Aracelis Girmay grew up in California where, companioned by the idea of a large and mighty Pacific, her awe of the sea was born. Girmay is the author of the poetry collections the black maria (BOA Editions, 2016), Kingdom Animalia (BOA Editions), and Teeth (Curbstone Press), as well as the picture book changing, changing (George Braziller). The recipient of a 2015 Whiting Award for Poetry and the GLCA New Writers Award, she was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Her other honors include fellowships from Cave Canem, Civitella Ranieri, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Girmay’s poems appear widely in such places as Granta, The Prairie Schooner, The Wide Shore, and Indiana Review, among other places. She currently teaches in Hampshire College’s School for Interdisciplinary Arts and in Drew University’s low-residency MFA program in Poetry.
