Staff

March Penn (Founder of DIY MFA) has been a regular on the open mic at Cantab since 2010 and writes about neurodiversity, gender fluidity, queer relationships, chronic illness and creative community building. During the pandemic, they started DIY MFA/ Self-Educating Poets Network to make literary education free and accessible using online resources. March’s first full-length book, Green Antelope Fire, is out with Game Over Books.

Jade Kleiner (Program Director of DIY MFA) is a trans fiction writer and poet. Her poems can be found in Neologism Poetry Journal, Gingerbread Ritual, The Orchards Poetry Journal, and New Note Poetry. After thirteen years of illness, her Plum Village and Unitarian Universalist practice support her poems about healing, observation, and history. She currently lives in New England, happily introducing others to haiku, flash fiction, and other forms that can be written on a bus.

Lace (they/them) (workshop host and event organizer) fell in love with slam poetry in 2015 and used to frequent the Boston Poetry Slam where they worked on their first chapbook Inhale (self published in 2019). After the pandemic, they moved most of their social life online and are excited by the ways DIY MFA expands access to discussions around poetry and writing in community. Lace likes to write poetry about identity politics, nature, and healing from trauma. They started the Tarot Writing Workshops with Britt and March in 2024 and are looking forward to attending and creating more events with DIY MFA. Lace lives in the Boston area with their wife and dog. They enjoy live music and dinner parties in their free time.