without breaking out of the narrative.” Based in Oakland, California, the diverse bay-side city often serves as the backdrop for her always touching and frequently hilarious works. Reviewers praised her first book, A Dollar Five-Stories from A Baby Boomer’s Ongoing Journey calling it “rich in vivid imagery”, and “incredible.” Her second book, All That and More’s Wedding, is a collection of fictional mystery/crime short stories. Running for the 2:10, a follow-on to A Dollar Five delved deeper into her coming of age in Oakland and the embedded issues of race and skin color. She is a contributor to award-winning author Kate Farrell’s book Story Power. Betrayal on the Bayou, published June 2020, is her first novel. Website: 
Humaira Ghilzai is a writer, speaker and Afghanistan Cultural Consultant. Humaira opens the world to Afghan culture and cuisine through her wildly popular blog, 
Mary Mackey is an award-winning novelist and poet with fourteen novels including The Village of Bones, which won a 2018 CIIS Women’s Spirituality Book Award from the Department of Diversity and Inclusion; The Year The Horses Came; and A Grand Passion, that was translated into 12 foreign languages and made the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle’s best seller lists. Mackey is the author of eight collections of poetry including Sugar Zone, which won the 2012 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams, which won the 2019 Eric Hoffer Award for the Best Book Published by a Small Press. Mary became a writer by running high fevers, tramping through tropical jungles, dodging machine gun fire, being swarmed by army ants, making catastrophic decisions about men, and reading. Website: 
Aya de León teaches creative writing at UC Berkeley. Kensington Books publishes her award-winning Justice Hustlers feminist heist series, including SIDE CHICK NATION the first novel published about Hurricane Maria. In December, Kensington will publish her first spy novel, A SPY IN THE STRUGGLE about FBI infiltration of an African American eco-racial justice organization. Aya blogs for Daily Dose: Feminist Voices for the Green New Deal and working on a Black/Latina spy girl series, GOING DARK. Visit her at 
Fourth-generation native San Franciscan Kathleen Archambeau is an award-winning writer and LGBTQ activist. She is author of four nonfiction works, Climbing the Corporate Ladder in High Heels (2006), “Seized,” an essay in The Other Woman (2007), edited by Victoria Zackheim, Pride & Joy (2017), and We Make It Better (2019), with gay dad, Eric Rosswood. Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black wrote the Foreword to Pride & Joy and endorsed We Make It Better. Archambeau’s work has been favorably reviewed in global and national literary publications and she has been a featured speaker at national and global Pride literary events. Her book was included as part of the Oakland Museum of California store’s Queer California Exhibit and she is a founding member of the James Hormel LGBT wing of the SF Public Library. 
Claire Scott is an award winning poet who has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work has been accepted by the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, New Ohio Review, Enizagam and Healing Muse among others. Claire is the author of 
Diane Frank is an award-winning poet and author of seven books of poems 
Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte is an Oakland writer of prose and poetry, having written three books and a contributor to several anthologies. Her latest book, 
Kate Farrell founded the Word Weaving Storytelling Project, in collaboration with the California State Department of Education funded by grants from Zellerbach Family Fund, San Francisco, to train educators at all levels, and published numerous educational materials. Farrell edited the anthology, 
Dr. Jeanne Powell received degrees from WSU in Detroit and USF in San Francisco. She writes and performs poetry, flash fiction, nonfiction and short plays. Much of her work has been published. Since 1996, her small press has published 20 poets. She teaches English, writing and social studies to youth and adults. Her cultural and film reviews appear at wattpad.com [worddoctor], starkinsider.com, and sidewalkstv.com. Regent Press published CAROUSEL.
Beatrice Bowles in her own words:
Jennifer Griffith is currently finishing her first book, a mother-daughter memoir, and is launching her podcast in May 2019.
Emmerich Anklam is assistant to the publisher and an editor at Heyday, a Berkeley-based house that has been publishing award-winning books about California for forty-five years. He joined Heyday in 2015. For Heyday he is looking to acquire nonfiction for a general, national audience in the following subjects: history, social justice, nature, and California Indian studies (with a strong preference for Native authors). Recent Heyday titles include The California Field Atlas by Obi Kaufmann, Biddy Mason Speaks Up by Arisa White and Laura Atkins, Bird Songs Don’t Lie by Gordon Lee Johnson, and Foucault in California by Simeon Wade.
Jim Azevedo is the marketing director at 
Peter Beren, Literary Agent and Publishing Consultant, is a member of AAR. Formerly publisher at Insight Editions, Sierra Club Books and VIA Books, he has also been an acquisitions editor for Jeremy Tarcher. He specializes in nonfiction in the categories of self-help, pop culture, body, mind, spirit, how-to, illustrated books (art or photography) and narrative nonfiction. His best-known clients include: photographers Art Wolfe (Earth is my Witness) and Frans Lanting (Into Africa), graphic novelist Jack Katz (The First Kingdom), Chakra expert Anodea Judith (Eastern Body, Western Mind), and Taoist Laurence Boldt (Zen and the Art of Making a Living). He is also the author of seven books, including The Writers Legal Companion, California the Beautiful and The Golden Gate. He has nearly 50 years experience in the publishing industry as a Publisher, Marketing Director, Author and Agent. www.Peterberen.com
Michael Carr is a literary agent with a background in editing and writing, working from a home base in San Francisco. He represents writers in a variety of genres, with a special emphasis on historical fiction, women’s fiction, mystery and suspense, and science fiction and fantasy. Michael works carefully with clients to produce the cleanest, most professional manuscripts and enjoys teaching at workshops and conferences to help develop emerging writers. He speaks Spanish and conversational French and before joining Veritas had professions as diverse as programming simulators for nuclear submarines and owning an inn in Vermont.
Associate Agent Karly Caserza was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Northern California as a child. She obtained her Business Marketing degree and has been a Freelance Graphic Designer for over 10 years. In addition to designing a wide range of print and web promotional material for clients, Karly creates book covers for Short Fuse and promotional graphics for Fuse authors. Professionally, Karly began her career in the publishing industry as a reader for Tricia Skinner at Fuse Literary. Her responsibilities quickly grew and she was promoted to Literary Assistant, a role that also included a spot on the production team of Short Fuse. Karly is also the Marketing Coordinator of the San Francisco Writers Conference. In her spare time, Karly is an Adobe Technical Trainer, freelance graphic designer, Young Adult author, video game geek, and art noob. Karly has a deep love for characters with a strong voice and seeks out stories she can get lost in. Diversity in genre fiction is a major bonus. She specializes in middle grade and young adult genre fiction (fantasy, science fiction, and contemporary).
Cristina Deptula is a former science and technology reporter and also the publisher of Synchronized Chaos Magazine, which showcases art and writing from around the world. Literary publicity is a way for her to serve others while satisfying her implacable curiosity! Authors, Large and Small helps authors to find their audience where the people already gather and reach them how they already communicate. We develop individualized outreach plans for each author’s project and continue working until we land mutually agreed-on results. As a large, national team we welcome all genres of writing and work with both traditionally published and self-published authors over traditional and social media. 
Suzy Evans is a literary agent, attorney, and author who holds a Ph.D. in history from UC Berkeley. In the adult market, she’s looking for narrative nonfiction, history, science, big idea books on controversial social issues, riveting, elegantly-written memoir (recent favorites include Barbarian Days and When Breath Becomes Air), self-help, parenting (bonus points for humor!) and small quirky books that make her smile and think about the world in new and surprising ways. On the children’s front, she’s seeking MG nonfiction, YA fiction that tackles difficult issues in bold, daring ways, and graphic novels that bring history, literature, and fascinating historical figures (think Socrates! Machiavelli! Hamilton!) to life. She’d also love to find a thriller that has “MOVIE!” written all over it. As an author herself, her books include Machiavelli for Moms (Simon & Schuster) and Forgotten Crimes: the Holocaust and People with Disabilities. She’s also a ghostwriter for a #1 New York Times bestselling author with 25 million copies in print and her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Parade, Forbes and The London Times. 
Michael Larsen co-founded Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in 1972. Over four decades, the agency sold hundreds of books to more than 100 publishers and imprints. The agency has stopped accepting new writers, but Mike loves helping all writers. He gives talks about writing and publishing, and does author coaching. He wrote How to Write a Book Proposal and How to Get a Literary Agent, and coauthored Guerrilla Marketing for Writers. Mike is co-director of the San Francisco Writers Conference and the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference. An update is at 
Dorian Maffei began https://larsenauthorcoaching.com/at 
Andy Ross opened his literary agency in January 2008. Prior to that, he was the owner for 30 years of the legendary Cody’s Books in Berkeley. The agency represents books in a wide range of subjects including: narrative non-fiction, science, journalism, history, religion, children’s books, young adult, middle grade, literary and commercial fiction, and cooking. However, he is eager to represent projects in most genres as long as the subject or its treatment is smart, original, and will appeal to a wide readership. In non-fiction he looks for writing with a strong voice and robust narrative arc by authors with the authority to write about their subject. For literary, commercial, and children’s fiction, he has only one requirement– simple, but ineffable–that the writing reveal the terrain of that vast and unexplored country, the human heart. (AAR). 
Jennifer March Soloway is an Associate Agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, an agency that specializes in children’s literature. She enjoys all genres and categories of children’s literature, such as laugh-out-loud picture books and middle-grade adventures, but her sweet spot is young adult. Although she mostly represents children’s literature, she is also open to adult fiction. Jennifer adores action-packed thrillers and mysteries or conspiracy plots. But her favorite novels are literary stories about ordinary people, especially those focused on family, relationships, sexuality, mental illness, or addiction. Prior to joining ABLA, Jennifer worked in marketing and public relations. With an MFA in English and Creative Writing from Mills College, she was a fellow at the San Francisco Writer’s Grotto in 2012. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, their two sons, and an English bulldog.