Officers
President
Janna Benge
Janet (Janna) Benge has been on the board of the Kerouac Project since 2010 and president of the organization for four years.
Janna is a New Zealander who first came to the United States in 1984 and settled in Central Florida in 1993. In New Zealand, she was an elementary school teacher and has followed that up with a 35-year career (so far) as a writer. Working as a team with her husband Geoff, they have ghostwritten over 200 books and currently write two series of biographies geared toward the high school/young adult market. There are currently 80 books in these two series with sales of over eight million copies in 22 languages.
In addition to her own writing, Janna has a passion to encourage emerging writers and help them find their writing voice. She and her husband are also currently running online writing courses for high school-aged students.
Janna enjoys working with the Kerouac Project Board of Director and is excited to be part of the upcoming fundraising drive to raise money to cover the cost of maintenance and repairs to the 100-year-old Kerouac House, so it can continue hosting writers-in-residence through the next 100 years.
Vice President Residency Program
Geoff Benge
Geoff Benge is excited to be involved with the ongoing work of the Kerouac Project of Orlando, Inc. He particularly enjoys his yearly involvement in the process of selecting the next four people to become writers-in-residence at the Kerouac House. Writing books commercially for the past 36 years, he wishes he could have undertaken a residency devoted to helping and encouraging emerging writers, like the one at the Kerouac House, at the beginning of his writing career.
Geoff, who originally hails from New Zealand, began attending events at the Kerouac House eighteen years ago and he is delighted to see how the residency program has grown and matured over the years. He particularly enjoys talking with the residents, other writers in the local community and beyond, encouraging them and imparting to them some lessons he’s learned about writing and publishing throughout his career.
Vice President Fundraising & Promotion
Mona El Alaoui
Mona El Alaoui’s professional experience includes both non-profit and private sector positions with such multinational and world-renowned organizations as UNICEF, Procter & Gamble, Beiersdorf, and Johnson Wax. She has lived in over 14 different countries and created sustainable, lasting relationships with men and women from over 75 countries as a true citizen of the world
Mona’s work with UNICEF provided her the opportunity to create marketing and business development strategies that heightened the organization’s profile and offerings on a global scale. In a 6+-year tenure with Procter & Gamble, her contributions as a Senior Brand Manager, Brand Manager, and Consultant resulted in dramatic sales and market share growth for key product offerings, as well as a substantial turnaround for a previously declining business.
Mona graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. Her professional training is extensive, her business experience runs deep, and she brings a coach’s heart to the Kerouac Board!
Vice President Properties
Burns Hovey
Short bio of board member. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Treasurer
William Jones
William C. Jones is a commercial relationship manager at SunTrust and has over 25 years of Institutional and Commercial banking experience.
William is actively involved in the Orlando community, currently serving on the Advisory Board of the Rollins College – Hamilton Holt School. Additionally, he serves on the Board of Directors as the Treasurer for the Jack Kerouac Project of Orlando, Inc.
William has previously served the community as Board Member for the Good Shepherd Catholic School Foundation, mentor for Orlando/Orange County COMPACT and a Board Member for the Florida Development Finance Corporation.
Secretary
Karen Price
Karen Price earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Cedarville University and a Master of Arts in English from the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.
Before moving to Florida, Karen was a book editor in New York for Avery Publishing Group, now a subsidiary of Penguin Putnam. She has extensive experience in publishing and has worked as a proofreader, copy editor, book editor, book and magazine designer, and magazine editor.
Under the name “Karen Price Hossell,” she is the author of more than forty nonfiction books and the editor of several anthologies. She has also created games for Scholastic. Karen is a Course Director in the English Department at Full Sail University and enjoys reading, watching movies, traveling, and spending time with her dog, Gunther, and her cat, Lucy.
Voting Directors
John King
John King is the host of the creative writing podcast, The Drunken Odyssey, as featured on “best of” lists by Book Riot and The Millions. He holds an MFA in fiction writing from New York University, and a doctorate in English from Purdue University. His novel, Guy Psycho and the Ziggurat of Shame, was published by Beating Windward Press in 2019. John’s creative work also appears in the anthologies 15 Views of Orlando, Other Orlandos, and Condoms and Hot Tubs Don’t Mix, as well as in journals, such as Gargoyle, The Newer York, and Painted Bride Quarterly. His scholarly work has appeared in The Journal of Modern Literature, Twentieth Century Literature, The Journal of Film and Video, and others. He has reviewed theatrical performances for Shakespeare Bulletin. He has worked on the editorial staffs of both Washington Square and Sycamore Review.
Brett Pribble
Brett Pribble is a teacher, writer, and editor. He moved to Orlando from the retirement home known as Sarasota after graduating high school. In the past few decades, he’s knocked on doors and volunteered for various progressives causes and organizations.
He’s taught creative writing at Full Sail University since 2006. There, he’s enjoyed helping young writers tap into their potential. His stories have appeared in such places as Stirring: A Literary Collection, decomP, Saw Palm, The Molotov Cocktail, Maudlin House, and Five of the Fifth. He is the editor-in-chief of Ghost Parachute, a flash fiction magazine.
Brett’s been on both the Board of Directors and Selection Committee of the Kerouac House since 2015. He works to bring synergy to the local writing community by bringing together residents and guests of the house, his students, and writers in artists in his magazine.
Vanessa Blakeslee
Vanessa Blakeslee is the author of three acclaimed books of literary fiction, Train Shots, Juventud, and most recently, Perfect Conditions, winner of the Foreword Reviews’ 2018 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award for Short Stories (Gold).
A native of Pennsylvania, Vanessa has lived in Central Florida for over twenty years. She is an alumnus of Rollins College, UCF, and Vermont College of Fine Arts where she earned her MFA in Writing, and subsequently served as Graduate Assistant for three residencies. From 2009-2011, she founded and directed Maitland Poets & Writers, a community organization which focuses on expanding the literary arts throughout Central Florida, as part of the Performing Arts of Maitland (PAM). Trained in the Amherst Writers & Artists’ method, she has led writing workshops in museums, high schools, and libraries, and is delighted for the opportunity to do so again for the Kerouac Project’s new quarterly “Write-In” series that will kick off in 2020. She has served as a judge for the Florida Review Jeanne Leiby Chapbook Award as well as the Individual Artist Fellowship in Literature from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.
Vanessa brings a wealth of expertise to our Board, having been awarded grants and residencies from Yaddo, Writers Omi, The Banff Centre, VCCA, the Ragdale Foundation, and many others. For more, please visit her website: www.vanessablakeslee.com.
Tom Lucas
Tom Lucas currently serves as Department Chair for the Creative Writing BFA degree program at Full Sail University. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Tom moved to Orlando in 2010.
As an active member of the local literary community, Tom has conducted independent writing workshops as well as participating in spoken word events around town.
Tom has been published in Ghost Parachute, The Orlando Weekly, Writer’s Digest, The Writer’s Monthly Review, The South End, The Oakland Press, The Macomb Daily, Orbit, Anthropomorphic, and U. Magazine. He is the author of the books Leather to the Corinthians and Pax Titanus.
Erik Deckers
Erik Deckers was the Spring 2016 writer-in-residence at the Kerouac House. He is a proud graduate of Ball State University, earning his B.S. in Philosophy and M.A. in College Student Personnel Administration.
Erik moved to Orlando in 2015, after spending his entire life in Indiana. He owns a content marketing agency and has worked in sales and marketing for nearly 27 years, as well as spending a couple of years handling crisis communication for the Indiana State Department of Health.
Erik has co-authored four books on social media marketing, including Branding Yourself and No Bullshit Social Media, as well as his first novel, Mackinac Island Nation, the first chapter of which was his submission for his Kerouac residency.
Erik is married to Toni, a local jazz singer and actor, and they have three children, Maddie, Emma, and Ben.
Barbara Fischler
SBarbara Ilvento-Fischler is a retired businesswoman and community volunteer who moved to Florida in 2010. Once she arrived, she dove right into College Park community life, getting elected to the College Park Board of Directors the following year.
She organized several Walking Tours of College Park Homes for a few years, before retiring and joining the College Park Art Center’s Board of Directors for two years.
She then joined the Kerouac Project Board of Directors in 2019 and has been a valuable addition to our organization.
Barbara is also a sculptor whose bust of Jack Kerouac greets every visitor who walks in the front door of the house.
Jeffrey Rembert
Jeffrey Rembert is a freelance writer, editor and public relations executive and serves as Associate Editor for FORWARD Florida magazine. He has worked for daily newspapers, local and trade magazines and corporate communications firms in the sports, agriculture, hospitality, real estate and finance sectors. He’s a graduate of Texas Tech University, earning a B.A. in Journalism with a minor in Business Administration, and The University of Texas at Austin, earning a B.B.A. in Management with a concentration in Political Science.
He’s cofounder of the Orlando writers group, Writers of Central Florida or Thereabouts, and produces open mics, comedy shows and performance workshops through Going Yard Productions. He also works in the commercial mortgage banking field, contributes to online publications and counsels writers independently and through the Florida Writers Association. He was a lieutenant on the Will Rogers Elementary School safety patrol, played Patrick Henry on stage in second grade and is a fifth-generation Texan. So, he talks funny when he drinks.
Some of Jeffrey’s work can be found at www.jeffrembert.com and www.forwardflorida.com. WOCFOT can be found on Facebook and Meet Up. He is married to Elizabeth, a fundraiser for Advent Health, and has two daughters, Ashley and Brittany; one son-in-law, Greg; and one granddaughter, Ellie.
Rochelle Hurt
Rochelle Hurt is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing in the English Department at the University of Central Florida, where she teaches in the undergraduate and graduate writing programs. She is the author of three books of poetry, including The J Girls: A Reality Show (Indiana University Press, 2022), In Which I Play the Runaway (Barrow Street, 2016), and The Rusted City (White Pine, 2014).
Originally from Youngstown, Ohio, Rochelle received her MFA in Poetry from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and her Ph.D. in English with a focus in Creative Writing from the University of Cincinnati. She’s received fellowships and residencies from Jentel, Vermont Studio Center, Wildacres, Hambidge, and Yaddo.
She moved to Orlando in 2019 and has since given local workshops and judged poetry competitions for Lake Brantley High, Trinity Prep, and the Orlando Youth Alliance.
Patrick Greene