Award-winning poetry by established and emerging poets throughout the summer.
Kim Dower is an award-winning, bestselling poet of six collections from Red Hen Press including What She Wants: Poems on Obsession, Desire, Despair Euphoria, described by The Washington Post as "raw, wry, witty, sultry and thoughtful." I Wore This Dress Today for You, Mom, an Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist, was called a “fantastic collection” by The Washington Post, and Sunbathing on Tyrone Power’s Grave, won the 2020 Independent Publishers Book Award Gold Medal for Poetry. Kim was City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood from October 2016 to October 2018. Her work has been featured in numerous literary journals including Barrow Street, Plume, Ploughshares, The James Dickey Review, Rattle Magazine, as well as several anthologies. Born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Kim lives with her family in West Hollywood, CA. where she teaches poetry workshops for the West Hollywood Library.
Abi Pollokoff is a writer, editor, and book artist, and the author of night myths • • before the body (Red Hen Press, 2025). A Pushcart Prize nominee and recipient of the Anselle M. Larson / Academy of American Poets Prize, her poems can be found in The Pinch, TriQuarterly, The Seventh Wave, and Radar, where she was a finalist for the Coniston Prize. Abi has been supported by organizations such as the Jack Straw Cultural Center, Hugo House, and AWP, where she was a 2024 Writer to Writer Mentee. Abi has taught writing and poetry at the college level and is the former events manager for Open Books: A Poem Emporium. She now serves as the managing editor for Poetry NW Editions and works in publishing.
Christian Teresi is the author of What Monsters You Make of Them (Red Hen Press). His poems, essays, and translations have appeared in many journals, including AGNI, The American Poetry Review, Blackbird, The Kenyon Review, Literary Hub, and Narrative. He lives in Washington, DC where he works on fundraising and communications initiatives.
Bakar Wilson has received fellowships from Cave Canem, the Community of Writers, and the Colgate Writers’ Conference. He has performed his work at the Bowery Poetry Club, Poetry Project, The Studio Museum of Harlem, The Asian-American Writer’s Workshop, and the Langston Hughes House, among others. His poetry has appeared in The Vanderbilt Review, The Lumberyard Radio Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail, Flicker and Spark: A Contemporary Queer Anthology, and The Ostrich Review, among others. His debut collection of poetry titled, Daddy Show, was just published by Get Fresh Books. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Bakar received his B.A. in English from Vanderbilt University and his M.A. in Creative Writing from The City College of New York. He is an Adjunct Lecturer of English and Creative Writing at Borough of Manhattan Community College at CUNY.