Shelley Benaroya

Shelley Benaroya is a published writer and poet who has taught creative writing and composition for more than 20 years. As a teaching artist, certified English teacher, and college instructor, she has helped students—young and old—discover the poet and storyteller within. Her awards include poetry and teaching fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Her work has appeared in all the sins, Burningwood Literary Journal, Diner, Ekphrasis, The Ekphrastic Review, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Letters Journal, The Lyric, The Road Not Taken, Thirteenth Moon, and elsewhere. In 2017, she received the Ekphrasis Prize and a Pushcart Prize nomination.

In addition to her role as founding director of the Writing Center for Creative Aging, Ms. Benaroya serves as a poet-in-the schools for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She joined the roster of teaching artists at Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey in 2000, NJPAC in 2005. A National Center for Creative Aging-trained teaching artist, Shelley was invited to join Lifetime Arts' Creative Aging roster of professional artists in 2023. Rutgers University's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute presented her with their Marlene M. Pomper Distinguished Teaching Award that same year. She has worked as an arts education administrator, writer, editor, and public relations executive for such companies as the AIE Consortium, CES Publishing, Simon & Shuster, Highgate Pictures, The Rowland Company, and NBC News.