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Stefanie
Our 2021 Editor-Writer Mentees!
STEFANIE FOSTER BROWN
2021 Picture Book Mentee
Stefanie began her writing journey as a blogger and freelance writer. Informed by her role as a parent and school psychologist, she has written articles on child development research for multiple professional publications. She recently shifted from writing about children to writing for children. As a Black American woman, she hopes to expand cultural narratives. Her household has influences from Cape Verde, Jamaica, and the American South. Her goal is to also engage young readers in thinking about socially impactful topics. Stefanie is a certified kid’s yoga instructor, avid community gardener, and exotic houseplant enthusiast.
Sope
SOPE MARTINS
2021 Picture Book Mentee
Sope Martins is a writer with a background in radio and television broadcasting. She grew up reading but never once thought hers could be one of the names you see on the cover of a book.
As the years passed and she kept dreaming and reading, she finally started writing; at first, in secret, then, in 2016, she took the plunge and submitted her work to a publisher. She is now the author of a picture book, The Greatest Animal in the Jungle, illustrated by Kayode Onimole, which was published by Farafina Books in 2018. Her second book, Riddle Riddle, is out in 2021.
When Sope is not reading, writing, or accidentally killing her house plants, you can find her out and about in the bustling city of Lagos, Nigeria, and on social media @SopeMartins. Visit Sope online!
Rehannah
REHANNAH AZEEYAH KHAN
2021 Middle Grade Fiction Mentee
Rehannah Azeeyah Khan is from Trinidad and Tobago, born and raised in the Caribbean island Trinidad, where she resides with her husband. She holds a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Information Systems and Management from the University of London, but recently completed her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing at the University of the West Indies (St. Augustine Campus), because books have always been her first love. As a Muslim and Indo-Caribbean (of Indian/South Asian heritage), Rehannah is passionate about writing stories for young people with diverse characters who look and sound like her and those around her, especially set in the Caribbean. She also has a keen interest in Caribbean folklores and mythologies, and the cross-pollination of the under-represented cultures, sub-cultures, and hybrid (or hyphenated) identities that comprise the Caribbean.
Yvette
YVETTE YUN
2021 Young Adult Fiction Mentee
Yvette Yun is a college English professor in Hawaii. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College, where she wrote her first memoir, and a PhD in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University, where she wrote her first novel. She is a #RevPit, Pitch Wars, and #DVpit alum as well as a mentor for Author Mentor Match, Write Team Mentorship Program and DVmentor. Her previous two manuscripts are family dramas in the adult category, so she is excited to work on her first YA manuscript with Kate Prosswimmer.
Mimi
MIMI WONG
2021 Adult Fiction Mentee
Mimi Wong was born and raised in California’s Silicon Valley. She is Editor-in-Chief of the
literary magazine The Offing. Her writing on art, culture, and literature have appeared in The
Believer, Catapult, Electric Literature, Hyperallergic, Literary Hub, and Refinery29. Her fiction
has been published in Cicada, Crab Orchard Review, Day One, Joyland, and Wildness. She is an
alumna of the Tin House Summer Workshop, VONA (Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation),
and Anaphora Writing Residency for Writers of Color. Her work has received support from the
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and she is a 2019 recipient of the Andy Warhol Foundation
Arts Writers Grant. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
H'RINA
H'RINA DeTROY
2021 Adult Nonfiction Mentee
H'Rina DeTroy is a Montagnard American writer based in Brooklyn. She was the recipient of the 2020 Cafe Royal Cultural Foundation Grant in Literature and a 2019 Emerging Writer Fellowship at Aspen Word in Memoir. Roxane Gay selected her essay entitled The Vengeance of Elephants for the 2017 Curt Johnson Prose Prize in Creative Nonfiction for December Magazine. She holds a Master of Arts in Journalism and MFA in Creative Writing from Hunter College. She teaches in New York City and created the ground-breaking workshop, Apocalypse Never: Writing Our Origin Stories and Imaginative Futures as Montagnard Americans. A contributing editor for DiaCRITICS, she focuses on amplifying voices of the indigenous ethnic minority diasporas of Southeast Asia.
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