Theresa Burns

is a writer, editor, and teacher whose work has appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including The New York Times, Prairie Schooner, New Ohio Review, Verse Daily, America Magazine, Bellevue Literary Review, The Cortland Review, and Plume. She holds an MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College and has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A long time book editor in New York and Boston, she lives with her family in South Orange, NJ, and teaches writing in and around New York.  

Burns’ first full-length poetry collection, Design, was released in Spring 2022 by Terrapin Books. An earlier version of the book was a finalist in both the Barry Spacks Poetry Prize from Gunpowder Press and the Homebound Publications Poetry Prize for 2021. Her chapbook Two Train Town was published in 2017 by Finishing Line Press.

In 2019, Burns founded Watershed Literary Events, a community-based reading series featuring poets with a connection to New Jersey. Past features have included Brenda Shaughnessy, Craig Teicher, Alicia Mountain, Roberto Carlos Garcia, Rachelle Parker, Stuart Kestenbaum, Deborah Garrison, Rogan Kelly, BJ Ward, Anton Yakovlev, Anne Marie Macari, and Tamara Zbrizher, among others. Sponsored by the Department of Cultural Affairs in South Orange, the events are always free and open to the public.  

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A sampling of poems: