The Fresno 15: Creative Writing Marathon 2020

The Fresno 15 project will feature award-winning Fresno writers in a creative writing challenge and fundraiser to benefit the Larry Levis Creative Writing Memorial Scholarship. Volunteer authors run a "literary marathon," writing 15 pieces in 15 days, while the rest of us "sponsor" and encourage them as they write.

Follow the authors

Visit the project website at FresnoWriters.com to read and enjoy the poetry and prose of our featured alumni authors. Follow their progress and cheer them on!

Sara Borjas

October 2-16

MFA Creative Writing, UC Riverside, 2014; BA English Literature, Fresno State, 2010

Sara Borjas is a Xicanx pocha, is from the americas before it was stolen and its people were colonized, and is a Fresno poet. Say their names. Elijah McClain. Her debut collection of poetry, Heart Like a Window, Mouth Like a Cliff, was published by Noemi Press in 2019 as part of the Akrilica series. Tony McDade. Sara was named one of the Poets & Writers 2019 Debut Poets, is a 2017 CantoMundo fellow, represents California as a CantoMundo Regional Chair, and is the recipient of a 2020 American Book Award and the 2014 Blue Mesa Poetry Prize. Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells. Her work can be found in Ploughshares, The Rumpus, Poem-a-Day by The Academy of American Poets, The Offing, and elsewhere. Sandra Bland. She is a lecturer in the Department of Creative Writing at UC Riverside, where she works with innovative undergraduate writers. Ahmaud Arbery. She believes that all Black lives matter and will resist white supremacy until Black liberation is realized. She lives in Los Angeles and stays rooted in Fresno. Justice for Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and the countless others. She digs oldiez, outer space, aromatics, and tiny prints, and she is about decentering whiteness in literature, creative writing, and daily life. Abolish the police. Find her @saraborhaz on Twitter. Say their names.

Author website

Juan Luis Guzmán

October 9-23

MFA Creative Writing, Fresno State, 2010; BA English Literature and MCJ/Broadcast Journalism, Fresno State, 2007

Juan Luis Guzmán is a poet, professor, and literary and theatre arts organizer who earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Fresno State. With fellowships from Macondo Writers Workshop and CantoMundo, his work has appeared or is forthcoming in Huizache, PANK, The Rumpus, the Georgia Review, and elsewhere. He is the Vice Chairman of the Selma Arts Council. He served as executive director of LitHop, Fresno’s literary festival, from 2017-2019, and was Co-Director of the CantoMundo poetry organization. Juan teaches English at Fresno City College

Author website

Sarah A. Chavez

October 16-30

Ph.D. Ethnic Studies and Creative Writing, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2014; MA, Creative Writing, Ball State University, 2007; BA English Literature, Fresno State, 2003

Sarah A. Chavez, a mestiza born and raised in the California Central Valley, is the author of the poetry collections, Hands That Break & Scar (Sundress Publications, 2017) and All Day, Talking (dancing girl press, 2014). Her most recent work can be found or is forthcoming in Xicanx: Mexican American Writers of the 21st Century, Diode, and Hotel Amerika. Her new poetry project, Halfbreed Helene Navigates the Whole, received a 2019-2020 Tacoma Artists Initiative Award. A PNW transplant from Fresno, Chavez teaches creative writing and Latinx/Chicanx-focused courses at the University of Washington, Tacoma. She serves as the poetry coordinator for the Best of the Net Anthology and is a proud member of the Macondo Writers Workshop.

Author website