Shavawn M. Berry received her MFA specializing in Creative Nonfiction and Memoir at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in 1998. Between 1998 and 2002, she worked as a freelance writer. She started her teaching career in 2002 as an adjunct English Composition Instructor at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, WA. In the fall of 2004 she joined the faculty at Arizona State University to teach Business Writing and English Composition fulltime. During the summer she teaches Creative Writing for ASU Polytechnic Campus including "The Art of the Personal Essay" (ENH 370), "Writing Your Personal History" (ENH 320) and "Reflective Writing" (ENG 217).

In the past Ms. Berry taught a very successful one day spiritual writing workshop for the Piper Writer's Studio at ASU. In the Spring of 2008, she will teach writing workshops "Writing Through Times of Crisis" on March 29, 2008 and "Writing To Change The World" on May 3, 2008.  Information about these workshops is available on the Piper Studio's webpage. Look for her creative writing courses in both summer sessions this year. 

Shavawn's work is forthcoming or has been published in Poet Lore, California Quarterly, Westview - A Journal of Western Oklahoma, Meridian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, Concho River Review, North Atlantic Review, Synapse, Blue Mountain Arts/SPS, Living Buddhism, addictionsolutions.com, and buddhajones.com, among others. She is currently working on a spiritual memoir, a collection of poetry, and a number of personal essays. Besides teaching and writing, she is passionate about natural beauty, music, books, theater, film, and all kinds of fine art. Ms. Berry lives in Tempe with her cats, Emma, Finnegan and Edgar.