Meet the Judges
Bianca Hezekiah (Student)
Bianca Hezekiah is an avid reader with an affinity for youth literature and a love for connecting people to information. Previously, she served for five years as a judge for Brooklyn Public Library’s Ned Vizzini Teen Writing Contest. With over ten years of experience in the book industry, she is committed to promoting more inclusion and diversity in literature while also supporting multiple types of knowledge acquisition. Bianca puts her passions for teen advocacy, pop culture, and crafting to good use as Young Adult Librarian at Abbot Public Library. She earned her MLIS degree from Pratt Institute and her BFA at Cornell University.
Jennifer Martelli (Poetry)
Jennifer Martelli is the author of The Queen of Queens, winner of the 2023 Italian American Studies Association Book Award and selected as a “Must Read” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book, and My Tarantella, also selected as a “Must Read” and named as a finalist for the Housatonic Book Award. She is the author of the chapbooks All Things Are Born to Change Their Shapes, In the Year of Ferraro, and After Bird. Her work has appeared in The Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, Poetry, The Tahoma Literary Review, Scoundrel Time, Verse Daily, Iron Horse Review, and elsewhere. Jennifer Martelli has twice received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for her poetry. She is co-poetry editor for Mom Egg Review (MER).
Regina Robbins Flynn (Nonfiction)
Regina Robbins’ interests include writing, especially creative nonfiction, travel writing, and poetry. She taught at Salem State University from 1993 to 2023 and coordinated the Professional Writing Program in the English Department. For eight years she was a member of the City Council in Salem, Massachusetts. She recently retired and now lives in Maine.
Rachael Meneades (Fiction)
Rachael Meneades is the Head of Technical Services at Abbot Public Library. She earned her MLIS degree at Simmons University and has over a decade of experience working in public libraries on the North Shore of Massachusetts. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English at Salem State University. While she enjoys revisiting classic literature and checking out what is on The New York Times Best Sellers list, she will always find time to delve into an engrossing mystery novel, often sharing her top picks with the mystery book group she runs at Abbot Public Library.
