Mary K O'Melveny

Poet

Kingston, NY
New York US
Email: 
marykomelvenypoet@gmail.com
Website: 
www.marykomelvenypoet.com

Author's Bio

  • Mary K O'Melveny lives with her wife near Woodstock NY.  Mary began writing poetry after retiring from a long career as a labor rights lawyer.  Her poetry has appeared in many print and on-line journals and anthologies and on national blog sites such as The New Verse News and Writing in a Woman's Voice.  Among the journals that have published Mary's work are Into the Void, Hamilton Stone Review, FLARE: The Flagler Review, Slippery Elm Literary Journel, New Reader, Split Rock Review, Think, Songs of Eretz Poetry Review, The Voices Project, Allegro Poetry Magazine, Ariel Chart,Voices of Eve and The Write Place at the Write Time.  
  • Mary's fourth poetry collection, "Flight Patterns" (Kelsay Books 2023) has been nominated for an Eric Hoffer Book Award. Reviewers have praised its "imaginative" poems -- "fierce, tender, political and melodious all at the same time." A "beautiful, courageous, truthfull book." Mary's third full-length collection, "Dispatches From the Memory Care Museum" was published by Kelsay Books in 2021. It was hailed as filled with "compelling" and "evocative" poems that reflect an "expansive intellectual range and curiosity"-- "another work of import and catharsis." Merging Star Hypotheses" (Finishing Line Press 2020) was a semi-finalist for the 2019 Washington Prize sponsored by The Word Works.  The book was hailed as "a resonant, essential collection of poems [that] span the cosmos and  the human heart" and as "a stunning debut" that "immerses readers in an orbit of words that swirl, shine and take us along an intergalactic journey."  Mary's chapbook "A Woman of a Certain Age" was published by Finishing Line Press in 2018.
  • Mary is a member of the Hudson Valley Women's Writing Group and a co-author of two anthologies of writings by its members: "An Apple In Her Hand" (Codhill Press 2019) and "Rethinking The Ground Rules" (Mediacs Books 2022).  Mary's recent writings about the COVID-19 pandemic have been included in two anthologies:  Poems From the Lockdown (Willowdown Books 2020) and Art in the Time of COVID-19 (American Writers Review/San Fedele Press 2020).
  • She is currently working on a poetry collection examining relationships between space exploration and archeological discoveries.

Publications & Prizes

Anthology:
An Apple In Her Hand (Co-author) (Codhill Press, 2019)
Book:
MERGING STAR HYPOTHESES (Finishing Line Press, 2020)
Chapbook:
A Woman of a Certain Age (Finishing Line Press, 2019)
Prizes won: 

2017 Raynes Poetry Competition, First Prize

2017 Pangaea Prize (The Poet's Billow), Finalist

2017 Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, Finalist/Honorable Mention

2018 Fish Publishing Prize, Finalist

2019 Slippery Elm Literary Journal Poetry Competition, First Place

2019 Atlantis Award (The Poet's Billow), Semi-Finalist

2020 Poems of Political Protest Protest Contest (City Limits Press), First Place

2020 Pangaea Prize (The Poet's Billow), Finalist

2020 Anthology Magazine Poetry Contest, Finalist ("Highly Commended")

2023 Slippery Elm Literary Journal Poetry Competition, Finalist

2018 Raynes Poetry Competition, Finalist

2018 87th Annual Writer's Digest Poetry Competition, Honorable Mention (Non-Rhyming)

2021 89th Annual Writer's Digest Poetry Competition, Honorable Mention (Non-Rhymng)

2019 Pushcart Prize Nomination (New Verse News)

2023 Pushcart Prize Nomination (Jerry Jazz Musician)

2019 Slippery Elm Literary Journal Poetry Competition, First Prize

2019 Over the Edge Emerging Writer's Award, Long-listed

2019 Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, Finalist

2020 Stephen A DiBiase Poetry Contest, Honorable Mention

 

 

 

 

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
American
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Jan 25, 2024