Sylvia Jones
Adjunct LecturerCreative Writing
Sylvia Jones recently served as a 2021-22 Stadler Fellow in literary editing for West Branch at Bucknell University. She currently works as associate poetry editor for BLACK LAWRENCE PRESS, in addition to reading intermittently for Ploughshares. Her recent writing appears in DIAGRAM, the Hopkins Review, the Santa Clara Review, Shenandoah, Cortland Review, and elsewhere. She earned her MFA from American University in Washington D.C. She has received support from the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts; PEN America; Topical Cream; Jack Straw Cultural Center; The Emerging Artist Initiative; Poets at the End of The World Collective; Creative Capital; Literary Cleveland; The Maryland State Arts Council; The Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Community Center of New York and The Cleveland Museum of Art.
Research, Scholarship, Creative Work in Progress
“Buzzard” a debut collection dealing with notions of class inequality, the autobiographical lives of objects, generational wealth, geography, fate, and spectacle, the significance of names, repetion, deteriotion, and loss.
Publications
2022
Cortland Review
“Don Draper Demonstrates in Clogs”
“Off the Backwood’s Cherry”
Olit Mag
“Offshore in a rotunda”
The Hopkins Review
"Perpetual Resin”
“First Black Cop Bop”
Poet Lore
"On the tiniest of budgets”
2021
Shenandoah
"tender-headed"
“man with shotgun and alien”
Poetry Society of New York
“On line by Wojahn”
“turning the head of rake on its side”
The Santa Clara Review
“Fast Backwards”
2019
DIAGRAM
“Of Two Minds”
Exhibits or Performances
June - August 2022
“Windfall Room: Poem Recitations in Place”
KCAI Gallery: Center for Contemporary Practice, Kansas City Art Institute
Windfall Room is a poetry publication & archive presenting high-quality video recitations. With each issue, Windfall Room publishes a poet reciting from memory one of their works in a high-quality audio/video format, filmed in a meaningful location.
May 20, 2022
“Represent: Writing Inspired by Black Art”
Cleveland Museum of Art + Literary Cleveland
Friday May 20, 2022 in the Gartner Auditorium readings inspired by the key themes of and the works in Currents and Constellations: Black Art in Focus, which puts art from the CMA’s permanent collection in conversation with a vanguard of emerging and midcareer Black artists who explore the fundaments of art making, embracing and challenging art history. Reader’s included : Esperanza Cintrón, Madeleine Elaban, Siaara Freeman, Sylvia Jones, Amber Lisa, Ray McNiece, Judith Miles, Kortney Morrow, Elana Pitts, Kathy Price, Zuggie Tate, John White, Kadijah Wingo,
June - October 2021
“Different Strokes/Different Folks: Queer Artists of Color Paint the 21st Century”
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center of New York City,
This exhibition of works by LGBTQ+ BIPOC artists explore the intersections of gender and queerness, along with the interplay of race, class, ability, religion, sex, and sexuality—all against the backdrop of an organization that was founded at the height of, and in response to, the AIDS epidemic.
External Awards, Honors, Grants
Stadler Fellowship in Literary Editing, West Branch, Bucknell University, 2021-22
BIPOC Editorial Fellowship, Shenandoah Journal, Washington & Lee University, 2020
Jack Straw Artist, Artist Support Program, 2020
Grant Recipeint, Creative Captial Award, 2020
Grantee, Orange Tangent Study, 2021
Grantee, PEN America, 2020
Grantee, Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, 2020
Grantee, United States Artists / Academy of American Poets, 2020
Grantee, Emerging Artist Initiative, 2020
Grantee, Topical Cream Magazine, 2020
Grantee, Poets at the End of the World Collective & Costura Creative Agency, 2020
Recipient, Dr. Gisela B. Trechsel Scholarship in Literature, American University, 2020