Faylita Hicks

—Winner of the 2020 Sappho Prize & $3000!—

“‘I Tried Dating Again’ is fierce and beautiful at the same time. The poem deploys gorgeous imagery and caesuras to manage rhythms. Energy and beauty are two words that keep entering my mind while reading Faylita Hicks.” — Guest Judge Victoria Chang

Faylita Hicks (she/her/they) is a poet, essayist, and interdisciplinary artist. The former Editor-in-Chief of Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review and a 2020-2022 Texas Touring Artist, they are the author of HoodWitch (Acre Books, 2019), a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry, the 2019 Balcones Poetry Prize, shortlisted for the 2019 Julie Suk Award. They have been awarded fellowships and residencies from Tin House, Lambda Literary, Jack Jones Literary Arts, and the Right of Return USA, the first fellowship designed exclusively for previously incarcerated artists. Their work has been featured in or is forthcoming in Adroit, American Poetry Review, Brave New Films, the Cincinnati Review, The Cut, F(r)iction, HuffPost, Kenyon Review, Longreads, Palette Poetry, PBS Independent Lens, Poetry Magazine, Poetry Daily, The Rumpus, Slate, Texas Observer, Texas Monthly, VIDA Review, and others. Hicks received an MFA in Creative Writing from Sierra Nevada University and is currently working on a multi-media project. www.FaylitaHicks.com