Poet. Novelist. Essayist
I am an emerging writer living in Chicago. In 2013, I received a two-week residency at the Vermont Studio Center and an Illinois Arts Council Grant to further the work on my genealogy poetry project.
As a poet, my work centers around the importance of narrative—whether one’s own personal story, the re-visioned voices of one’s ancestors, or the witnessed stories of strangers met while traveling.
As a novelist, I am currently writing in the romance genre, combining my passions for a good love story and for international travel. The women at the heart of my novels challenge their own narratives as they explore new parts of the world. Travel has a way of opening up our minds and our hearts at the same time.
As an essayist, I am working on a collection of travel essays accounting my experiences throughout England, Europe, New Zealand, and Africa. These essays look at both personal experiences and cultural encounters.
I received my MFA in Poetry from Columbia College Chicago in 2009, where I served as an Assistant Editor for the journal Court Green. While at Columbia, I participated in various readings and exhibitions, including Word 4: Type + Image, Trippin’: Reflections and Revelations, and Writers on the Road.
My work has appeared in Columbia Poetry Review, Exit 7, Mindful Metropolis, Rhino, ROAR, Slurve, So to Speak, and Third Wednesday. I have been a featured reader in the following local reading series: Elbowing Off the Stage, Printer’s Row Book Fair, Red Rover Reading Series, and Rhino.
Before completing my MFA at Columbia, I took two poetry classes from the Guild Literary Complex in Chicago in 2003 and 2004. I also completed two workshops at the Newberry Library in 2005 and 2006, one with Mark Perlberg, co-founder of the Poetry Center of Chicago.
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