Author: Nicole Phelon

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Meet our Board of Directors

Meet the Ames Writers Collective Board of Directors.

Armaan Gupta

Armaan Gupta is a software engineer and hackathon organizer originally from Illinois. He’s a recent graduate from Iowa State University where he majored in Management Information Systems and obtained a minor in Marketing. Outside of work, Armaan writes software independently, writes poetry and short essays, and enjoys a good cigar. See more of Armaan.

Claire Kruesel

Claire Kruesel (KREE-zuhl) lives and writes from Story County, Iowa, focusing primarily on the intersections of science, art, objects, and grief. She received an MFA in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University. Her poetry has been published in Rattle, the anthologies Fracture and Prairie Gold, and elsewhere. Her day job involves mentoring biochemistry undergraduates on science communication. Claire also teaches Pilates and yoga, travels to France and Italy whenever she can, and sings with Ames Chamber Artists. Click here to visit Claire.

Jennifer Knox

Jennifer L Knox

Director

Jennifer L. Knox is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently, Crushing It. Knox received her bachelor’s from the University of Iowa, and her master’s of fine arts in poetry writing from New York University. Her poems have appeared five times in the “Best American Poetry” series, and in publications such as the New York Times, The New Yorker and American Poetry Review. www.jenniferlknox.com.

Ana McCracken

Ana McCracken

Executive Director

Ana McCracken received her Bachelor of Science and MFA in Creative Writing and Environment degrees from Iowa State University. She is currently seeking representation for her thesis, Redacted—A Memoir of Adoption. Her personal essays are published in The California Writers Club Literary Review, the anthologies Nothing But the Truth So Help Me God and The Joy of Adoption, and her poetry in Telepoem Booth®Iowa. She is the founder of the Ames Writers Collective, an organization committed to building and uplifting communities through the art of writing and storytelling, while advancing the literary arts in Ames, Iowa. Read more about Ana.

Tony Moton

Tony Moton is an educator at the college, high school and middle school levels for 14+ years, including experience as an online and on-ground academic coach, tutor and writing instructor for learners ranging from school age to adult. In both public and private service, an outstanding lecturer and instructor in sports media, journalism, broadcasting, broadcast media production, screenwriting, English and creative writing. An award-winning journalist and screenwriter with tremendous communication skills, high-quality work, driven and exceptionally self-motivated. An earner of top honors from the Samuel Goldwyn Foundation for screenwriting and the Kansas City Press Club and the Las Vegas Press Association for investigative journalism and feature writing, respectively. Read more about Tony.

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Member

Steve Ryan

Steve Ryan divides his time between writing, supporting scientific research, and designing interactive art exhibitions. He is interested in short fiction and generative writing as a means to creative community with the environment and with fellow wayfarers.

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Join Our Write Togethers

Join us for our Write Togethers hybrid in person at Fifth Street Writers or on Zoom.

WHAT’S A WRITE TOGETHER?

Those who join us gather together in person at Fifth Street Writers and on Zoom. We open sharing what project we’re working on, and the we write for ~90 minutes. At the end, we share our successes, and sign off or pack up our stuff and wave goodbye. Easy peasy.

Our Write Togethers are held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month from 3:30 to 5 PM, and the 1st Saturday of the month from 10 to Noon.

For more information and to register, click here.

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BOD

Claire Kruesel

Screenshot

Claire Kruesel (KREE-zuhl) lives and writes from Story County, Iowa, focusing primarily on the intersections of science, art, objects, and grief. She received an MFA in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University. Her poetry has been published in Rattle, the anthologies Fracture and Prairie Gold, and elsewhere. Her day job involves mentoring biochemistry undergraduates on science communication. Claire also teaches Pilates and yoga, travels to France and Italy whenever she can, and sings with Ames Chamber Artists. Click here to visit Claire.

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BOD

Armaan Gupta

Armaan Gupta is a software engineer and hackathon organizer originally from Illinois. He’s a recent graduate from Iowa State University where he majored in Management Information Systems and obtained a minor in Marketing. Outside of work, Armaan writes software independently, writes poetry and short essays, and enjoys a good cigar.

Categories
BOD

Tony Moton

Tony Moton is an educator at the college, high school and middle school levels for 14+ years, including experience as an online and on-ground academic coach, tutor and writing instructor for learners ranging from school age to adult. In both public and private service, an outstanding lecturer and instructor in sports media, journalism, broadcasting, broadcast media production, screenwriting, English and creative writing. An award-winning journalist and screenwriter with tremendous communication skills, high-quality work, driven and exceptionally self-motivated. An earner of top honors from the Samuel Goldwyn Foundation for screenwriting and the Kansas City Press Club and the Las Vegas Press Association for investigative journalism and feature writing, respectively.

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In The Media News

Words Meet Art: Call for Submission

Words Meet Art
At Fifth Street Writers

Call for Submission

The Ames Writers Collective is seeking “two-dimensional original art” submissions for an exhibition at Fifth Street Writers located in downtown Ames, Iowa.

Media can be oil, acrylic, watercolor, collage, etc. Pieces chosen for the exhibition will be featured at Fifth Street Writers Words Meet Art events.

Words Meet Art is a literary arts event demonstrating through words how art evokes feelings, triggers memories and stories, and inspires conversations across divides and demographics.

During our Words Meet Art events, writers create prose, memoir or poetry in response to an exhibit of artwork or photography.

Sometimes, we simply write in a group and read our work aloud to one another. Other times we hold public events where writing is performed for an audience.

In the past we have held spoken word and writing events at the Octagon Center for the Arts in Ames, Iowa and the Christian Petersen Art Museum at Iowa State University.

Fall 2025 Exhibition date TBD.

Interested in submitting your 2-dimensional art. Click here to Send us an email. 

Thank you to our funders:

 

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In The Media News

New Membership and Donor Platform is Now Open!

Exciting News: Our New Membership & Donor Platform is Now Open!

We’re thrilled to announce that Membership Registration and Donor Support for Ames Writers Collective are officially open!

Why Become a Member? Joining Ames Writers Collective’s Fifth Street Writers isn’t just about membership, it’s about belonging to a creative community that thrives on connection, inspiration, and growth. Become a member, and enjoy:

  • 10% Discount on all classes, expand your skills while saving.
  • Exclusive Access to our Writer Portal, connecting you to genre-specific writing groups, announcements, and more.
  • Your Name in Lights on our Members Page, celebrate your role in our community.
  • Invitations to special members only programs and events.
  • Advance Registration for conferences and events, get first dibs on the opportunities you love.

MEMBERSHIP LEVELS

Youth & Students under age 22 ($15/Year)
One year membership for a student under the age of 22
Individual ($55/Year)
One-year membership for an individual
Family ($75/Year)
One-year membership for a family of two adults, plus 2 youth writers 6th thru 12th Grade
Writing Group ($125/Year)
One-year membership for a Writing Group (must be open to accepting new members). This membership provides group members with free, reservable access to a Fifth Street Writers boardroom or library for group meetings.
Author ($245)
One-year members in this category are given key-fob access to the facility during open hours, and the opportunity to reserve space for book launches.

Sign up! 

Support Us Through Donations! Your donations fuel our mission to heal and inspire communities through the art of writing. Every contribution, big or small, makes a lasting impact. Consider becoming a:

  • The Dabbler – $50
  • Publisher – $100
  • NY Times Best Seller – $250
  • National Book Award – $500
  • The Booker Prize – $1,000
  • The Pulitzer Prize – $2,500

Not ready to register or donate? No problem! Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on all things Ames Writers Collective, events, programs, member spotlights, and more.

Name:
Email:

Join us, support us, and grow with us. Learn more about Fifth Street Writers here.

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Author

Tony Moton

What’s your genre?
Fiction

Are you published?
Self published

What inspired you to become a writer?
My grandmother and aunt gave me a typewriter for my 8th grade graduation. The rest is the proverbial history.

What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writing?
Gay Talese. His 2006 book A Writer’s Life helped crystallize my belief that writing is a vocation to be cherished. At their core, writers and journalists are educators who just happen to be wordsmiths. I find none more enthralling that Mr. Talese, who can weave a tale finer than his custom-made suits.

Name three of your favorite books and their authors
A Writer’s Life by Gay Talese
Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America by Nathan McCall
Tracy Flick Can’t Win by Tom Perrotta

What’s one thing readers should know about you?
I joined my high school newspaper the first week of my freshman year and they assigned me varsity football. That event—and my Apollo GT electric typewriter—changed my life forever.

What one piece of advice would you give to a budding writer?
Write when you want to. Write when you have to. Write when you need to. Just write.

Author Bio
Tony Moton is an assistant professor of sports media, journalism and broadcasting in his second year at Iowa State University. An award-winning journalist and screenwriter, the native of Chicago holds master’s degrees in both fields from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and UCLA, respectively. He has worked as a sportswriter, entertainment columnist, magazine writer and investigative reporter across the country, including his hometown, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Omaha, Kansas City, Des Moines, Las Vegas and the Quad Cities. To learn more about Tony, click here.

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Member

Doug A. Gentile

Douglas A. Gentile, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University, the leader of Ames’ premiere jazz band the Indigo Monks, and is a Zen monk with the Ames Buddhist Mahasangha. He writers primarily nonfiction, with books published by Penguin, Oxford, Cambridge, and Praeger.

He often writes with a fountain pen which