Friends!
It is with great joy that i welcome Kelly Purtell to akinoga press!
Kelly Purtell is an interdisciplinary artist from Baltimore, Maryland. With a BA in English Literature, Creative Writing, and Sociology and a MA in Social Justice and Human Rights, Kelly is interested in the transformative power of cultural storytelling. Kelly is currently a professor of writing at Stevenson University and lives on a small homestead in West Baltimore with her fiancé, 7 hens, and a cat.
Kelly has also practiced and performed circus arts and aerial acrobatics for over ten years, and she specializes in textile dyeing and fabrication for aerial applications. She has sewn custom costumes, designed and created one-of-a-kind jewelry and accessories, and shipped custom aerial textiles to all over the globe.
Although she has “been a writer” since she was able to hold a pencil, Hold Them… and Wonder is her debut poetry collection. Equal parts philosophical, joyful, and queer, she holds these poems close to her heart. She hopes you will, too.