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As a daughter of actors, and part of a working class family of artists, actors, teachers and writers working in California, my poetry has been honored with Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations, as well as finalist honors: The Wilder Prize, The Sunken Garden Poetry Prize, The Tupelo Quarterly Prize, The Ruth Stone Poetry Award and The Two Sylvias Prize.
I was second prize winner in Beyond Baroque’s Best Poem Contest, was named a Newer Poet by Los Angeles Poetry Festival and won the Patricia Bibby Scholarship to Idyllwild Poetry awarded by Cecilia Woloch. SPEAKING PARTS, my first full-length collection, has won the Brick Road Poetry Prize and is just now published September 2020.  A featured poet and frequent contributor to CATHEXIS NORTHWEST PRESS, as well as CULTURAL WEEKLY, other recent work has been published in TUPELO QUARTERLY, TULANE REVIEW, SPILLWAY, MALPAIS REVIEW, HIGH SHELF, and is forthcoming in APEIRON REVIEW. My poems also appear in the anthologies DARK INK: POETRY INSPIRED BY HORROR; BEYOND THE LYRIC MOMENT; 1001 NIGHTS; and CONDUCTING A LIFE: MARIA IRENE FORNES.

An accomplished, award-winning film, television and theatre actress, and a longtime mentor at Otis College of Art and Design, I share my life with my husband, the gifted playwright and teacher Leon Martell – and our talented dog Lolita.