J. Ryan Sommers has an MFA in creative writing from Columbia College Chicago. He and his wife recently left the windy city and relocated in Houston where Sommers teaches and continues to write.
Sommers has been writing stories since he was a kid. He found it to be an escape at one of the most difficult times of his life, his childhood. He studied writing in all its forms while earning his undergrad at the University of Arizona. From Tucson, Sommers moved to Los Angeles, where he studied screenwriting at UCLA. Briefly, after graduating, he wrote for Rotten Tomatoes. Yet, after years focused on writing, Sommers felt burned out and decided to change his creative direction. He launched Culture Cloth, a pop-culture apparel company. Sommers ran the company for four years, but never felt as fulfilled in his design work as he had with his writing. He still had stories to tell. So, in 2014, he closed down Culture Cloth and started back up with his writing. Seven years had passed, but he was determined to hone his skills and finally get published. An early draft of The Bog, his novella, was his writing sample. For his efforts he received a Graduate Merit Award from Columbia College Chicago, where he went on to shape the world of Conduits and Green Valley. He has published stories in Zoetic Press, So to Speak, Helen Literary Magazine, Storyfile Magazine, Menda City Press, and The Paragon Review. He also has an upcoming novella, The Bog, coming out late 2018. |
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