Hello! My name is Nikoletta (or Niki for short) and I am an award-nominated, published writer of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Maryland Baltimore County where in my senior year, I was awarded the Undergraduate Research Award (URA) to spend a summer in my native country of Albania to research my thesis of how communist censorship affected the country's growth of literary arts. In all the years since...
Hello! My name is Nikoletta (or Niki for short) and I am an award-nominated, published writer of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Maryland Baltimore County where in my senior year, I was awarded the Undergraduate Research Award (URA) to spend a summer in my native country of Albania to research my thesis of how communist censorship affected the country's growth of literary arts. In all the years since graduating, I have made storytelling my life.
Professionally, I have worked as a newsroom producer, a marketing director, and a copywriter and editor. I have years of experience working as both a creative writing coach and a manuscript editor. When I'm not working on other people's creative pursuits, I work on my own short fiction. My work has appeared in two anthologies and in various publications, both in print and digital. I have been previously nominated for the PEN/Robert J. Dau prize, the Best of the Net, and Best Microfiction. My work has also been both long and shortlisted for various awards and competitions.
I want to bring my passion for the English language, storytelling, and literacy comprehension to young people. Whether it's working through school essays, test prepping, or developing an editor/writer dynamic to work through creative writing pursuits, I want to make young people feel comfortable with and confident in what they write down on paper...and perhaps even read out loud to a room. I'm especially passionate about working with kids who have ESL experience. As a former ESL student myself (many, many years ago), I understand the challenges--and importance of--developing language skills that become the foundation of everything else in life. I like to keep things informal and fun and want, above all, for my students to enjoy what they are learning.
