“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you.” - Maya Angelou
Yes, it’s dramatic, but I was destined to be a writer. Raised in Palos Verdes, California, I spent almost all my free time reading and writing from a young age. I wrote maudlin journal entries as a child and pored over Jane Austen and T.S Eliot as a teenager. I love to tell detailed, fully fleshed-out stories. Words make us feel, giving us access to the authors’ worlds but also encouraging us to explore our own struggles, triumphs, and idiosyncrasies. Hearing others’ tales and telling my own are integral parts of my life.
My desire to tell stories led me to the Johns Hopkins University, where I studied under renowned writers Mary Jo Salter, Greg Williamson, Richie Hofmann, James Arthur, and others. I earned my Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and later, my Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I’m fortunate that my poems have appeared in many top-tier literary journals such as the Poetry Foundation, Cortland Review, Literary Matters, Rattle, and Poet Lore and anthologized in Best American Poetry 2022.
My first book, Out of Order, won the 2021 Donald Justice Poetry Prize (judged by Quincy Lehr) and was published by Autumn House Press in 2022. In 2023, judge Allison Joseph awarded it the Best Book of 2022- Poetry by the Sea Book Award.
Supporting my craft has taken me all over the world. I’ve taught Creative Writing and English Composition at the University of Wisconsin, English as a Second Language in Spain, and high school and middle school English Language Arts in California. I also stay active in the poetry community by serving as Editor-at-Large of the Northwest Review and Contributing Editor of Literary Matters.