Natasha Rao

—3rd Place Winner of the 2020 Sappho Prize—

“I admire the form of this poem, as I find Abecedarians hard to write. Natasha Rao’s work deftly uses the form in a natural and organic way, shifting between imagery and narrative. The final image of the zinnia is stunning.” — Guest Judge, Victoria Chang

Natasha Rao holds a BA from Brown University and an MFA from NYU, where she was a Goldwater Fellow. She has received support from the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference, the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, and the Vermont Studio Center. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Poetry Northwest, Narrative, The Offing, Rattle, and The Margins, and she was a finalist in Narrative’s 30 Below Contest. She currently serves as co-managing editor of American Chordata and lives in Brooklyn.