Blue Ridge Writers
Our Board
Who We Are
Gerry Kruger
Gerry Kruger is secretary of the BRWBoard. She also facilitates a monthly critique group session for BRW members and members of The Center at Belvedere. Gerry holds a bachelor of arts degree from Longwood College and a master's degree in education from the University of Virginia.
A native Virginian, Gerry moved to Charlottesville in 1979 and taught English there for twenty-seven years. After her retirement from teaching, Gerry began writing about the Canada geese she befriended on her Ivy pond. She has self-published several books and served as a judge in the annual Fralin Museum’s Writer’s Eye literary competition at the University of Virginia.
Secretary
Gwendolyn Poole
Gwendolyn Poole became a member of BRW after joining the Virginia Writers Club in 2016. Shortly thereafter, her story “If God Gave Me Wings” placed in the 2016 Blue Ridge Writers Contest/Virginia Writers Club and subsequently was published in Skyline 2017, an anthology showcasing the prose and poetry talents of Central Virginia writers. In addition, the Journal of the Blue Ridge Writers—which publishes periodic journals containing regional creators' fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art and where Gwen served as an editor—has published several of her stories.
Gwen holds a bachelor of art's degree in sociology from Guilford College and an associate of fine arts degree from Guilford Technical Community College. Her interest in sociology often is reflected in her written work.
When not writing short stories, Gwen enjoys scriptwriting and play directing, creating and teaching choreography, and playing handbells.
As a board member and coordinator of the annual Blue Ridge Writers Blue Nib contest, Gwen seeks to attract a more diverse audience to join Blue Ridge Writers and more diversity in the works submitted to—and published in—the Blue Ridge Writers Journal. She is working closely with other BRW board members who also share these goals. Gwen may be reached at woodlea@hotmail.com.
Brenda Morris
Brenda A. Morris is a retired teacher who lives in Central Virginia. Her poetry books have been published under the pen names of BA Morris and briin amoor.
Treasurer
Lillian Connor
Chair
Lillian Connor lives in Charlottesville. She has a Masters in German Language and Literature and a Masters in English Literature from the University of Missouri-Columbia. As a military spouse who early on moved often, she has been a teacher of language and writing and travelled extensively. She has participated in critiques and submitted work in the Blue Ridge Writers Group about her parents’ lives in Hungary before and around the time of the 1956 Revolution and their escape. Lillian won second place in nonfiction in the 2019 Blue Nib Writers Contest and second place in nonfiction the previous year in the 2018 Blue Nib Writers Contest. She is currently working on a book about the topic. In addition to writing nonfiction, she likes to write fiction, mostly animal stories for children, and a bit of poetry as well.
