Summer 2018 Writers
Samantha De Trinidad
Samantha De Trinidad is a writer, medical cannabis cultivator, and food equity advocate. Her
original recipes can be found on Celiac.com, while her poems can be read in The Alaska
Quarterly Review, Transfer Literary Magazine, Cipactli Journal for Latino/a Art and Literature
and also heard on The Inner Loop Radio. She holds a degree in English from San Francisco
State University and is currently working on her first collection of poetry. Samantha hails from Northern California and currently resides in Washington DC with her partner where they tend their vegetable garden.
Read Sam's blog post about her time at Woodlawn here
Read the original writing piece Sam produced during her time at Woodlawn
Whitney Pipkin
Whitney Pipkin has been writing about food, farms and the environment as a freelance
journalist since moving to Northern Virginia in 2012. She also is a staff writer at the Chesapeake
Bay Journal, covering the nation's largest estuary and getting to know its historic places in the
process. Her freelance work appears nationally in The Washington Post, NPR, National
Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine and Civil Eats and in regional publications such as Virginia
Living, Northern Virginia Magazine and Arlington Magazine. Pipkin served as guest editor for
Edible DC’s summer 2016 issue focused on how to eat with the Chesapeake Bay in mind, and
she is currently working on the magazine's fall 2018 issue. She lives with her husband,
3-year-old daughter, 1-year-old son and mischievous dog in Springfield.
Read Whitney's blog post about her time at Woodlawn here
Read the original writing piece Whitney produced during her time at Woodlawn
Andrew Tran
Andrew Tran is an avid reader from the DC Metro area. He used to teach at a local Jewish
Community Center. In his spare time, he performs standup comedy at dive bars. He has
graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University and has received honorable mention for
Creative Nonfiction at the VCU Writing Awards. His fiction and poetry has been published in
Whurk Magazine, Berfrois, Borfski Press, Five: 2: One Magazine, Spinebind Magazine, Queens
Mob Teahouse, Defenestration, and The Virginia Normal. Follow him on Twitter: @AndyT187
and Instagram: andyman1900. He also has a website: andrewtranwrites.com.
Read Andrew's blog post about his time at Woodlawn here!
Read the original writing piece Andrew produced during his time at Woodlawn!
Gwen Van Velsor
Gwen Van Velsor writes creative nonfiction and pseudo-inspirational prose. She founded
Yellow Arrow Publishing, a project that publishes and supports writers who identify as
women. Her major accomplishments include walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in
Spain, raising a toddler, and being ok with life exactly as it is. Gwen wrote food and travel
columns for The Big Island Chronicle and The Summit Daily. Her adventure travel memoir,
Follow That Arrow, was published in 2016.
Read Gwen's blog post about her time at Woodlawn here!
Read the original writing piece Gwen produced during her time at Woodlawn!