Gail Thomas
Filed under: Authors
Gail Thomas has published six books of poetry, most recently Trail of Roots, winner of the A.V. Christie Series from Seven Kitchens Press, and Leaving Paradise. Her chapbook Odd Mercy was chosen by Ellen Bass as the winner of the Charlotte Mew Prize from Headmistress Press. Waving Back was named a Must Read by the Massachusetts Center for the Book and received an Honorable Mention from the New England Book Festival. Her other books are No Simple Wilderness: An Elegy for Swift River Valley and Finding the Bear.
Her work has appeared in many journals and anthologies including The Beloit Poetry Journal, Calyx, The North American Review, Italian Americana, and Valparaiso Poetry Review. Individual poems have won prizes including the Naugatuck River Review's Narrative Poetry Prize, the Quartet Journal's Editor's Choice Prize, and honorable mentions in the Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest (see below). Thomas was a fellow at the McDowell Colony and Ucross and several poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She teaches poetry with Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshops, visits schools and libraries with her therapy dog, and works with immigrant and refugee communities in Western Massachusetts.
Website: http://www.gailthomaspoet.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gmztpoet/
Winning Entry: The Little Mommy Sonnets
Contest Won: Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest 2016, Honorable Mention, Margaret Reid
Winning Entry: Cento for Women Who Are Not Believed
Contest Won: Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest 2022, Honorable Mention, Margaret Reid