Leanne Rose Sowul is an award-winning writer whose fiction and creative nonfiction publication credits include Juxtaprose Magazine, under the gum tree, 5 Minutes Lit, Barnstorm Journal, Confrontation, Hippocampus Magazine, and Brevity. In early 2020, Leanne gave a live reading of her essay “The Band Room” at Lincoln Center in New York City, as part of Writers Read’s “Gratitude” series. In 2017, she won the Scott Meyer Award for personal essay. (See “Writing/Speaking Portfolio for links.)
In 2023, Leanne started the Good Character newsletter on Substack, and in 2024, she and her writing group created the literary magazine In a Flash, which publishes one excellent piece of flash creative nonfiction each month, written to theme. Leanne serves as co-founder, co-editor and Substack Master for In a Flash.
Leanne is also an accomplished music teacher and winner of the All-American Dream Champion Award. As an elementary band teacher, she has directed more than three hundred student performances and can play every band instrument (just don’t give her a cello!). Her master’s degree in Humanistic and Multicultural Education led her to restorative social justice work, and she has given presentations on the intersection of music and equity at the local and state levels. She is in the process of earning her National Board Teaching Certification in Early/Middle Childhood Music.
Leanne lives with her husband and two children in the Hudson Valley area of New York. Besides writing, reading voraciously, and playing music, she also enjoys running, baking, exploring history and geography with her son, and dancing to Disney songs with her daughter.