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Mary K O’Melveny lives with her wife, Susan Waysdorf, in Woodstock New York and Washington DC. After retiring from a distinguished career as a labor rights lawyer in New York City and Washington DC, where she represented workers, labor unions and political prisoners, Mary returned to writing poetry – an interest she had not pursued since college. Mary’s poetry has been published in both print and on-line journals and anthologies, including Aji Magazine, Allegro Poetry Magazine, Auroras and Blossoms, Coastal Shelf, FLARE: The Flagler Review, In Layman’s Terms, Into The Void, Light Journal, Split Rock Review, Slippery Elm Literary Journal, Songs of Eretz, The New Reader, The Offbeat, The Voices Project, The Write Place At The Write Time, Twisted Vine Literary Journal, Voice of Eve and West Texas Review. Mary’s poetry has also been featured on national blog sites such as The New Verse News and Writing in a Woman’s Voice.
Mary is a member of several writing organizations, including The Hudson Valley Women’s Writing Group whose recently published anthology, An Apple In Her Hand, is available from Codhill Press. Mary is a Pushcart Prize nominee. Her poetry has received award recognition in national contests and competitions, including First Place in the 2017 Raynes Poetry Competition, First Place, 2019 Slippery Elm Poetry Prize, First Place, 2020 Poems of Political Protest Contest sponsored by City Limits Publishing, Finalist 2020 Anthology Magazine Poetry Prize (“Highly Commended”), Finalist 2020, 2017 Pangaea Prize sponsored by The Poet’s Billow, Finalist 2018 Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Competition sponsored by Winning Writers, Honorable Mention, 2017 Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Competition, Semi-Finalist, 2019 Atlantis Award sponsored by The Poet’s Billow. Mary was short-listed for the 2018 Fish Publishing Prize. She is the author of the poetry chapbook A Woman of a Certain Age and a poetry collection Merging Star Hypotheses (Finishing Line Press 2018, 2020). That book was a semi-finalist for the 2019 Washington Prize sponsored by The Word Works.
Mary’s website is:
www.marykomelvenypoet.com
Paperback: 136 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (August 2, 2021)