Meet your candidates and vote!

President Kate Landers has served on the Board for five consecutive years, as Secretary, Vice President, and Director. She has helped with the membership, contests, anthologies, the newsletter, website, and more. She mainly writes children’s literature and short stories, but occasionally dabbles in poetry and scripts. As President, she hopes to be able to increase membership participation and the CWG’s presence in the community, and to help more writers fulfil their literary goals.

Vice President Helga Kidder loves poetry.  She founded the Chattanooga Writers Guild with two friends in 2001 and has been leading a monthly poetry group since then.  She writes to sort out her life with family, friends, and the world.  She has five collections of poetry, Wild Plums, Luckier than the Stars, Blackberry Winter, Loving the Dead which won the Blue Light Press Book Award 2020, and Learning Curve — poems about immigration and assimilation.  She hopes to contribute to the efforts of the Chattanooga Writers Guild, inspiring you with monthly programs, bi-annual or annual workshops, and providing opportunities for all writers.  

Secretary Cynthia Young joined the Guild in 2014, and became part of Helga Kidder’s support group. She is an adjunct professor of Poetry at Covenant College. Her chapbook, Migration, was published in 2018 ( Finishing Line Press). The Guild helped Cynthia believe that: 1) She could write poetry; 2) She could get published; and 3) She had writers who would help her reach her goals. She would like to serve on the Board as a way of giving back some of what the Guild has given her over the years. She hopes the CWG can attract more writers of color, writers to join support groups and, even though writers tend to be loners, to see the importance of being in community.

Treasurer Chris Wood joined the Chattanooga Writers’ Guild (CWG) in 2012 and served as Treasurer from 2013 to 2016 and 2020 to present. She writes poetry and attends Helga Kidder’s poetry group. She is a Lease Maintenance Manager for CBL Properties and she has a bachelor’s degree in Accounting with extensive experience in bookkeeping. She is running for reelection to continue the momentum of getting back out into the community now that everything is back to normal. She wants to create consistency by returning to in-person regularly scheduled monthly programs at the same time and location each month, along with the added benefit of virtual attendance. 

Director Natalie Kimbell has been a member of CWG for seven years. She has served on the board as Program Director for one year. She writes poetry, non-fiction, and fiction and in her spare time teaches English, theater arts and creative writing at her high school alma mater, Sequatchie County High School. Natalie has two adult children and four grandchildren who often fuel her writing. She hopes to continue working with the board this coming term.

Director Sherry Poff has been a member of the Chattanooga Writers’ Guild since November 2001. She has been involved in first one and then another critique group for nonfiction writers and now helps host the CNF&P group for those who write Creative NonFiction and Poetry. She teaches high school English and first year College Writing. Sherry values our organization enough to give a little now and then to keep things going. She is aware that if people do not step up, we will all go down and lose the lovely support system that many have worked so hard to create. 

Director Sharon Shadrick is a retired writing lab teacher with an epic dream of being a published author. She has co-written two unpublished middle grade novels, and is finishing the final edits on a nonfiction book. Sharon joined Chattanooga Writers Guild for the first time in July 2012 and has remained a member off and on ever since. Sharon lives in the Blue Sewanee neighborhood in Dunlap with her husband Mark and three grateful rescue dogs. She loves visits from her children and grandchildren and dreams of traveling to Scotland to visit all the Outlander film sites. Visit her blog Sweet Tea in a Mason Jar for stories about life from a southern perspective. 

Director Camden Adler has been a member of the CWG since February, 2022. He helped judge poetry in this year’s Spring Writing Contest. He writes Nonfiction, Poetry, Children’s Literature, Short Stories/Flash, Blogs, Songwriting, Journalism, Romance, and more. In addition to his job, he is a full-time student.