About
KELLY GRACE THOMAS is a poet, writer, educator, and an ocean-obsessed Aries from Jersey. Her first full-length collection, Boat Burned, was released with YesYes Books in 2020. She is the winner of the Jane Underwood Poetry Prize and the Neil Postman Award for Metaphor. Kelly’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in: Adroit, Best New Poets, 32 Poems, Los Angeles Review, Muzzle, Sixth Finch, and more. Kelly has received fellowships from the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing and Kenyon Review Young Writers’ Workshop. Kelly is currently a Blackburn Fellow and MFA candidate at Randolph College. She also teaches online poetry workshops through her online brand, the Poetry Mechanic.
Kelly also works as curriculum consultant for Get Lit-Words Ignite and other nonprofits. She is co-author of the Literary Riot books Voices in Verse: Poetry, Identity and Ethnic Studies; Stanzas of America: Celebrating BIPOC Poetry; and Words Ignite: Explore, Write and Perform Classic and Spoken Word Poetry, which are currently taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Kelly and her sister, Kat Thomas, won Best Feature Length Screenplay at the Portland Comedy Film Festival for their romantic comedy, Magic Little Pills. Kelly lives in the Bay Area with her husband, daughter, and sister. She is currently working on a YA novel.
connect with Kelly ONline
