Elena Karina Byrne

Former regional director of the Poetry Society of America, Elena Karina Byrne is a freelance editor, lecturer, author, programming consultant and poetry stage manager for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and literary programs director for the historic Ruskin Art Club. A Pushcart Prize and Best American Poetry recipient, Elena served as a final judge for PEN’s “Best of the West” award and for the 2016–18 Kate and Kingsley Tufts Poetry Awards, as a 2018–19 Georgia Circuit visiting poet, and as last year’s co-judge for the international Laurel Prize, an annual award for the best collection of nature or environmental poetry. Her books include If This Makes You Nervous (Omnidawn, 2021), No Don’t (What Books Press, 2020), Squander (Omnidawn), MASQUE (Tupelo Press, 2008), and The Flammable Bird (Zoo Press/ Tupelo Press, 2002).

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