Our Staff

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    Sara Schaff, Executive Editor

    Sara Schaff is an assistant professor at SUNY Plattsburgh, where she teaches fiction, creative nonfiction, playwriting, and screenwriting. A 2024 NYSCA/NYFA Fellow in Fiction, she is the author of the story collections The Invention of Love (Split/Lip Press) and Say Something Nice About Me (Augury Books), a 2017 Firecracker Award Finalist and a Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist for Short Fiction. Her writing has appeared in Kenyon Review, Catapult, LitHub, Yale Review Online, and elsewhere. Find her work at saraschaff.com.

  • Gbolahan Adeola, PROSE EDITOR

    Gbolahan Adeola holds an MFA in Literary Arts from Brown University, where he was awarded the John Hawkes Prize and the Feldman Prize in fiction. His work has received recognition and support from the Best American Short Stories anthology, MacDowell, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. He is currently pursuing a PhD in English at Yale University.

  • Shawna Mefferd Kelty, Drama Editor

    Shawna Kelty is an associate professor and chair of theatre at SUNY Plattsburgh, where she teaches directing, dramatic literature, history, and performance. She is a director, dramaturg, and performer. She is a KCACTF Region 1 invited National Playwriting Program play respondent. As an artist, Shawna works primarily in new play development at universities and on some professional stages, and through several theatre organizations like ATHE, MATC, Great Plains Theatre Conference, and the Valdez Theatre Conference. Her recent directing projects include Joe Stollenwerk's Jan and Joe, the world premiere of Kristen Ritter's Nefarious, and Caitlin Turnage's In a Darkroom, The Lord Knows. Upcoming projects include directing Emily Krause's Something for the Fish, Ayesha Siddiqui’s The Intervention, and artistic direction for SUNY Plattsburgh's 2023 Climate Play Festival.

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    Kora Austin, Reader

    Kora Austin is a graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh with a Bachelor’s in Writing Arts and a certificate in Professional Writing. She worked on Issues 17 and 18 of Saranac Review. Recently, Kora started her paralegal studies through Binghamton University. Her favorite genres include fantasy, fiction, and narrative poetry.

  • Lamar Childs, Reader

    Lamar Childs served as Editorial Assistant on Issue 18. He will graduate this spring from SUNY Plattsburgh with a degree in Writing Arts. He enjoys reading and writing poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. He hopes to enter the writing world in some way.

  • Ivonne Edrington, Reader

    Ivonne Edrington is a recent graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh, with a degree in Writing Arts. They served as a tutor for the Educational Opportunity Program at (EOP) at Plattsburgh during the summer. Their favorite genre to read and write is horror. 

  • Johan Robinson, Reader

    Johan Robinson was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Her fascination with literature began when she read her first novel series, Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne. Her need to consume as many different stories as possible was fulfilled when her mom took her to the local public library every Friday. She later went on to attend St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, where she majored in English. For her master's degree, Johan attended Relay Graduate School of Education through Teach for America. During her two-year corps commitment, she worked at a Coney Island charter school, teaching eighth-grade English. Johan later taught Humanities to fifth graders at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights. When she is not reading a mystery/thriller novel, Johan loves spending time outdoors.

  • Cheryth Youngmann, Reader

    Cheryth Youngmann grew up in a home surrounded by books, in a tiny New York town so close to the border it might as well have been Vermont. She graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh in 2021 with degrees in English Literature and English Writing Arts and a certificate in Professional Writing. After brief stints in journalism and painting church bell towers, she found a professional home at the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology, where she writes about students, bugs, and fish as the school’s Communications Coordinator.

  • Kelli Charland, Social Media Manager

    Kelli Charland is a junior at SUNY Plattsburgh double majoring in English Literature and Creative Writing with a minor in psychology. She has previously worked as the copy editor for the student-run literary and arts magazine, North Star, and works in downtown Plattsburgh at The Corner Stone Bookshop. In her free time, Kelli loves coffee, sculpting ceramics, and reading fantasy, sci-fi, and horror. She plans to attend graduate school for creative writing.

  • Lauren Waldron, Operations Assistant

    Lauren Waldron is the Administrative Assistant in the English Department at SUNY Plattsburgh. She was born and raised in the North Country and is raising her daughter and two beagles in Peru, New York. Lauren loves to be outside whenever possible and enjoys hunting and fishing with her husband. Saranac Review could not function without her calm and meticulous approach to solving any problem that comes her way.

Meet Issue 20's Editorial Assistants!

  • Kylie Ayala

    Kylie Ayala is a sophomore at SUNY Plattsburgh, double majoring in Creative Writing and Spanish. During her freshman year, she worked as a staff member for the student-run literary and arts magazine, North Star and had her poem, “The Willow’s Fulfillment,” published within it. In her free time, she enjoys reading fantasy books and listening to music.

  • Sydney Blake

    Sydney Blake is a Writing Arts and Journalism major. She has an appreciation for reading different genres of literature. In her free time, she enjoys writing, yoga, listening to music, and being with friends.

  • Jenna Charland

    Jenna Charland is a junior Creative Writing major at SUNY Plattsburgh. She has worked for and been published in North Star, a literary and arts magazine run by students on Plattsburgh's campus. Jenna loves writing, reading, ice skating, archery, and any other hobby she can get her hands on.

  • Adam Campney

    Adam is a sophomore Creative Writing major at SUNY Plattsburgh and plans on adding a Cultural Anthropology minor. Much of his leisure is spent taking in different worlds of fantasy—both via a page and a screen—and he often find himself infatuated with the mystical and mythical. His writing attempts to capture the surreal and thrums with a sense of confusion. He enjoys writing, 80’s rock, gaming, and the occasional hike.

  • Grace Estus

    Grace Estus is a sophomore at SUNY Plattsburgh, majoring in Creative Writing and English Literature. She has worked as a staff member for North Star, the student-run literary magazine on SUNY Plattsburgh’s campus, and she has always loved reading and writing. In her free time she loves running, listening to music, and being outside.

  • Luke De Jager

    Luke De Jager is a junior majoring in Creative Writing at SUNY Plattsburgh. He does not like writing about himself, especially in the third person. He feels a bit silly writing this. Silly is his calling. He wants to be professionally silly one day.

  • Will Lutz

    Will is a junior at SUNY Plattsburgh, majoring in Writing Arts. He mainly enjoys learning about medieval and early modern history, as well as reading and writing lots of fiction inspired by it. He also spends his time playing action role-playing video games, watching basketball, hiking, and camping.

  • Zachary Nasby

    Zachary Nasby is a junior Creative Writing major at SUNY Plattsburgh. He likes to read comics and plays.

  • Felisha (Li) Tuttle

    Li is a sophomore at SUNY Plattsburgh, majoring in Creative Writing with a minor in Social Justice. Li believes that reading, particularly about social issues, is the first step in understanding a wide variety of people and the beginning of developing a true sense of empathy.   She also believes that a true sense of empathy is what makes a good writer, and more importantly a kind person.