The San Miguel PEN Team
Sharon Steeber
President
Sharon Steeber has one foot in San Miguel, Mexico and one in San Diego, California, bewitched by both. She has published fiction and textbooks as well as newspaper and magazine columns. Currently she writes fiction and short plays, some of which have been produced in San Miguel and in San Diego.
Signe Hammer
Vice President
Signe Hammer is a writer, editor, writing coach and teacher who spends time in both New York City and San Miguel. Her memoir was a NYTimes Book Review Notable Book. She has published three other nonfiction books, along with short stories, poetry, reviews and national-magazine feature articles. She has taught writing to adults as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Creative Writing at New York University, privately in San Miguel, at the San Miguel Writers Conference and via Zoom both privately and for the San Miguel Literary Sala. She has been an editor at both a major book publisher and a national magazine, and works privately with clients to develop their writing projects.
Lucina Kathmann
Treasurer
Lucina Kathmann is an American writer and activist. She has published books, essays, and short stories internationally in multiple languages. She has been an active member of PEN International since 1986[1] and helped found the organization's Women Writers Committee in 1991. Lucina represents PEN International at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
Kathy Snodgrass
Secretary
Kathy Snodgrass is a longtime resident of San Miguel. Her books include The Fiction of Hortense Calisher. In 2024 Shearsman Books published her translations in a bilingual edition of poems by the Mexican writer, Luis Miguel Aguilar.
Elizabeth Starčević, Ph. D.
President Emerita
Elizabeth Starčević has been weaving large wall hangings in Mexico for over 25 years and is an emeritus professor of Spanish literature and language at the City College of New York, where she fought for open admissions, day care, and student and faculty rights, and worked actively in the union for over 40 years. She learned to weave in Mexico and has had shows in Bellas Artes and in museums and galleries in San Miguel de Allende and Xalapa. She has also shown in galleries and a variety of venues in New York City, New Jersey, and Vancouver. Although weaving is a “slow” art, it has been impossible for Elizabeth not to use it to respond to the upsurge of violence and insecurity that was unleashed during the presidential campaign of 2016.
Victor Sahuatoba
VP Emeritus
Works at Fundaciòn Cultural Un Chorro de Literatura, A.C.