Danni Petrilak
writer | editor | designer

About Me
Being from a small rural and woodsy town in Northeastern Pennsylvania, I learned to take fantastical worlds and lively characters inspired by the forest to combat the gloom of present-day reality, although a majority of my work resides in dark fiction and fantasy.
The twists and various directions I'm able to take navigating the dark realities of PTSD, emotional trauma, and general cosmic horror bring characters and creatures to life, often through more than one medium. I enjoy exploring the macabre balance between the uncanny and psychological horrors in my fiction writing. I use poetry to slow down and paint snippets of time reflecting on deep emotional exposure from moments in my life and various "embellishments."

My favorite pieces include works completed in college that can be found in various publications, as well as my writing portfolio, linked here. It is my hope for my work to encapsulate and evoke emotions that can be experienced across the threshold of time.

I graduated from Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont May of 2022 with a degree in Creative Media. Creative Media is a mix of artistic disciplines working together to create multi-media works of art with different focuses. My specialization is creative writing & editing publication with complementary focuses in motion graphic design and game media to create transmedia storytelling. I have a GPA of 3.95 and graduated summa cum laude.
Education
Recognized Awards
William J. Everts. Jr. Wild and Outside Award
Awarded for exceptional writing by a student outside of the professional writing major by Tanya Lee Stone, Jim Ellefson, Sheila Liming, and Laura McCaffrey.
May 10th, 2022
Excel Award
Awarded to one student within each major in the Division of Communication and Creative Media
April 14th, 2022



"There is a way that nature speaks, the land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quite enough, to pay attention to the story.
- Linda Hogan