Recipient of the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award and the Margaret Walker Short Story Award, Parneshia Jones is published in several anthologies including The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South. Parneshia will be featured in forthcoming anthologies 44 on 44: 44 American Writers on the Election of Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, edited by Lita Hooper, Sonia Sanchez, and Michael Simanga, as well as Poetry Speaks Who I Am, a book/CD compilation of classic and contemporary selections for children ages 12 – 14. Jones is a member of the Affrilachian Poets, a collective of Black voices from Appalachia. She has performed her work all over the United States including the Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City, the Art Institute in Chicago, and Vanderbilt University. She has been commissioned for her work by Art for Humanity, the city of Chicago and Shorefront Legacy. Parneshia works in publishing, serves as a judge for the Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize, and is currently working on a trilogy collection of persona poems.

Simone Muench is author of three books: The Air Lost in Breathing (Marianne Moore Prize; Helicon Nine, 2000), Lampblack & Ash (Kathryn A. Morton Prize; Sarabande, 2005); and Orange Crush (Sarabande, 2010). Her most recent chapbook, co-written with Philip Jenks, is Little Visceral Carnival (Cinematheque, 2009). She acts as an editor for Sharkforum, serves on the advisory boards of Switchback Books and UniVerse, and is a recipient of two Illinois Arts Council Fellowships (2000; 2009), the PSA’s Bright Lights/Big Verse Prize, and other awards. Raised in Louisiana and Arkansas, she now lives in Chicago and directs the Writing Program at Lewis University where she teaches creative writing and film studies. She is a vegetarian and a horror film fan.

UniVerse of Poetry sponsored readings and showcases commend individuals who demonstrate a consistent dedication and integrity of vision, humanity, innovation and artistry in their writing, increasing the dialogue and significance of poetry within a greater society, nationally and internationally.

Recorded Thursday, March 04, 2010 at Katerina’s.