Introducing Lisa Wagner | Ground Orchid

Lisa Wagner brings to you her background in business administration, production management, publishing and editing, magazine editorial, the fine arts and rare books market, and her experience running live performances (and parties!).  Working on projects as diverse as The Egyptian Book of the Dead, Hotel Amerika, and BrooksDay — an annual celebration of the Pulitzer Prize Winner Gwendolyn Books -- Lisa has worked as the Executive Director for the Guild Literary Complex as well as the Executive Director for Business Partners, The Chamber for Uptown, in Chicago, Illinois. Lisa also has been the Managing Editor for Hotel Amerika, the Acquisitions Manager and Development Editor for KWS Publishers, Partner at Intrinsic Books, Writing and Rhetoric Instructor at Columbia College, Research Assistant to special projects at the Chickasaw Nation, a fine arts gallery manager in Chicago.  She  currently works in Warsaw, Poland as an English instructor and curricula developer, serves on the Advisory Committee for the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, The Chicago City of Refuge, and is a consultant and development editor on multiple publishing projects including work with WMU,  SANARTE, and most recently as the Editor on Annie Allen: the 75th Anniversary Edition, Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks.  

Lisa holds an MFA in Creative Non­Fiction Writing from Columbia College Chicago, paying particular attention to the long ­form and polemical essay.  Her background and BA in Art History and Religion from Lake Forest College, and MA in Critical Theory, Literature, and Women’s and Gender Studies from DePaul University speaks to her ongoing interest focused on the political and historical elements of narrative shaping contemporary forms across artistic disciplines.  Lisa is a Caxtonian, and a lifetime member of Phi Beta Kappa, and the Golden Key Honor Society. She is an  A+ Level TESOL/TEFL Certified Instructor, tutoring adults from across the globe.