Marilyn Ramírez is a writer and poet based in California. She has works published in Epiphany Lit, The Plentitudes, ¡Pa’lante!, The Poetry Lab, and elsewhere. She has been awarded the Epiphany Literary Journal Breakout! Writers Prize, the UC Davis Dean’s Graduate Award, the Literary Women of Long Beach Harriet Williams Writer Prize, and was a finalist for the This Is Poetry prize. Marilyn was the Fiction Editor for The Plentitudes, an Editorial Intern for Huizache Magazine, and is currently the Managing Editor for Abode Press. She is an alum of the TinHouse Summer Workshop. Marilyn is currently working on her first collection of short stories where she obsesses over crossings, hauntings, and cenotes. Originally from Pico Rivera, she was raised by Mexican parents and three older siblings, and (un)fortunately carries traits of youngest child syndrome. She holds a BA in Rhetoric & Composition, a BA in Creative Writing, and an MFA in Creative Writing. She is a proud tía.
Making his debut at Stories on Stage Davis, Juan Chavez will read “Crossings,” by Marilyn Ramirez. A graduate of the Sac State Theatre program and a former apprentice at Capital Stage in Sacramento, Juan has previously been in productions for Bike City, B Street, and Capstage. He is very excited to be a part of Stories on Stage.
Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum is the author of the novel Elita (published by TriQuarterly Press/Northwestern University Press in January, 2025) and the story collection Outer Stars, which won the 2025 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction (UNT Press) and will be published in November, 2025. Her three previous collections of short fiction are What We Do with the Wreckage, which won the 2017 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction; Swimming with Strangers (Chronicle Books, 2008); and This Life She’s Chosen (Chronicle Books, 2005). Kirsten’s short fiction has been honored with a PEN/O. Henry Prize, and her stories have appeared widely in journals, among them The Sun, Prairie Schooner, Ploughshares, One Story, and McSweeney’s. She has held fellowships from MacDowell, Sewanee, the Jack Straw Writers Program, and the Willa Cather Foundation. Kirsten is a member of the English Department faculty at Seattle’s Bush School and Whitworth University’s Low Residency MFA.
Analise Langford-Clark will read “Dear Mistress,” by Kirsten Sundberg Lunstum. Analise has been involved in community theatre in the Sacramento Area for the last 20 years. Some of her favorite roles include Janet van de Graff in The Drowsy Chaperone with Fair Oaks Theatre Festival, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at American River College, and Marie-Therese in Adoration of Dora with Kolt Run Creations. She is a survivor of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and she and her father help raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where she was lucky enough to have been treated. While her first love is theatre, she is an avid reader and is thrilled to get to participate in this program!