LITERARY WOMEN
Celebrating Women Authors Since 1982
Literary Women Emerging Writers
Julia Ainley
Emerging Writer Julia Ainley is an MFA Creative Writing student at Chapman University. She is from Fullerton, California and can be found haunting cafes throughout Orange County. In 2025, her work Frida was published in CalArt’s Strip Mall Magazine.
Erin Boyd
In 2003, Erin Boyd graduated from CSULB with a BA in Women’s Studies. Her first job was as an Editorial Assistant/Feature Writer at Primedia Publishing and then she journeyed on to Business Development, Marketing Communications and Technical Writing, within several industries. During the pandemic burn out, Erin realized she needed to write creatively again for personal fulfillment. Thanks to the accessible classes offered at Long Beach City College, she is finishing her first novel and grateful to be an example to her 12-year-old daughter of not giving up on a dream.
M. Anne Kala'i
Pen America Emerging Writer M. Anne Kala’i is a graduate of Vassar College’s creative writing program and a member of the Los Angeles chapter of Women Who Submit. Her poetry has been published in the San Pedro River Review. Her fiction has been published in Halfway Down the Stairs and was shortlisted for the 2024 Cheshire Novel Prize.
Anna Lynch
Aspiring novelist Anna Lynch loves hiking, art museums, cat cafes, and making new friends. Her biggest hero is Jane Austen, whose ability to blend wit and tension still inspires her no matter how many rereads. She received her BA in Creative Writing and BS in Cognitive Psychology at UC San Diego. Currently in her final year of her MFA at CSULB, Anna pulls from her own turbulent teenage experience combined with her understanding of adolescent psychology to write Young Adult genre that tackles all the hiccups of coming of age and the discovery of self.
Kate McNeil
Writer, poet, and aspiring novelist Kate McNiel is from central Los Angeles. While she doesn’t work exclusively within one genre, she has a longstanding, passionate love for all things fantastical/speculative. K. will graduate this year with a BFA in Creative Writing from Chapman University. Her writing has been published in both wildscape. literary journal and Anti-Heroin Chic. Currently she is working on her first novel.
You can find more of K. on Instagram and Substack @kmcneilwrites.
Ashlee Mitchell
Pen America Emerging Writer Ashlee Mitchell is a Gen-Z writer, content creator, and actor. While earning her Communications degree from Northwestern University, she studied abroad in South Korea. She is passionate about representation for Black women and writes coming of age stories that challenge the status quo. Her non-fiction work can be found in publications Teen Vogue, GRAMMY.com, Complex, and more. In 2024 and 2025 she was a participant in We Need Diverse Books Black Creatives Revision Workshop, a RevPit runner-up, and a finalist in Simon & Schuster’s 2024 Books Like Us Contest.
Alexis Leigh Ragan
Faith-focused Alexis Leigh Ragan is a deep image poet fascinated by epiphanic shifts. Convinced that the arts serve as a powerful window of worship, her literary journal, Vessels of Light, is a virtual lighthouse where Christ is illuminated through poetry. Alexis has been published in Ekstasis, Rip Rap Literary Journal, Calla Press, Alabaster Co, The Way Back To Ourselves, and Christianity Today. Currently pursuing an MFA in poetry at CSULB, she is pouring herself into her first full-length poetry collection Holy Voltas: Poems that Turn.