Michele Karas is a poet and writer from San Diego, California. Her poems and prose have appeared or are forthcoming in Tab: The Journal of Poetry and Poetics, Mid-American Review, Northern Virginia Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Narrative, Thrush, and elsewhere. A Community of Writers poetry contributor, she has received support from the New York Public Library, Southampton Writers Conference, and Slice Literary Writers’ Conference, where she was twice awarded the Bridging the Gap Nonfiction Prize.
Additionally, Michele holds degrees from San Diego State University and the City University of New York, where she was a recipient of the Jerome Lowell Dejur Award in Poetry. A former actor and longtime veteran of the book publishing world, she has written 360 marketing campaigns for such bestselling authors as Min Jin Lee, Donna Tartt, David Foster Wallace, David Sedaris, and Malcolm Gladwell. As an editor, Michele has curated poems for Promethean and The Night Heron Barks. She lives in New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley, where she writes messaging for a global television network.
Awards & Honors
Finalist, Cutthroat Poetry Prize (2020),
Judged by Carolyn Forché
Single poem: “Birdwatching in the Radiology Unit of Perlmutter Cancer Center”
Finalist, 92Y Rachel Wetzsteon Poetry Prize (2019),
selected by Shara Lessley
Single poem: “Fix”
Finalist, Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize (2018)
Ruminate magazine, judged by Ilya Kaminsky
Single poem: “Portable Saint Cento”
Acceptance, Sewanee Writers’ Conference (2018)
(Attendance postponed)
Acceptance, Community of Writers (2017)
Winner, The Jerome Lowell Dejur Award in Poetry (2016)
The City College English Department Award
Poetry thesis: “The Universe is Made of Small Dead Things”
Finalist, Scotti Merrill Memorial Award (2016),
Key West Literary Seminar, selected by Billy Collins
Selection of poems
Scholarship, SUNY Southampton Writers Conference (2015)
Workshop with Vijay Seshadri (2015)
Scholarship, Slice Literary Conference (2015)
Winner, “Bridging the Gap” Nonfiction Award. (2015)
(Slice Literary Conference), judged by Folio Literary Management
Essay: “Daddy-Daughter Pas De Deux”
Scholarship, Slice Literary Conference (2014)
Winner, “Bridging the Gap” Nonfiction Award (2014)
(Slice Literary Conference)
Essay: “Runaway Boy”
Winner, The Stark Poetry Award in Memory of Raymond Patterson
The City College English Department Award (2014)
Poems: “My Sister & I” and Others