Biography
Chelsea Whitton (she/her) is an internationally published poet and essayist. She is the author of Bear Trap (Dancing Girl Press, 2018) and Wonder Wheel, forthcoming from LSU Press in March of 2026. She holds a PhD from the University of Cincinnati and an MFA in Poetry from The New School. Her poetry and prose have appeared in many of print and online publications, including Beloit Poetry Journal, Copper Nickel, Cream City Review, Poetry Ireland, The Atlanta Review, and Forklift-Ohio. Her work has been a finalist for the Gearhart Prize, and the Frost Place and Adrienne Richard awards for poetry. She is the recipient of the 2018 Sandy Crimmins National Poetry Prize. Since 2021 she has been a staff member for the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Raised in North Carolina, she spent her twenties in New York, and now lives in Cincinnati with her husband, Matthew, their twin sons, and their cat, Dolly. She teaches creative writing and literature at the Art Academy of Cincinnati.
Contact: whitton.writes@gmail.com
Published Work
Poetry
“A Few More Lines for the Torturer’s Horse” Beloit Poetry Journal, 2020, Finalist for the 2020 Adrienne Rich Prize
“Spear Side/Patrilineality” Philadelphia Stories 15 Year Anthology, 2020
“Productive Fallacies” Copper Nickel, 2019
“On Friendship” Vinyl, 2019
“Panic” Cream City Review, 2018
“Selected Nightmares” Atlanta Review, 2018, Finalist for Atlanta Review International Poetry Prize, 2018
“Your Fancy Bonsai Tree” Atlanta Review, 2018, Finalist for Atlanta Review International Poetry Prize, 2018
"Grasshoppers" Poetry Ireland
"Oceanfront View" Yes,Poetry, #NotTrump Series, 2017
"Bat Wings" "Companion" Petrichor Review, 2014
"Apology" Ilk, 2014
"Harvest Song" Best American Poetry Blog, 2013
"This Time" Sixth Finch, 2012
"My Lover's Wife" Ilk, 2012
"Knowledge" Hamilton Stone Review, 2013
"From A Widower to His Wife" Rougarou, 2012
Prose
“Brief Interviews With Hideous Women” Series, Iron Horse 2019
“What We’re Reading — To Float in a Space Between by Terrance Hayes,” Cincinnati Review 2019
"Ready to Serve: We don't need you to be perfect." Best American Poetry Blog, 2015
"Leaving Wherever We Are" A review of Katie Byrum's Burn It Down Boog City Review