ABOUT PAULETTA
Poet, Memoirist, Teacher and Editor Pauletta Hansel served as the first Poet Laureate of Cincinnati from April 2016 through March 2018. She is author of eight poetry collections, most recently Friend (Dos Madres Press, 2020), Coal Town Photograph (Dos Madres Press, 2019) and Palindrome (Dos Madres Press, 2017), which was awarded the prestigious Weatherford Award for the best Appalachian poetry book of 2017. Read her blogs about the writing of Palindrome here. Read poet Linda Parson’s review in Still The Journal here.
Other recent books include Tangle (Dos Madres Press, 2015), The Lives We Live in Houses (Wind Publications, 2011) and What I Did There (Dos Madres Press, 2011). Pauletta’s poetry and prose has been featured recently in journals including Oxford American, One (Jacar Press), New Verse News, JukeJoint, Change Seven, The Cincinnati Review, Rattle, The Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Northern Appalachian Review, Heartwood Literary Magazine, Sheila-na-Gig, Persimmon, Hong Kong Review, Thimble, Psaltery and Lyre, Molecule, Writing In A Woman’s Voice, Main Street Rag, Literary Accents, PoetrySouth, Talisman, Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine, Atlanta Review, ABZ Journal, Postcard Poems and Prose, Still: The Journal, The Mom Egg, and Appalachian Journal and anthologized in Undocumented: Great Lakes Poets Laureate on Social Justice; Feminine Rising; A Gathering at the Forks; Old Wounds, New Words; A Kentucky Christmas; Listen Here: Women Writing in Appalachia; the Motif series and Creatures of Habitat and Crossing Lines. Her poems have been featured on The Writer’s Almanac, Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry and Verse Daily. Links to several poems and prose published online can be found below.
Pauletta leads community writing workshops and retreats in the Greater Cincinnati area and beyond. She is past managing editor of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, the literary publication of the Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative. (Submission guidelines here.) In addition to her role of Cincinnati’s Poet Laureate, Pauletta served as Writer in Residence at Thomas More College’s Creative Writing Vision Program and at WordPlay, a literary and literacy organization for younger writers. Pauletta received her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte. Originally from southeastern Kentucky, Pauletta lives in Cincinnati with her husband, Owen Cramer.
2020 ONLINE PUBLICATIONS
May 1, 2020 Oxford American
By Kentucky Rose Photography
Falcon Theater’s online performance of poems from Pauletta’s newest book, Coal Town Photograph, with music by Raison D’Etre:
Reading: Harlan County, USA (2019) in Rattle (Poets Respond)
Reading: I Confess in Rattle (Poets Respond)
Reading: Villanelle in a Minor Key on WVXU Around Cincinnati
Reading: When She Was Done from Coal Town Photograph on WVXU Around Cincinnati
Reading: Tracy Crow’s Accept Your Gifts Podcast (Poetry Month collection of poems from several poets.)
Reading: The River at Brier Books. (Note: public video on Facebook)
Reading at Lees College, Jackson, KY, 2/12/19 (Note: public video on Facebook)
Reading: Tending Green at Word of Mouth, Cincinnati
Reading: Strawberry Moon at Word of Mouth, Cincinnati
Reading: Of What We Make Our Poems on WVXU Around Cincinnati.
Reading: Our Words: Cincinnati, April 2017 on WVXU Around Cincinnati.
Poems and Essays
Two Poems (Letter to Myself, 15 and Story) Change Seven
The Road, Poetry Daily
Appalachia Re-Visioned Heartwood Literary Magazine
PANDEMIC: A Dictionary Guide The New Verse News
Postcard from the Pandemic (April 20, 2020) Juke Joint
Postcard from the Pandemic (April 13, 2020) The New Verse News
Postcard from the Pandemic (March 23, 2020), The Cincinnati Review
Poem: Home Is the Place Where, When You Have to Go There, You Only Think About How to Get Out 2019 Contest Winner in Still: The Journal
Poem: Harlan County, USA (2019) in Rattle (Poets Respond)
Poem: I Confess in Rattle (Poets Respond)
Poem: The View from There on American Life in Poetry selected by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate
Poem: Villanelle in a Minor Key in Still: The Journal
Poem: Morning, Loretto Motherhouse, Late November in Still: The Journal
Poem: The City in Appalachian Heritage
Poem: To Break a Thing a collaborative poem by Leigh Cheak, Ron Houchin, and Pauletta Hansel in Still: The Journal.
Poem: Portrait of My Mother as a Dried Sunflower in Verse Daily
Poem: “A Blessing for the Feast of All Poets” read by the young Kentucky poet, Mackenzie Berry, in her first Word to Wellness Podcast.
Poem: Palindrome in Still: The Journal
Poem: Girl Villanelle in Silver Birch Press, ME at 17
Microfiction/Prose Poem: Secrets in Postcards Poems and Prose Magazine, 1/31/17
Poem: Photograph of a Woman at a Funeral in Journal of Kentucky Studies, Vol. 31, 2016
Poem: Portrait of My Mother’s Dementia as Saturn’s Rings in Still The Journal, Summer 2016
Poems on Accents Publishing’s Lexington Poetry Month Blog, June 2016
Of What We Make Our Poems: May 2016 Picture/Poem in Movers & Makers Cincinnati
Poem 314 it on the HIV Here & Now Project (For poet Joseph Enzweiler, who died of brain cancer, April 16, 2011. We miss you Joe!)
National Poetry Month: A Poem From Cincinnati Poet Laureate Pauletta Hansel on WVXU
Poem on Postcard Poems and Prose, online magazine, published February 17, 2014
Poems in Still: The Journal, author page
Poems in Still: The Journal, Haints & Saints: A Poetry Sampler
Creative Nonfiction in Still: The Journal, “My Father’s Photograph”
Poems in Appalachian Heritage, author page
Poem: Husbands on American Life in Poetry selected by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate, April 2015, the Poetry Foundation, and read by Garrison Keillor on The Writers Almanac, July 15, 2015.
Poems in The Whirlwind Review, online journal, published Autumn 2013
Poem on Athens Word of Mouth, poetry blog, published June 2013
Links to Articles and Interviews
Thomas More University Spotlight, Part One and Part Two.
Interview about the creation of the poem, “When You Ask Me To Tell You About My Father” on Chris Ann Cooper’s blog series, The Backstory of the Poem.
Radio Feature/ Interview on WEKU March 21, 2019
Radio Interview on Around Cincinnati, WVXU Broadcast, March 3, 2019
Bluegrass Bookend Interview part 1
Bluegrass Bookend Interview Part 2
Bluegrass Bookend Interview Part 3
Bluegrass Bookend Interview Part 4
Still the Journal: Linda Parsons reviews Palindrome
WEKU: Award Winning Writer Pauletta Hansel to Lead Workshop
Berea College: Weatherford Award for Best Appalachian Books Announced
My Therapy Blog: 20 Valuable Blogs for Caregivers
Xavier University: Montessori Teaching Grounds Cincinnati Poet Laureate
Cincinnati.com: Springer Hosts Cincinnati Poet Laureate Pauletta Hansel
Ohio Arts Council Arts Blog: Appalalachian Writers Project Showcases the Power of the Small Press
Poetry Month Interview on WVXU, Around Cincinnati
CityBeat calls Pauletta 2017’s Best Ambassador for Poetry
Interview on Sundress Publications blog
Review of Tangle, Journal of Kentucky Studies
CityBeat Interview, May 25, 2016: Poetic Justice
Interview with WNKU’s Cheri Lawson, May 27, 2016
Cincinnati Enquirer Article, April 23, 2016 on WordPlay’s Poet Tree Project.
Radio Interview on Around Cincinnati
WVXU broadcast September 25, 2015 “Pauletta Hansel Releases Her Newest Book Of Poetry, Tangle”
Radio Interview on Around Cincinnati, WVXU broadcast April 19, 2012
Online Interview on Dos Madres Press, Online Interview with Pauletta Hansel on Her New Book, Tangle
Radio Interview on Accents, WRFL broadcast Dec 14, 2012
Article on Soapbox Cincinnati, online magazine, published September 11, 2012
