Staff
James Allen Hall
Director, Rose O’Neill Literary House
Associate Professor of English & Creative Writing
Pronouns: He/They
James Allen Hall is the author of two collections of poetry: Now You’re the Enemy (University of Arkansas, 2008) and Romantic Comedy (Four Way Books, 2023). They are also the author of I Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well, a book of personal essays.
Dr. Hall’s books have received awards from the Lambda Literary Foundation, the Texas
Institute of Letters, and the Fellowship of Southern Writers. They have been awarded
fellowships in poetry from both the National Endowment of the Arts and the New York
Foundation for the Arts. Recent poems and nonfiction have appeared in New England Review, Ploughshares, Georgia Review, American Poetry Review, Copper Nickel,
Redivider, Arts and Letters, The Journal, and Best American Poetry 2012. They are an Associate Professor of English at Washington College and Director of
the Rose O’Neill Literary House. A list of readings and events can be found at www.jamesallenhall.com.
Roy Kesey
Associate Director, Rose O'Neill Literary House
Lecturer in English and Creative Writing
Pronouns: He/Him
Roy Kesey’s latest books are the short story collection Any Deadly Thing (Dzanc Books), the novel Pacazo (Dzanc Books/Jonathan Cape), and his translations of Pola Oloixarac’s novels Savage Theories and Dark Constellations (Soho Press). He is the winner of an NEA grant for fiction and a PEN/Heim grant for translation. His short stories, essays, translations and poems have appeared in over a hundred magazines and anthologies, including Best American Short Stories and New Sudden Fiction.
Roy currently serves as Associate Director of the Rose O'Neill Literary House, Associate Editor of Cherry Tree, Director of the Cherry Tree Young Writers' Conference, and Lecturer in English and Creative Writing.
Meredith Davies Hadaway
Sophie Kerr Poet-in-Residence
Pronouns: She/Her
Office: 3rd Floor, Lit House
Meredith Davies Hadaway has published three collections of poetry, including At the Narrows, winner of the Delmarva Book Prize, as well as essays and reviews for anthologies and journals.
Her writing focuses on the seamless connection between inner and outer landscapes, the principles of ecopoetics, and the healing space at the intersection of the arts and medicine. In addition to teaching creative writing and literature, she teaches private ecopoetry workshops and plays celtic harp on stage as well as in therapeutic settings. She is the former poetry editor of The Summerset Review.
Hadaway is a longtime champion of both poetry and Washington College, having spent many years on campus serving as VP Communications & Marketing as well as teaching Ecopoetry Workshops and literature courses focused on critical approaches to Poetry. Her current projects include a collaborative volume with painter Marcy Dunn Ramsey, tentatively titled, One River: Two Artists and coordination of “The Banjoman Project,” along with singer Sue Matthews ’75, bringing local musicians into Kent County schools.
Education
B.A. Literature, American University, 1976
MA. Psychology, Washington College, 1996
M.F.A. Poetry, Vermont College of Fine Arts, 2003
Selected Publications
Books:
At the Narrows, Wordtech Communications, 2015
The River is a Reason, Wordtech Communications, 2010
Fishing Secrets of the Dead, a Word Poetry first book selection, 2005
Selected Journals
Individual poems in Southern Poetry Review, WomenArts Quarterly, Calyx, Salamander, Green Writers Press, Nimrod International Journal, Women’s Voices for Change, Alaska Quarterly Review, Gulf Stream, and Poet Lore.
Essays & Reviews
“Overtones,” essay on therapeutic music in Bodies of Truth, University of Nebraska Press, 2019
Reviews for Poetry International, 2005-2012
Teaching:
Spring 2023: ENG 222 Introduction to Poetry
Previous: Ecopoetry Workshop; Composition & Literature sections: Writing on Water; On Troubled Waters
Honors:
Rachel Carson Landmark Alliance, Green Mantle Award, 2018
Delmarva Book Prize for Creative Writing, 2015
William G. Sackett Fellowship, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, 2012
Individual Artist Award, Maryland Arts Council, 2011
Robinson Jeffers Tor House Poetry Prize (honorable mention), 2010
Amber Taliancich
Assistant Director, Rose O'Neill Literary House
Pronouns: She/Her
Amber Taliancich is from the Mississippi Gulf Coast and earned her MFA from the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts in Cleveland, Ohio. She's the winner of the Leonard Trawick Prize for fiction, as well as a two-time recipient of the Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence. Her essays and short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Creative Nonfiction, Ninth Letter, The Pinch, Entropy, Hobart, Pithead Chapel, and elsewhere. Currently, Amber teaches creative writing at Washington College, is the Coordinator for the Cherry Tree Young Writers' Conference, and the Assistant Director of the Rose O'Neill Literary House. She lives in Chestertown, Maryland.
T. Michael Kaylor
Master Printer
Michael Kaylor teaches Letterpress Printing and Book Arts at Washington College. He opened the Literary House Press in 1986 and is now in his 33rd year at Washington College.