Kim Henderson
Chair, Creative Writing Department
Kim Henderson (M.F.A. University of Montana) taught Creative Writing and Composition at the University of Montana before coming to Idyllwild Arts. She previously taught middle school in Albuquerque and Bloomfield, New Mexico. Her stories have appeared in Conceptions Southwest, and she has work forthcoming in Night Train.

Elena Byrne
Poet-in-Residence
Former 12 year Regional Director of the Poetry Society of America, Elena Karina Byrne is a visual artist, teacher, editor, Poetry Consultant/Moderator for The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and Literary Programs Director for the Ruskin Art Club. She organizes readings for several other venues including, The West Hollywood Book Fair and Museum Of Contemporary Art. She also works with Red Car studios on several documentary projects, including Why Shakespeare, Muse of Fire and The Big Read. Elena was the 2005 Poetry Co-Editor for The Los Angeles Review and one of three judges for the 2006 PEN USA Literary Award in Poetry. A ten-time Pushcart Prize nominee, a 2008 Pushcart Prize winner, Elena's recent work may be found in The Best American Poetry, 2005, The Yale Review, Paris Review, American Poetry Review, Poetry, Volt, Denver Quarterly, Colorado Review, Ploughshares, Verse, TriQuarterly, Barrow Street, Volt, Antioch Review, Poetry Daily Anthology, Bear Flag Republic Anthology, and the Anthology of Magazine Verse & Yearbook of American Poetry Elena's books include The Flammable Bird ( Zoo Press/Tupelo Press, 2004),MASQUE (Tupelo Press, 2008) and forthcoming : This Fable Language (poetry, Tupelo Press, 2011) , Voyeur Hour (art/poetry), and a collection of essays entitled,Beautiful Insignificance (essays, Tupelo Press, 2011).



Andrew Leeson
Literature Instructor
Andrew Leeson (B.A. Hons, English, University of Sussex, England ) Born into a farming family in rural East Yorkshire, England. His B.A. thesis at Sussex 'The Depression in Rural England (1919-1939) - Images and Reality' drew upon his first hand interactions and interviews with country folk of the inter-war years, as well as a review of the depiction of rural life in contemporary fiction of the 1930s. In the Fall of 2007, Andrew will be leading an examination of English novels from Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy. In the Fall of 2008, Andrew will be leading an examination of genre in selected English and American novels and stories.



Ruth McKee
Playwright-in-Residence
Ruth McKee (BFA, Dramatic Writing, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU; M.F.A. Theatre: Playwriting, UC-San Diego). Her plays include: Stray, winner of the 2008 Stanley Drama Award; The Nightshade Family, a finalist for the Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition, produced in the 2007 Summer Play Festival on Theatre Row in New York; 500 Words, soon to be published by Playscripts, Inc; The Noise Room, developed at HB Playwrights Foundation, NY. Ruth also teaches playwriting to undergraduates at UC San Diego, and for the California State Summer School for the Arts at CalArts.