We are pleased to welcome Sharon Fagan McDermott, M. C. Benner Dixon, Karen DeBonois, and Constance Matsumoto to Riverstone Books. These four authors of poetry, creative nonfiction, and historical fiction will delve into the elements of writing craft and explore the ways that specific elements, such as surprise, memory, and imagery influence their creativity, shape their writing process, and feature in their books.

Sharon Fagan McDermott

My NYC grandfather, Maurice R. Roche had a booming voice full of fervor and heart, especially when reciting William Butler Yeats’ poems during family parties. “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” a particular favorite, made me giddy, as the wild, unfamiliar words —“clay and wattles,” “linnet’s wings,” and “bee-loud glade"—washed over me. My grandfather’s poetry recitations shaped me into a girl attuned to and mad about language, while the voices of my mother and father singing in our NJ home, forged a love of lyric writing in me. I learned early how essential it is to find your own authentic voice amidst the noise of the world.

As the fourth oldest in a family of twelve children, it was hard to be heard. From my early years, I honed my voice and creative expression in the lined pages of composition notebooks. During my college years, I was an English major. As a young adult (and single Mom), I received my MFA in Poetry from the University of Pittsburgh and have since won awards teaching at universities and high schools. Writing is my life’s work and my joy.

I’ve published three chapbooks of poetry—Voluptuous, Alley Scatting, and Bitter Acoustic and most recently, a book of poetry called Life Without Furniture (2018). My first collection of essays written with co-author M.C. Benner-Dixon, Millions of Suns: On Writing and Life, is forthcoming November 1, 2023 from the University of Michigan Press.

M.C. Benner Dixon

I am both a scholar and an artist, a grammarian and a poet. I love the deep dive of serious research and literary criticism just as much as I love worldbuilding for a speculative futuristic story. I do not feel compelled to choose one or the other.

I grew up in Pennsburg, PA, in a house on the top of a blustery hill. The fourth of five children, I spent my days climbing trees and pretending with my sisters. I remember the first poem I wrote in elementary school—a warm wind blowing over a pond, and a swan floating placidly by. I do not remember the first writing that I loved, because words and stories had always been part of me. My consciousness dawned against the poetry of hymns, the whimsy of runaway bunnies, the (mostly true) adventures of my grandfather’s rememberings.

I emerged from my childhood with a love of language and the living earth. In college and graduate school, I studied English, secondary education, theater, and religion. I have been teaching writing, rhetoric, and creative expression since 2003. I have steeped myself in language and literature—how to generate it, how to talk about it, how to make meaning of it in your life.

I spent fifteen years teaching in various classrooms before launching out as an independent writer and editor. My work outside of education has ranged from web design for small businesses, editing projects for individuals, story consultation for media companies, and communication support for nonprofits. I've written grants and scripts, website copy and newsletters. It is a great joy to me that I have been able to spend my life in the company of words.

I am based in Pittsburgh, PA, where I live with my husband, my books, and my gardens.

Karen DeBonis

In addition to being a writer and author, I'm a gardener, old house DIY-er, empty-nest mother, wife, introvert, and napper, in no particular order. And that's just the tip of the Karen iceberg.

Growth: A Mother, Her Son, and the Brain Tumor They Survived is about my naive expectations of motherhood and my inability to assert myself, even when my son's survival depended on it.

I thought I was ready for motherhood. I had years of experience as a big sister and babysitter. I had unconditionally loving parents as role models and a devoted husband I called my “rock.” I had a degree in psychology, with numerous child development courses under my belt. Love and limits and stability at home, I had believed, would ensure my children were happy and healthy. I would be that powerful a mom.

Love does not conquer all, I quickly discovered. My overflowing heart didn’t cure Matthew’s colic or hyperactivity or his year of oppositional behavior. I also discovered that being exclusively nice (a euphemism for people-pleasing) did not make the world return the favor.

At eight, Matthew developed an eye-rolling tic. I would later describe his “ocular Ferris Wheel” as the “beginning of the end of the old Matthew.” He’d never be the same. Nor would I. Parenting a sick child pushed me to the limits of what I was capable of as a mother, but I survived. I grew stronger.

I was slow to learn its lessons, but now I have a memoir to tell the whole story.

Constance Matsumoto

Inspired by Shakespeare’s “What’s past is prologue,” Connie writes stories and poetry intended to influence positive change in our world.

Connie earned her B.A. from Notre Dame of Maryland University and M.S. in Business from Johns Hopkins University. She is a member of the Authors Guild, Eastern Shore Writers' Association, Historical Novel Society, and Women's National Book Association, and served on the Board of Directors of the Maryland Writers' Association as Communications Chair and as President of the Baltimore Chapter. Connie is an Advisory Council Member and Chair of the Working Group on Nuclear Issues for the International Center for MultiGenerational Legacies of Trauma.