English teacher and author Jason Hinojosa and our panel of alumni authors explore various literary genres – including historical fiction, creative nonfiction, and young adult fiction. 

About the Panel

Moderator Jason Hinojosa

Jason Hinojosa is the author of numerous award-winning short stories and two
novels, The Last Lawsons and The Conception of Zachary Muse. In the last decade, Jason has lived and worked in Hong Kong, India, Rwanda, and the United States. He recently completed his MFA in fiction at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, studying with Marilynne Robinson, Ethan Canin, Ayana Mathis, and Paul Harding. His fiction focuses primarily on themes of family, time, sexuality, place, and perspective.  Jason has taught literature and creative writing courses at various levels including university, continuing education, high school, and middle school programs. He currently teaches at Sacramento Country Day School and serves as the High School English Department Chair.

Panelist Adam Braver (‘81)

Adam Braver is the author of six novels: Mr. Lincoln’s Wars, Divine Sarah, Crows Over the Wheatfield, November 22, 1963, Misfit, and The Disappeared. His books have been selected for the Barnes and Noble Discover New Writers program, Borders’ Original Voices series, the IndieNext list, and twice for the Book Sense list, as well as having been translated into Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and French. Braver’s fiction and essays have appeared in journals such as Daedalus, Ontario Review, Cimarron Review, Water-Stone Review, Harvard Review, Tin House, The Normal School, West Branch, The Pinch, and Post Road.

Additionally, Braver is editor for the Broken Silence series for the University of New Orleans Press, a series that tells the firsthand stories of political dissidents. He is on faculty and Library Program Director at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI. He also teaches at the New York State Summer Writers Institute.

Panelist Jennieke Cohen (‘01)

Jennieke Cohen (JEN-ih-kuh CO-en) is used to people mispronouncing her name and tries to spare her fictional characters the same problem.  Jennieke is the author of the young adult historical novel Dangerous Alliance, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and the upcoming My Fine Fellow. She studied English history at Cambridge University and has a master’s degree in professional writing from the University of Southern California. Jennieke has worked as a nonfiction ghostwriter, a literary agent’s assistant, and as a writing consultant to Silicon Valley tech companies. When not writing or researching little-known corners of history, you’ll find her singing opera arias and show tunes, over-analyzing old movies, or discovering the best foodie spots in her native Northern California. 

Read more on Jennieke’s website or say hi on Twitter or Instagram @Jennieke_Cohen. 

Panelist Susan Harlan (‘95)

Susan Harlan’s essays have appeared in venues including The Guardian US, The Paris Review Daily, Guernica, Roads & Kingdoms, Literary Hub, The Common, Racked, The Brooklyn Quarterly, The Bitter Southerner, and Public Books. Her book Luggage (Bloomsbury, 2018) takes readers on a journey with the suitcases that support, accessorize, and accompany our lives. She also writes satire for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, The Billfold, Avidly, Queen Mob’s Tea House, The Hairpin, The Belladonna, Janice, and The Establishment, and her humor book Decorating a Room of One’s Own: Conversations on Interior Design with Miss Havisham, Jane Eyre, Victor Frankenstein, Elizabeth Bennet, Ishmael, and Other Literary Notables was published by Abrams in 2018. She teaches English at Wake Forest University.

Sacramento Writers’ Workshop

July 12-23, 2021
MWF 6 – 8 p.m.

The Sacramento Writers’ Workshop is an intensive manuscript development program for aspiring short story writers and novelists, hosted by Sacramento Country Day School. Participants will have the opportunity to polish a piece of writing, refine their craft, and connect with other writers in a constructive setting.

Learn more about the Workshop here.