Meet Our Residents
Meet Our Residents
2024
Shanna McNair
American Writer & Artist
Shanna McNair writes prose, poetry and scripts, and is Director and Editor of The Writer’s Hotel and The New Guard literary review. She returned for a second residency at Studio Faire, in part to collaborate on a pilot for a TV series with her husband, the writer Scott Wolven, and in part to complete her debut novel ‘Soul Retrieval’, which is forthcoming from High Frequency Press in 2025. With cover art and a number of original artworks created by Shanna interspersed throughout, this promises to be a moving fictional book about self-reclamation and a visual treat.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Scott Wolven
American Writer
Scott Wolven is Director and Editor of The Writer’s Hotel and The New Guard literary review. He’s also the author of multiple short stories, including the collection, ‘Controlled Burn’ and his work has appeared seven years in a row in The Best American Mystery Stories Series. As well as focusing on writing new works of fiction whilst in residence, he collaborated with his wife and fellow author, Shanna McNair, on a pilot for a TV series.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Jane Carney
American Artist
Chicago-based artist, Jane Carney, came to Studio Faire for an artist residency to produce a series of large works ahead of her scheduled two-person exhibition in Gallery 1516, in Omaha, Nebraska in April 2025. The Garage Studio allowed her the space to work on multiple larger canvases than usual, creating abstract images by drawing, painting, collaging and layering, back and forth, adding and subtracting, until compositions emerged. Jane is represented by Brandt Roberts Galleries, Columbus, Ohio and Art en Object, Evanston, Illinois.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Phil Smith
Scottish Designer & Musician
Phil Smith sought a cozy, secluded space to enhance his focus on writing lyrics and compositions on guitar for his debut solo album. He found this at Studio Faire in our Bureau, where he was also inspired by our cat, Henri, prompting him to write an ode in his honour (listen here). Phil is an active member of the DIY music scene in Glasgow, and is lead guitarist and a songwriter in the band Blush Club. Additionally, Phil is a talented product designer, winning a ‘Best in Show’ award at the 2023 NAMM Show, in California, for his work for music accessories brand Noisy Clan.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Eliza Eddy
American Writer
A former midwife, Eliza Eddy went back to school and received her MFA in Fiction from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College in 2021. Now residing in Montana’s Rocky Mountains with her husband, two daughters, and a multitude of animals, she embraced the opportunity the residency offered to focus on her writing. Eliza had been working on a collection of short stories about women in a growing Montana town, and needed to significantly reduce the manuscript. She not only succeeded in her goal, but also discovered that the works were greatly improved as a consequence.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Jean Shields Fleming
American Writer
Jean Shields Fleming is a writer living in Greece. She writes fiction, personal essay, and poetry, and spent time during her residency making final revisions to her fourth novel, All the Reasons Why, which explores the loss of land in California, a place where she has a deep family history. Publisher’s Weekly called her debut novel, Air Burial, “soulful and unsentimental” for its exploration of grief and love. Jean is also the Founder & Editor of Certain Age Magazine, an online publication dedicated to “unleashing women’s power, one story at a time.”
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Andreína Briceño
Venezuelan Writer
Fiction Writer, Andreína Briceño, often writes about the political unrest in Caracas that happened while she was at university studying Library Science. She’s since completed a Masters in document management and attended Jericho Writers’ Self Edit Your Novel Course for Writers’. Whilst in residence working on her novel, she also attended an online mentorship program with Venezuelan writer and 2024 booker prize shortlisted author, Rodrigo Blanco Calderón.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Andrea Duncan-Mao
American Writer
Andrea Duncan-Mao started her professional writing career as editorial assistant for Vibe magazine and went on to write for MTV News during the late 90’s and early 2000’s, where she profiled major stars like Jay-Z, DMX, Lil Kim and Nas. She later pivoted to radio, where she now oversees an arts and culture talk show on New York Public Radio. She decided to take time out from her family and work life, to do something she’s always wanted to do…write a mystery novel.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Stephanie Anderson
American Writer
Poet and scholar Stephanie Anderson completed a PhD in Literature at the University of Chicago, USA, in 2016 and a post-doctoral research fellowship at Tsinghua University, China, in 2019. She still lives in China, where she now has a young family and work as Assistant Professor of American Literature at Duke Kunshan University, Suzhou, so Stephanie especially relished the time and daily calm of the garden here to develop her hybrid poetry/prose manuscript during her residency.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Margaret Hickey
Australian Writer
Margaret Hickey is an award winning author and playwright, from North East Victoria. The author of Cutters End, Stone Town, Broken Bay and, her latest release, The Creeper, all published by Penguin. During her 4-week residency she was thick in the drafting stage of her next novel. Her target was to write 2000 words per day, and she was delighted to manage this and more with ease during her stay.
www.penguin.com.au/authors/margaret-hickey/
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Kaycie Hall
American Writer
With an M.A. in French Language and Civilization from NYU and an MFA from Bennington College, Kaycie Hall now works as a writer and a literary translator (French to English). She is also the mother of a young child, so this residency proved to be the vital quiet time she needed to focus on reworking a few essays for a collection in progress, whilst soaking up all that she loves about France and its culture.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Caitlin Wilby
Australian Writer
After completing her degree in writing and publishing earlier this year, Caitlin produced her own aerials and burlesque show ‘bruised’, which asked performers from various diverse backgrounds to explore the relationship between their onstage and offstage personas, and how performing affected their day-to-day life. It was this exploration that directly inspired her during her residency, with a goal to develop a new circus performance piece, and a piece of creative non-fiction around these themes.
www.instagram.com/tabitha.aerials
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Tatiana Ferahian
Cypriot Artist
Tatiana Ferahian’s fantastical and intricate ink drawings portray modern mythology. Historical architecture reveals the conditions and shifts in our culture and the political influences that have shaped these, while the urban scenes also include human-animal hybrid creatures, that are an embodiment of legends and folklore. Tatiana is not concerned with illustrating the literal narrative content of myths however, rather with interpreting them symbolically in the context of the social and political issues that surround us. Tatiana’s residency was subsidised by the Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture – Department of Contemporary Culture.
ferahian.wixsite.com/tatiana-ferahian
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Ben Siva
Australian Musician
Working within a pop music structure, but taking influence from RnB, dance, punk and ambient music, Ben Siva (or jnr. as he is know in the music industry) creates genre crossing tunes, telling stories of love, self-discovery, growing up and family. France holds a special place in his heart and Studio Faire clearly proved to be the ideal location to inspire new writing within this culture, as Ben wrote and recorded an entire EP whilst in residence.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Dina Hendawi
Egyptian/American Writer
Dina Hendawi is originally from New York, but currently living in Germany, where she is teaching at an international school and working on a doctoral program at the University of York. Dina is conducting research on the representation of Muslim identity in Western literature and media. Her writing residency at Studio Faire took a surprising turn, as her aims changed at the last minute, when she was inspired to write a play that explored themes of identity, gender, and politics.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Elena Guidetti
Italian Architect
Elena Guidetti’s main objective for her residency was to refine a manuscript developed out of her PhD thesis for her post-doc research at Future Urban Legacy Lab research center of Politecnico di Torino. This manuscript delves into the concept of the potential to adapt and transform existing buildings for a new purpose, rather than demolishing to build bespoke each time. While her primary focus for the residency was on writing, she also spent time reworking and improving the digital drawings, which support the text.
full.polito.it/people/elena-guidetti
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Elizabeth D’Agostino
Canadian Artist
Exploring the environmental discussions surrounding biodiversity, climate change and urban growth, Elizabeth D’Agostino’s works of art take the form of prints, sculpture, and installation. Whilst in residence, she embraced the opportunity for uninterrupted time to gather field notes and information, and to experiment with colour and mark making using simple, portable tools and materials, rather than being limited by the staged processes of printmaking.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Hayden Casey
American Writer & Musician
Hayden Casey travelled to Nérac from Phoenix, Arizona to spend time editing his new collection of short stories titled ‘Show Me Where the Hurt Is’ (Split/Lip, Spring 2025). Since earning a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Washington and an MFA in Fiction from Arizona State University, he has been teaching writing at Arizona State University, where he was the 2024 recipient of the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Instructor Award.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Jane Tolerton
New Zealand Writer
Back for her third residency at Studio Faire, Jane Tolerton was one of the first to try out our new self-contained apartment (Faire Deux) and she relished having this large space to herself, making the most of the quiet and solitude to focus on her writing. She’s a journalist and writer of history books, including the award-winning Ettie (a life of Ettie Rout) and the best-selling oral history, Convent Girls. During her residency, she continued to write her novel which investigates the relationships and lives of Mary Taylor and her best friends Charlotte Brontë and Ellen Nussey.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Naomi Washer
American Writer
Returning for her 2nd residency, Naomi Washer is a writer who is also training in psychoanalysis and contemporary psychotherapy and, during her residency, was able to continue seeing her patients remotely at the National Institute for the Psychotherapies in Manhattan. There were two distinctive chapters to her residency, with the rejection of one project and the birth of a new half way through. Fuelled by personal study into psychoanalysis, daily patient meetings, and a focused enthusiasm for this subject matter, ‘Notes Toward Unbecoming’ started to take shape.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Joseph Demes
American Writer
Taking a break from his work in Brooklyn, New York, Joseph Demes came to France to make space for some concentrated time to work on his novel, which is based around the theme of long-distance running. This period was extended by a further residency at Tin House immediately afterwards, where he is an inaugural 2023–2024 Tin House Reading Fellow. Tin House is a publisher and podcaster (Between the Covers), who champion great writing and organise workshops, seminars and residencies for talented writers like Joseph!
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Susan Rose April
American Writer
A poet, essayist, and environmental scientist, Susan Rose April, has now published over 25 poems and essays, one of which ‘Chain Pickerel’ was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize after being published in the online journal Collateral. In Studio Faire, Susan was seeking a place that ‘feels like home but is also 6,184 km away’, where she could re-examine and order her past works in solitude, in order to bring them together into a united manuscript.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Trinity Clements-Clark
American Writer
When not working on her writing practice, Trinity Clements-Clark is a stay-at-home mother of two children under the age of five, so quiet time alone with her creative work is especially precious! During her residency, she continued to work on her fantasy manuscript, honing down character arc/development, leaning into specificity in world-building, and drawing
inspiration from the Studio Faire environment.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Amy Johnson
American Artist
Photography, video, performance, installation, clay, textiles, printmaking, and glass, all have a presence in the portfolio of Amy Johnson, from Boise, Idaho. Her interests are in fairytales, myths, folklore and their relationship to contemporary culture. Following on from the success of her video self-portraits, “Seasons Quartet” (portraying a lone and costumed figure in gorgeous and strange landscapes) she turned her attention towards the myths and folklores surrounding magpies for her residency. Find out more.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Kimberlea Bass
American Artist
We welcomed back Kimberlea Bass for her second residency this year. Kimberlea is a mixed-media Artist & Photographer based in Texas, who creates textural pieces, recalling personal histories for inspiration. As well as creating new personal works, she also started the process of working on a collaboration with Writer Berna Mason, whom she met in 2022 at Studio Faire. Coordinating their residencies to coincide once again enabled them to put their heads together and get the ball rolling on a new joint project.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Berna Mason
American Writer
Berna Mason had two different aims for her second residency at Studio Faire, one being to continue to work on her memoir, which tells very personal tales from her past life as a midwife and her ongoing fight for sexual and reproductive healthcare. Secondly, she wanted to start the process of a collaborative project with visual artist Kimberlea Bass, who was her fellow resident both back in 2022, when bonds were forged, and again this year, in 2024.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Robert A. Kaufman
American Writer
Robert A. Kaufman takes great pride in his career as a teacher at Pace Academy (Atlanta) and just as he encourages his students to follow their dreams, he decided to follow his own advice and seek out a writers residency. This led him to his residency at Studio Faire, where he divided his time between writing a novel and creating a mixed-media scrapbook, which tells of the romance of his grandparents during the 2nd world war, through photos, memorabilia and personal stories.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Carla Rokes
American Artist
Carla Rokes is a multidisciplinary artist, blending several practices together including collage, drawing, painting, digital, and film. She took a break from her employment teaching studio art at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where she currently serves as Director of the Art program, to make the time for a short residency, during which she produced a series of small-scale abstractions under the theme of “eco-anxiety”.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Molly Larkey
American Artist & Writer
Based in Los Angeles, Molly Larkey has exhibited their works of art in museums and galleries internationally, including exhibitions at MoMA PS1 (New York), Saatchi Gallery (London) and Crystal Bridges Museum of Art (Bentonville, Arkansas). Their writing has been published with Los Angeles Review of Books, Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles (CARLA), and Haunt Journal of Art. Their residency was spent writing for an ongoing multi-media project called “Autobiography of No Place”, which is loosely based on Molly’s autobiography.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Molly Prather
American Creative Leader, Scriptwriter and Actress
For the most part, Molly Prather works as a script ‘doctor/fixer’ who is hired to assist writers and artists articulate their vision, with a particular passion for collaborating on meaningful forms of storytelling to create opportunity and representation for queer, BIPOC and femme identifying people. During her residency she took time out to write her own script inspired by W.I.T.C.H. (Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell) an off shoot of the Radical Feminist movement of 1968.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Jillian Schultz
American Producer, Community Organizer & Consultant
With twenty years experience of working at the intersection of art and activism, Jillian Schultz’s career is firmly rooted in using art as a catalyst for social change and building communities. During her residency, she worked on research, planning and writing for the documentary film she is currently producing, in preparation for a production trip and interview shoot at the Venice Biennale. The documentary focuses on the life and work of Artist, educator, and nun, Sister Corita Kent, who captivated mid-century America with her vibrant pop art and radical ideas.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Austin Sanchez-Moran
American Poet
Austin Sanchez-Moran is a teacher and Pushcart Prize nominated writer who received his MFA in Poetry from George Mason University. His first poetry collection is Suburban Sutras (Finishing Line Press, 2021) and his first chapbook, Rhinocerotica (Backbone Press, 2022), was selected by Tyree Daye as winner of the 4th Annual Backbone Press Chapbook Competition. His residency offered him the space to read, write, and edit his new collection.
www.finishinglinepress.com/product/suburban-sutras-by-austin-sanchez-moran/
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Katie Mawson
English Artist
Returning for a second residency, Katie Mawson arrived with a case full of vintage book covers, spanning all the colours of the rainbow. She works with these cloths on boards, cutting, arranging and rearranging colour and shape combinations until she feels a balance has been found. Having the space to lay out all of her covers and see the full array of colours at once gave Katie an ‘epiphany’ and the inspiration for new and original colour combinations.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Hilary Brougher
American Writer & Director
Hilary Brougher is a screenwriter and director of feature films, best known for ‘Stephanie Daley’ (starring Tilda Swinton). This film premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival where it won The Waldo Salt Award for Screenwriting, and Best Director at the Milan International Film Festival. Her My most recent feature, ‘South Mountain’ premiered at SXSW and won a Grand Jury Award from the Nantucket Film Festival in 2019. She came to Studio Faire to complete an original feature screenplay for a psychological horror.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Raymond Yeager
American Artist
Raymond Yeager took a break from his work as a Professor of Foundation Studies at Savannah College of Art and Design to travel to France with two of his pinhole cameras. This gave him the opportunity to respond to the property and the environment in a unique way. He also worked on some sketches in the grounds and the town and captured more ephemeral and abstract images through digital photography (reflections, shadows, patterns,..). He left with a fresh portfolio of images that began their life at Studio Faire, but will continue to develop long after his residency.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Linda Kaye
American Poet & Filmmaker
Former psychologist and social worker, Linda Kaye now writes personal, experiential poetry, creates documentary films, curates a monthly poetry column titled ‘Poets Place’ for the online publication laartnews.com and regularly produces spoken word and art events throughout the Los Angeles area. Whilst in residence, she continued to write and publish her poetry column, but also reserved valuable time and space to work on her memoir.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Maria Williams
American Writer
The author of ‘White Doe’ (Winner of the Verse Daily Prize and nominated Editors Pick for Publisher’s Weekly), ‘A Love Letter to Say There Is No Love’ (FutureCycle Press), and a Pushcart Prize nominee, Maria Williams has long been a writer who toggles between genres, writing poems, essays, and fiction, often dealing with issues of home, family relationships and our connection to the natural world. At Studio Faire, Maria’s main focus was on a short story collection, centring around the theme of disappearance.
Janet Fennell
British/NZ/Australian Writer
Having spent the past 15 years teaching others to write, Janet Fennell felt that now was the time to return to nurturing her own talent as a writer, something she had had much success with many years ago, so sought a residency that would support her back into that creative world. Her ambitious project was a trilogy of novels concerning the life, loves, and legacy of a painter and plantswoman, and her home in the Blue Mountains of NSW.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Rob Kitsos
American Dance Artist
Rob Kitsos is an acclaimed dancer, dance instructor, performing artist and choreographer, living and working in Vancouver, Canada. His residency enabled him to develop his current line of research Moving Matter, a choreographic project that explores specific materials and spaces in-depth to inspire short film, installation and live performance. His focus was our Garage Studio and you can see some of the results of his residency here (including a collaboration with poet and fellow resident, Winston Lê). He also spent time developing a complementary website for this project.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Winston Lê
Vietnamese-Chinese Poet
Travelling to France from Langley, Canada, Winston Lê’s residency gave him quiet time to focus on developing experimental poems inspired by the creative works of botanical artist, Katrina Vera Wong, who makes Frankenflora: imagined flower hybrids made from disparate parts of dried or pressed plants, creating new specimens that do not exist in nature. Through this collaboration, they aim to create a chapbook which combines his words and her constructions into Frankenflora Morphologues. He also spent time on a short collaboration with dancer and fellow resident Rob Kitsos (see above).
www.instagram.com/winstonladdle
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.