Heidi Siegrist is a visiting assistant professor at the University of the South. Attending the Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference is one of her happiest memories from her teenage years. She received her B.A in Psychology from the University of Chicago, her M.F.A from the Sewanee School of Letters, and her Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia, where she served as the assistant editor for the Virginia Quarterly Review. Her area of focus is contemporary American literature, and her monograph All Y’all: Queering Southernness in U.S. Fiction 1980-2020 is forthcoming from UNC Press. In addition to reading and writing, she enjoys swimming, learning the banjo, and playing board games with her family.
Becca Hannigan is a fiction writer based in Denver, Colorado. In May 2023, they graduated with an MFA from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where they taught undergraduate students and worked as fiction editor for Ecotone. Along with teaching, she has worked in various settings to bring youth and adults closer to both creative writing and the environment. As an intern for the Brink Literacy Project, she led creative writing classes for youth experiencing homelessness at a shelter in Denver. She also worked in Denver's refugee resettlement office, creating a new educational and outdoor activity program for middle school students to take hiking and climbing trips in Colorado. In Salt Lake City, they assisted in elementary-aged classrooms at the Hogle Zoo. Their love for writing, teaching, and environmental work came from their studies at Sewanee, where they graduated with a BA in Natural Resources in 2016, then went on to attend the Sewanee Writers' Conference as a scholar. Her work has been published in Story Quarterly, The Rumpus, 303 Magazine, The Lumiere Review, and elsewhere. If you visit Denver, you'll find her hiking, climbing, biking, working as a professional pet sitter, and performing original music every now and then.
Kat LeClair has worked for the for several years, first as a Dorm Counselor, and more recently as Summer Coordinator in 2023. They are delighted to return to the Mountain to continue working with young writers. Kat graduated from the University of the South with a Bachelor of Arts in English. During their time at Sewanee, they wrote for The Sewanee Purple and directed events with Sewanee's Queer & Ally House. Since graduating, Kat has settled in Boston, where they work as a barista and contemporary dance artist. Although Kat adores New England, they believe that no summer would be complete without spending a few weeks in Sewanee.
Bessie Gantt is a ghostwriter, editor, and literary jack-of-all trades who’s worked on everything from cookbooks to books by stand-up comedians to a guide to online dating. She is a 1998 graduate of the University of the South and got her MFA in creative writing from the University of Florida. She was a dorm counselor in 1999, and one of her three sons is a current student at Sewanee. She lives near Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband and cats. She loves being on the Mountain and can’t wait to get to know all the young writers.
