Shelby Dale DeWeese

Shelby Dale DeWeese spent her early years on a farm in rural Kentucky, where severe allergies and a general lack of interest in the outdoors led her to the world of books. Her lifetime love for stories is one of her most defining qualities. For example, her love for Harry Potter has driven her to volunteer as a transcriber and journalist for the fan site MuggleNet.com for almost a decade.

DeWeese has also been involved with several other publications. She’s lent her editorial and social media skills to Fractal Literary Magazine (which she co-founded), The Daily Trojan, Teen Ink Magazine, Switchback, Frontier Poetry, and Pinwheel. Her own poetry has been published in Rust+Moth, Jet Fuel Review, Moon City Review, and elsewhere.

DeWeese pursued her love of stories at the University of Southern California, where she double majored in Narrative Studies and Creative Writing and was a Trustee and Dornsife Scholar. Also during her time at USC, she interned at the nonprofit writing center 826LA. She later moved to San Francisco, where she earned her MFA in Writing (Poetry) at the University of San Francisco. She also joined the staff of 826 Valencia, where she works with pirate-turned-publisher Captain Blue to help elementary school students write and produce original storybooks.

Now, DeWeese is thrilled to join the staff of the International Congress of Youth Voices, where her twin loves of the written word and working with young people can come together in an inspiring new way. She’s excited to meet all of the delegates this August!