Monique Ferrell

Poet

Author's Bio

Monique Ferrell is a writer of both poetry and fiction. Her poetry has been featured on The Slowdown podcast with American Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, and has also appeared in noted creative writing magazines, journals, and anthologies: Bellevue Literary Review, Inflectionist Review, Reed Magazine, American Poetry Review, Antioch Review, North American Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Quarterly West, Valley Voices, New York Quarterly Review, Token Entry, Out of The Rough, Rabbit Ears, and Walt Whitman: The Measure of His Song, among others. She is the author/co-author of a number of essays and books on popular culture, identity, and race. She has also published three poetry collections: Black Body Parts (Cross + Roads Press), Unsteady (NYQ Books), and Attraversiamo (NYQ Books).

Ferrell has received poetry honors from Jacar Press (the Julie Suk Award), the Black Caucus of The American Library Association (BCALA), and Winning Writers (Tom Howard Award). She is also a recent finalist for awards in poetry sponsored by Arts & Letters, Bellingham Review, New Millennium Writings, and Cutthroat: A Journal of The Arts (Joy Harjo Poetry Award).

Currently, she is hard at work on multiple projects, including a collection of satirical essays titled Things They Did to Me: My Family in Shades; her fourth poetry collection titled, bone; and her first novel, Tuck, which examines the myths surrounding American Black masculinity and familial/cultural responses to substance abuse and Mental Illness/Depression. 

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
Walt Whitman: The Measure Of His Song (Holy Cow! Press, 2019)
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Rabbit Ears: TV Poems (NYQ Books, 2015)
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Token Entry: New York City Subway Poems (Smalls Press, 2012)
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Out Of The Rough: Women's Poems of Survival and Celebration (Novello Festival Press, 2001)
Books:
Attraversiamo (NYQ Books, 2016)
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Unsteady (NYQ Books, 2011)
Journals:
African Voices
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Brownstone Review
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Hurricane Alice
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Karamu
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Many Mountains Moving
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Northeast
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Puerto del Sol
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The Inflectionist Review
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The New York Quarterly
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Winning Writers
Prizes won: 

The 2016 Julie Suk Prize For Poetry, sponsored by Jacar Press;

The 2017 Honor Book Poetry Prize, awarded by the Black Caucus Of The American Library Association (BCALA);

2019 Honorable Mention Prize (Poetry)--Tom Howard/Maragret Reid Poetry Contest, awarded by Winning Writers  

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
African American
Raised in: 
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Apr 24, 2022