Left to right: C.Wess Daniels, Evelyn Jadin, Sarah Katreen Hoggatt, Cara Curtis, John Epur Lomuria, Angelina Conti, Rachel Miller, Emma Condori Mamani, Harriet Hart, Katrina McQuail.

Cara Curtis (20) grew up in the schools, youth programs and summer camps of Baltimore Yearly Meeting (FGC-FUM) and is now a student at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania. Having grown up in the unprogrammed tradition of Quakerism, in January 2008 she followed a leading to visit among Friends in Northwest Yearly Meeting (FUM-EFI). Of that experience she says: “There was no way I was going to be able to re-convey the stories that were being told to me with any of the same depth and authenticity that they were given to me. So when I came across this project it felt like a blessing, a natural continuation of the work I was doing.” Reflecting on youth movement among Friends, she says: “I’ve noticed a kind of building tide of energy among younger Friends, and a lot of that energy seems to be directed toward dialogue and bridge-building between different branches of our faith.”

C. Wess Daniels (29) has been part of the Evangelical Friends Church Eastern Region (EFI), including working as a youth pastor, since the late 1990’s when he was a student at Malone College in Canton, Ohio. He has written for Friends Journal, Quaker Life Magazine, and The Friend, and is also a participant in the online publishing community QuakerQuaker.org. During the summer of 2007 he lived in the UK and studied at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Center in England, focusing on theological issues related to Friends with Quaker scholar Ben Pink Dandelion. He is currently working on a PhD in postmodern culture, Quaker tradition and theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Los Angeles. He says of the Quaker Youth Book Project: “I see working with QUIP as a great opportunity not only to gain experience in the area of publishing and editing, but also to work with international Friends and extend my relationships as well as understanding of the unity and diversity among Friends.”

Harriet Hart (20) has served Britain Yearly Meeting’s youth programs as both an active participant and leader, including serving as a writing workshop and peer group facilitator at BYM’s Junior Yearly Meeting. In 2006 she participated in the Quaker Youth Pilgrimage in the Midwest United States, about which she writes: “I find that it has not quenched my interest, curiosity or thirst for understanding. I enjoy exploring our differences and look forward to any further chances in which I may continue my education in this area.” About the Quaker Youth Book Project she says: “It will provide the opportunity to work closely with a number of people under the guidance of the Spirit, to connect deeply with that of God and to draw from that involvement a constructive and enlightening end result.”

Sarah Hoggatt (28) lives in Salem, Oregon and is a member of Freedom Friends Church, an independent, semi-programmed, semi-pastoral, liberal and Christ-centered Friends church. A freelance writer, editor, visual artist, spiritual director, and self-publisher, she has identified writing and publishing as one of her ministries and has developed Spirit Water Publications as an outlet for Christian and Jewish poetry. She is a graduate of George Fox Seminary in Portland, Oregon and is also active with ecumenical Christian organizations in Salem and Portland. Of herself she says: “The written word, art, and ecumenicalism have long been passions of mine and having all this combined into one project is an incredible thing.” She says of the Project: “[It will make] space for the spiritual voices of those who ought to be heard in the Quaker world as it develops today.”

Evelyn Jadin (23) is a member of Friends Meeting of Washington in Baltimore Yearly Meeting (FUM-FGC), and is currently serving as a Youth Minister for Jamestown Friends Meeting in North Carolina Yearly Meeting (FUM). She is a graduate of Guilford College and the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program and the BYM camping program, and a former Friend in Residence at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Center in England. She says of the Quaker Youth Book Project: “For the last few years I have felt a movement, which feels like a gathering of some sort, among young Quakers across all branches of Friends. I have seen this both in one-on-one conversations and in larger gatherings of young Friends. It seems like an important part of this movement is a need for young Friends to explore our own spiritual experience, share it, and deeply listen to others’ experiences. This book will be a powerful tool for Quakers to share and hear others’ spiritual experiences.”

John Epur Lomuria (32) is presiding clerk of Lodwar Monthly Meeting and reading clerk of the young people’s program of East Africa Yearly Meeting of Friends (North). He is treasurer of the Turkana Friends mission of FUM, has served on FWCC nominating committees, and has written and edited several articles for Quaker Life Magazine. He is also active with the Young Quakers Christian Association, and participated in the World Gathering of Young Friends in Mombasa in 2005. He notes: “My interest in this project is due to the youth concerns that my soul has served for many years of my life.”

Emma Condori Mamani (30) lives in La Paz, Bolivia, where she works teaches in Quaker schools and is a member of Santidad Amigos, the largest evangelical Quaker yearly meeting in Bolivia. She has worked with the Bolivian Quaker Education Organization, which supports and works with the several different yearly meetings in Bolivia, has traveled to the US and visited among Friends, and often welcomes and works with international volunteers who come to work in Bolivian Quaker schools. She says: “I have always wanted to write about the life of Bolivian Quakers. I’ve heard wonderful testimonies of children, youngsters and adult Quakers, who have worshiped God because of his great love that helped them to get many victories in their lives.”

Katrina McQuail (24) grew up in rural Ontario with Quaker parents who hailed from different traditions of Quakerism. She is a member of Canadian Yearly Meeting (FGC-FUM) and has edited the CYM young Friends magazine, the *Sporadical*. She is a graduate of Earlham College and was a 2005 participant in the World Gathering of Young Friends. She says of the Project: “I am interested in this project because I am always amazed and awed by young Friends, their honesty and candid nature, and their ability to humble themselves and speak with frankness. Publishing a work by young Friends has endless possibilities. As well, speaking as a young Friend that was fairly isolated during most of the year, this publication has the possibility of allowing isolated young Friends to feel connected, see what others are thinking, feeling, doing and seeing, and share their own voice.”

Rachel Miller (28) is a member of Greenville Monthly Meeting in North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative), and currently attends Friends Meeting of Cambridge in New England Yearly Meeting (FUM-FGC). An active poet as well as a librarian by profession, she participated in the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program when a student at Guilford College and attended YouthQuake in 1997. She says: “I believe our young people are living vibrant spiritual lives and that having our spiritual lives recorded in some way is of great value (regardless of age), both in the act of recording and in the act of reading.”

Project Coordinator

Angelina Conti (25) came to Quakerism through the youth programs and communities of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (FGC) as a participant, youth clerk, and (young) adult chaperone. She is a graduate of Haverford College and an attender at Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. She works as the Publications Assistant at Friends General Conference, where she edits FGConnections, and has also written for Friends Journal and worked as a freelance writer for Philadelphia newspapers and national magazines. She hopes to pursue her interests in youth ministries and ecumenism at divinity school in the near future.