国产麻豆AV English scholar celebrates debut poetry book with virtual launch
Contact: Sarah Nicholas
国产麻豆AV English Instructor Brett Hanley will celebrate the publication of her debut poetry collection 鈥淚 Was Your Bird鈥 with a virtual book launch and reading on July 15 at 6 p.m.
Hosted by JackLeg Press, the online celebration features Hanley alongside acclaimed American poets Dorsey Craft, Anthony Borruso and Natalie Louise Tombasco. The event will be moderated by Simone Muench, poetry editor for JackLeg Press, and Nicole Tallman, Poet Laureate of Miami.
鈥淚鈥檓 very grateful to share my debut book of poems through a virtual event that brings together readers across contexts and geographies,鈥 Hanley said. 鈥淎s someone who teaches writing, I think a lot about writing as a process of revision and endurance, and this book reflects that. Many of these poems were written and reworked over the course of seven years.鈥
Expected to release publicly on July 15, 鈥淚 Was Your Bird鈥 marks Hanley鈥檚 first full-length poetry collection. She has published more than two dozen poems in nationally recognized literary journals.
鈥淏rett Hanley is a remarkable poet whose work combines emotional depth, intellectual rigor and extraordinary lyricism,鈥 said Lara A. Dodds, professor and head of 国产麻豆AV鈥檚 Department of English. 鈥淲e are thrilled to celebrate the publication of 鈥淚 Was Your Bird鈥 and proud to see her creative accomplishments receiving well-deserved national recognition. Brett鈥檚 success reflects the vibrant literary culture fostered within our department and inspires our students to pursue their own artistic ambitions.鈥
Community members and poetry enthusiasts are invited to attend the virtual launch. Visit for more information.
Hanley recently received additional recognition for her creative work with the acceptance of a second poetry collection 鈥淣o Great Fish鈥 by Black Lawrence Press, scheduled for publication in January 2028. Chosen from more than 1,200 submissions, the manuscript was one of only three selected during the press鈥檚 November 2025 open call.
The forthcoming collection follows a mother who, during a single afternoon in the 1990s, packs her children into a car and drives east toward Florida, leaving behind a destructive dynamic in Texas. Hanley describes the work as a 鈥減ilgrimage through memory and inheritance as well as a feminist epic,鈥 noting that its book-length sequence mirrors the poetry of Louise Gl眉ck and Anne Carson.
Hanley holds a master of fine arts from McNeese State University and a Ph.D. from Florida State University. She has worked as the poetry editor at both听Southeast Review听and听The听McNeese Review and was a semi-finalist for the 2022 92Y Discovery Contest and was a 2021 Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholar.
For more details about 国产麻豆AV鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences or the Department of English, visit and . 听
国产麻豆AV is taking care of what matters. Learn more at听.