Bio

Pauletta Hansel is a poet and memoirist who is author of eight poetry collections, including Friend (letter poems written during the pandemic), Coal Town Photograph and Palindrome, winner of the 2017 Weatherford Award. Her writing has been widely anthologized and featured in journals including Rattle, Appalachian Journal, Appalachian Heritage and Still: The Journal, and on The Writer’s Almanac, American Life in Poetry and Verse Daily. Cincinnati’s first Poet Laureate, Pauletta is artist in residence at Thomas More University and past managing editor of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, the literary publication of Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative. Pauletta offers writing workshops and retreats for children, published author and everyone in between. The programs often focus on identity, community and roots, and can be geared to the particular needs of the organization. She also is available for presentations of Appalachian literature and culture, including readings of her own work.

I was born and raised in the Appalachian coalfields of eastern Kentucky to parents whose roots in the region extend through multiple generations. I have been active in Cincinnati's urban Appalachian communities since arriving in this city as a young adult. I am a member of the Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative and the Appalachian Studies Association, and often travel back to the region for workshops, conferences and to connect with family and friends.

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