LITERARY WOMEN

Celebrating Women Authors Since 1982

Literary Women Emerging Writers 2027 Festival

Harriet Williams

In memory of our co-founder, Harriet Williams, an Emerging Writer Program was established in 2016 and named in her honor. This program is a fitting legacy for Harriet who, over 40 years ago, formed The Literary Women Committee to ensure that the works of established women authors would be introduced to a greater reading public. It was to continue her vision that the Harriet Williams Emerging Writer Program was created.

This Program allows Literary Women Committee to focus on our mission to support and encourage new writers of talent and promise by selecting individuals from California State University Long Beach, Long Beach City College, Chapman University and PEN America Los Angeles to attend the Festival of Women Authors. It is our hope that these Emerging Writers will be encouraged to pursue literary aspirations as envisioned by our Festival founders.

We are particularly grateful for the sponsorship of the Port of Long Beach which has been a steady support and contributor to the success of this program.



Lashai Dowl

Lashai Dowl

Lashai Dowl, an aspiring author from New Orleans, writes poetry, short stories, and novels. She has been obsessed with writing since elementary school, often writing poems alongside her schoolwork. After receiving her B.A. in English from Dillard University in 2017, Lashai continued her academic journey at Chapman University in 2023. Currently working on her MA in English and MFA in Creative Writing degrees, she is also a GSI (Graduate Student Instructor) and GRA (Graduate Research Assistant).

Katherine Monjaras-Gutierrez

Katherine Monjaras-Gutierrez

Short story writer K. V. Monjaras-Gutierrez is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing - Prose at CSU Long Beach. With her BA in Psychology from CSU Northridge, Monjaras-Gutierrez combines themes of loneliness, passivity, identity, and surrealism into her short pieces that range from auto fiction to magical realism. Besides her contributions as prose and poetry reader for RipRap Literary Journal (2025-2026), her work is expected to be published in the next issue of Northridge Review.

Emma Gonzales

Emma Gonzales

Aspiring novelist and writer Emma Gonzalez is an MFA prose student at California State University, Long Beach. She is of Salvadoran and Mexican descent and is especially interested in Central American literary production and surveying feminine bodies through the scopes of race and class. A recipient of the 2026-2027 Graduate Fellowship for her thesis work, she is currently working on a novel set during the Salvadoran Civil War that focuses on female civilians. Emma has previously been published under the name Emma Melara in Wild Tongues Art & Literary Journal and will be featured in the forthcoming issue of Watermark Journal.

Daniela Ortiz-Isales

Daniela Ortiz-Isales

Mexican writer and poet, Daniela Grisel Ortiz Ramirez, was born in Mexico City and has been based in Southern California for the past decade. She is a chronic observer who turns homesickness, family lore, and everyday chaos into verse where she explores identity, immigration, womanhood, and the complicated meaning of home when it exists in more than one place. Daniela earned an Associate of Arts in English from Cypress College and continues honing her craft through creative writing courses at Long Beach City College. Writing under the pen name Gris Amori, her poetry has appeared in Puente MID. She writes in both English and Spanish and is currently working on her debut novel, a poetry collection, and a collection of short stories centered on immigration.

Selah Sanchez

Selah Sanchez

Selah Sanchez, a woman of few spoken words and far too many written ones, is a senior in Chapman University’s Creative Writing BFA program, and an Orange County native from Fullerton. She’s been published in the Rooted In: Rite anthology, and Chapman’s own publications Calliope, The Underground and Ouroboros (of which she is the Editor-in-Chief). Her poetry and prose blur the line between the natural and fantastical, uncovering beauty and humanity where one least expects to find them. Her current white whale is a children’s fantasy novel. When Selah is not writing, she is baking, contemplating rats, or spending time with her dog, Luna. She is grateful for this opportunity and would like to thank everyone who has supported this little passion of hers.