Founded and led by New Orleans writers and artists ✏️, educators and scholars 📚️, editors and designers 🖥, LMNL is a nonprofit literary and arts organization dedicated to giving creatives the means to connect with one another, exchange ideas, and grow as professionals.
LMNL’s mission is to create space and opportunities for literary and art communities in the Greater New Orleans Region and beyond 🌏. We are passionate about what we can do when combining forces and are excited to promote, to be a part of, and to foster New Orleans’ many dynamic individuals and extensive collaboratives ❤️️.
Meet Our Team! 💪
Nikki Ummel //
Executive Director
Nikki Ummel has been published by The Georgia Review, Black Lawrence Press, and others. She is the 2022 recipient of the Leslie McGrath Poetry Prize and 2025 recipient of the New American Poetry Prize for her manuscript, Swamp Elegies, forthcoming in 2026.
Jessica Brasseur // Board Member
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Kirsten Reneau // Board Member
Kirsten Reneau // Board MemberKirsten Reneau is a teacher and writer, with a focus in creative nonfiction. She has two chapbooks, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Weirder and Meeting Gods in Basement Bars and Other Ways to Find Forgiveness. Her first full length collection, Sensitive Creatures, can be found most places you look. She’s the current reigning poet laureate of Parlor Books.
Max Ciolino //
Board Member
Max Ciolino is active in the local writing, environmental, and legal communities. He shares his life with wife, his newborn son, and two shepskis. He writes under the pseudonym Max Rauhman, and can be reached at Max.Rauhman@gmail.com
