Club News & Events

Anne E. Evans,
MFA (ND 1995)
is a Jackson, MS native who currently teaches English and Creative Writing as a Visiting Professor at the Metropolitan State College of Denver, Auraria Campus. Anne earned her B.A. in English at the University of Notre Dame. She then served a year of volunteer work through the Holy Cross Associates at the Center For AIDS Services in Oakland, CA. She continued to work there as the Volunteer Coordinator for two successive years. She then returned to Mississippi to earn her M.A. in Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi. Following that degree she earned her M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from George Mason University. She has written numerous short stories and also recently had a short story entitled “Heat Lightning on a Clear Day” published in Fireflies in Fruit Jars, an anthology of Southern Writers. The story follows a family as they try to reconnect after the loss of a child.

Anne is currently working on two novels: The Henry Story and The Turning Season, both yet unpublished but being reviewed by agents and publishers. The Turning Season is currently agent represented.

Anne is a marathoner and penned an article about her experience: “Marathon” published in Portico Magazine, Jackson, MS, September, 2007. Anne relocated to Denver in 2007 and enjoys living in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. She is still writing, teaching and running. She Writes Amidst Us!

Vivian Gembara,
Esq (ND 1997)
was awarded seven medals, including the Bronze Star, for her service as a U.S. Army Judge Advocate General. In Iraq, she served as the prosecutor and legal advisor for the 4th Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team. In addition to gathering evidence used in the trial against Saddam Hussein, she conducted the first trial of a U.S. soldier in Iraq and initiated several major investigations into detainee abuse. Gembara advised commanders and soldiers on combat rules of engagement, helped re-establish the judicial system in two Iraqi provinces, and was a member of the team that negotiated the surrender of a major armed Iranian opposition force operating in Iraq. A frequent speaker on the military justice system, she has been interviewed by CNN, the BBC, and Reuters.

Born in Tehran, Gembara attended the University of Notre Dame on an Army ROTC scholarship, graduated from Army Airborne School, received her law degree from the College of William and Mary, and graduated from the Army Judge Advocate General School. Drowning in the Desert: A JAG's Search for Justice in Iraq is part legal thriller, part searing combat drama. It is the true story of Captain Vivian Gembara, the 28-year-old officer behind the Army's first major investigation into detainee abuse. It is also the never told story of how this investigation was thwarted. Drowning in the Desert is Vivian’s first book. Vivian currently lives in Denver with her husband (also a Domer) and their two dogs. She Writes Amidst Us!
www.drowninginthedesert.com