Wyoming Writers, Inc.

Board of Directors

Andrew Call, President

Andrew Call is a writer and photographer living in Laramie. Short stories are his bread and butter, but like any self-respecting/self-loathing fiction writer, he’s got half-formed skeletons of a novel or two collecting dust in the closet.

Andrew graduated from the University of Wyoming in 2010 with a focus on marketing, advertising, and creative writing. He's a supporter of the Oxford comma.He has worked professionally from the technical end of the writing spectrum—website copy for a restaurant supply business in Colorado, back cover book blurbs, and copy editing for an independent publisher out of Washington, copywriting for a content marketing company based in Nevada—but every so often, he’s drawn back by the siren song of short fiction.

Edith Cook, Vice-President

Miss Edith publishes opinion for the online Cheyenne Post. Her most recent is on fentanyl, “The F-Drug.” In addition, her work has appeared in several anthologies and many literary magazines.

Miss Edith worked as translator before immigrating and marrying in California. She taught writing and literature at a number of colleges and universities, including at Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs) in Nashville, TN. In Wyoming, she received the Wyoming Arts Council’s Frank D. Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award. Visit her at www.edithcook.com, where she uses her nom de plume, Miss Edith at Windy Acres.

Melissa Cook, Secretary

Melissa Cook grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and Tucson, Arizona, before moving to Wyoming, where she married Elgin Cook. Together they raised three boys in bush Alaska while working as teachers and school district administrators. Melissa earned advanced degrees in school administration and educational technology from the University of Alaska and bachelor's degrees in education and composite social science from Black Hills State University in South Dakota.

Melissa’s best-selling memoir “The Call of the Last Frontier” won the Western Horizon Award in 2022 and the High Plains Books Award finalist in 2022. She works as an extension educator for the University of Wyoming, focusing on health and EMS. In her spare time, she volunteers for the local fire department, maintains her EMT certification, and creates videos for her Wyoming Jeepers YouTube channel.

Gene Gagliano, Supporting Board Member

Eugene M. Gagliano, Wyoming Poet Laureate, is an award winning children's author and speaker. His children's humorous poetry book Is It True? was chosen to represent the state of Wyoming at the 2018 National Book Festival in Washington D.C.. The sequel, What Did You Say? was released in August 2021. His other children's poetry books include C is for Cowboy, Four wheels West, V is for Venus Flytrap and My Teacher Dances on the Desk ( Delaware Diamond's Book List Award winner) and The Magic Box. His adult poetry books include A Wyoming State of Mind, Prairie Parcels, and More Than Four Seasons.

Erik Saulness, Supporting Board Member

New to the board, Erik Saulness will also be joining the team for the 2023-2024 term. We look forward to having him on board.

alan o'hashi, Past President

Alan O’Hashi has written for publication since he was a reporter and columnist for the CareyJunior High School “Tumbleweed” newspaper in Cheyenne. He’s been a narrative and documentary filmmaker, having co-produced “Mahjong and the West” (Prime Video). He has two documentaries in post-production, “Beyond Sand Creek” and “Beyond Heart Mountain.” The latter is also a memoir being published by Winter Goose Publishing. Alan is a typewriter collector and types up his first drafts.

Alan is pictured posing with Robert Frost, a sculpture by George Lundeen, one of Alan’s Hastings College classmates.

Millie Copper, Treasurer

Millie Copper was born in Nebraska but never lived there. Her parents fully embraced wanderlust and moved regularly, giving her an advantage of being from nowhere and everywhere.

Millie Copper lives in the wilds of Wyoming with her husband and young son, tending chickens and attempting a food forest on their small homestead.

Since 2009, Millie has authored articles on traditional foods, alternative health, homesteading, and preparedness—many times all within the same piece. Millie has penned seven nonfiction, traditional food focused books.