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.
Susan Cobb
Secretary
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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.
Victor Sahuatoba
VP Emeritus
Works at Fundaciòn Cultural Un Chorro de Literatura, A.C.
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.
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.
Nicholas Patricca
Accounts Manager
Nicholas Patricca is an internationally published and produced playwright, poet, and essayist. He is professor emeritus at Loyola University Chicago, president of Chicago Network for Justice and Peace, contributing journalist at Windy City Times.
Neža
Vilhelm
Translator
Neza Vilhelm is a freelance translator and editor. She works with some major film festivals and publishing houses in Slovenia. Her days are filled with words, images and music, and Mimi.
Judyth Hill
President Emerita
International Chair of Women Writers' Committee
Judyth Hill, poet, editor, teacher, author of the internationally acclaimed poem, Wage Peace, published worldwide and recorded by choruses, orchestras, and dance companies, lives in the aspened splendor of the Rockies, in Evergreen, Colorado. Her nine poetry books include Dazzling Wobble and Tzimtzum, her tenth mss is forthcoming 2023. The current President of PEN San Miguel. Hill conducts poetry and memoir workshops at conferences world-round, including the San Miguel Writers Conference, and leads global WildWriting Culinary Adventures. Judyth was described by the St. Helena Examiner as, "Energy with skin” and by the Denver Post as, “A tigress with a pen”.
Dennis
Conroy
Chair
Writers in Prison Committee
Dennis Conroy devotes the majority of his volunteer activities promoting literacy and the literary arts, with an emphasis on supporting writers at risk. He serves as chair of the Writers in Prison Committee of the San Miguel de Allende Centre of PEN International; also serves as a board member and vice president of the Chicago Network for Justice and Peace.