Kory Wells grew up on the stories of her southern Appalachian family and the wonder of the Space Age, diverse influences that have shaped her life’s work and writing.
Author of the poetry collection Sugar Fix (Terrapin Books, 2019), and the poetry chapbook Heaven Was the Moon (March Street Press, 2009), she also performs her poetry on the album Decent Pan of Cornbread, a collaboration with her daughter, old-time musician Kelsey Wells.
In June 2017, Kory was named the inaugural poet laureate of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where she has lived most of her life. Her outreach as poet laureate included writing with incarcerated women, reading Project LIT books with high school students, and engaging in public poetry projects.
She is the founder and manager of Poetry in the Boro, a monthly poetry reading and open mic. She mentors poetry students in the low-residency program MTSU Write and has worked as a teaching artist for educators, writers and arts conferences, at-risk groups, and others.
The intersection of Kory’s writing and tech careers occurs in her essay “Really Good for a Girl” which leads the anthology She’s Such a Geek: Women Write About Science, Technology and Other Nerdy Stuff. Ladies Home Journal picked Geek as one of its December 2006 “Books We Love” and singled out Kory’s writing that will “resonate with any woman, geek or not.”
Winner of the 2016 HeartWood Broadside Series and recognized for numerous other awards, her work appears in Christian Science Monitor, James Dickey Review, POEM, Ruminate, The Southern Poetry Anthology, and other publications. Her novel-in-progress was a finalist in the William Faulkner competition.
A seventh generation Tennessean, Kory was born in Chattanooga. She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from Middle Tennessee State University and has been a writer-in-residence at Rivendell Writers Colony. Read about Kory’s start to writing or sample some of her poems published online.
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Publications
Sugar Fix, poetry by Kory Wells. Terrapin Books, September 2019.
2 Elizabeths, American Diversity Report, APIARY Magazine, As It Ought To Be Magazine, Ascent, Autumn Sky Daily, Birmingham Arts Journal, Blue Earth Review, Broad River Review, Collage, Chapter 16, Christian Science Monitor, Contemporary Haibun Online, Crannóg, Deep South Magazine, Dream Geographies: An Arts Collaborative, Every Day Poems, Forage, The Heartland Review, Helen, Honkytonk Badonkadonk Zine, James Dickey Review, Kissing Dynamite, Kudzu, The Literary Bohemian, Literary Mama, Mothers Always Write, the museum of americana, New Southerner, Now & Then, Number One, Parks & Points, Passager, Peauxdunque Review, Pindeldyboz, POEM, Poetry South, Reckoning: Tennessee Writers on 2020, Red Paint Hill Poetry Journal, The Remembered Arts Journal, Rock & Sling, Ruminate, Scrawl Place, The Southern Poetry Anthology, Southern Women’s Review, Sheila-Na-Gig online, Stirring, SWWIM, TAB Journal, Tangled Locks Journal, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, Unsplendid, Yellow Arrow Journal, Wayfinding, a project of Parks & Points, The Wild Word, Women Speak Volume 8, Words Dance, and others, including a cookbook (poetry in a cookbook – yes!).
Forthcoming and Recently Published
Forthcoming: Amethyst Review; Footnote: A Literary Journal of History; Landlocked; Milk Journal: reviews & interviews (Brown Bag Lit); NOVUS
Recent:
- “I Felt All Flushed with Fever” in Cutleaf
- “What If Every Town Had a Pioneer Grill Like the One at Jackson Lake” in Compass Rose Literary Journal
- Savor: Poems for the Tongue
- Women Speak Anthology (Volume 9, celebrating the start of the Women of Appalachia Project‘s 15th anniversary year)
- “Your Writing is a Good Cause: A Conversation with Kory Wells” by Michael Barham
I’m also honored to have a sample poem included in the The Strategic Poet, the latest craft book compiled and edited by Diane Lockward. She has edited several popular craft books, including The Crafty Poet.
Recognition
- Winner, 2023 Blue Earth Review CNF Competition
- Winner, 2016 HeartWood Broadside Series (Judge Diane Gilliam)
- Honorable Mention, Joy Bale Boone Prize, The Heartland Review, 2023 (Judge Bernard Clay)
- Finalist, Words and Music Writing Competition, Poetry Category (Judge Aimee Nezhukumatathil), 2021
- 3rd place winner, Hackney Literary Awards, 2020 National Poetry
- Top-10 score, Poetry Super Highway Contest, 2020
- Finalist, Joy Bale Boone Prize, The Heartland Review, 2019
- Pushcart Prize Nominee of Terrapin Books, 2019
- Best of the Net Nominee of As It Ought To Be Magazine, 2019
- Semifinalist, Brittany Noakes Award in Poetry, 2018
- Finalist, Rash Award in Poetry, 2014, 2015 (Judges David Bottoms, David Kirby)
- Finalist, Press 53 Poetry Competition, 2009 (Judge Kay Stripling Byer)
- Finalist, William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, Novel-in-progress category, 2003
