Rachel McKibbens, Guest Editor
Rachel McKibbens is a two-time New York Foundation for the Arts poetry fellow and author of the poetry collections, Into the Dark & Emptying Field (2013) and Pink Elephant (2009), as well as the chapbook MAMMOTH. Her poems, short stories and essays have been featured in numerous journals and blogs, including Her Kind, The Los Angeles Review, The Academy of American Poets, The Huffington Post, The Acentos Review, PANK, The Nervous Breakdown and The Collagist.
McKibbens is also a nine-time National Poetry Slam team member, is the 2009 Women of the World Poetry Slam champion and won the 2011 National Underground Poetry Slam individual champion.
For four years McKibbens taught poetry through Urban Word NYC and The Healing Arts Program at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, and she continues to teach poetry and present lectures across the country as an advocate for mental health awareness, gender-equality, and victims of violence and domestic abuse. She lives with her family in upstate New York, where she co-curates the monthly reading series Poetry & Pie Night.
www.rachelmckibbens.com