Brynn Saito joins the English Department as an author and an assistant professor in English with an emphasis in poetry writing. Besides teaching the art and craft of poetry writing, she also has an interest in poetics, literary theory, community-based poetry and art-making, poetry and politics, and ecopoetry.

"My recent work with Central Valley farmer and artist, Nikiko Masumoto, and the Yonsei Memory Project—as well as recent teaching-and-learning intensives in Chiapas, Mexico—has shown me the transformative power of community-based, arts-inspired education in spaces outside of the formal academy," she said.

Venita Blackburn joins the English Department as an author and assistant professor of English with an emphasis in fiction writing. She considers herself very much a sentence writer who cares about language and voice and syntax that can evoke emotion. She said that, along with the flash fiction form, are her specialties.

"I didn’t grow up in Fresno, but I did grow up in California," she said. "I lived in Compton up until I moved to Arizona for grad school. I’d love to say being a person of color is going to offer me a lot of license to interpret the souls of my students based on the demographics, but truthfully that only goes so far."

Joseph Cassara joins the English Department as an author and an assistant professor in English with an emphasis in fiction writing. He teaches creative writing, and his specialty is fiction.

"Fresno State is such a diverse campus in one of the most culturally rich regions of the entire country," he said, "and I hope that I can use my training as a fiction writer to help students become stronger writers so they can bring to life the stories they feel are vital and integral lenses into contemporary American life."

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