About

Emily Holland (they/she) is a genderqueer lesbian writer living in Baltimore, MD. Their debut collection of poems, NOTIFICATIONS ON, won the 2025 Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from the Washington Writers’ Publishing House and will be published in January 2027.

She received her MFA from American University, where she won the Myra Sklarew Award for outstanding thesis in poetry and was the Editor-in-Chief of FOLIO. They have received support from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and her poems have been nominated for Best of the Net and two Pushcart Prizes. They have poems appearing in publications including HAD, Shenandoah, DIALOGIST, Little Patuxent Review, Black Warrior Review, Homology Lit, Impossible Archetype, Screen Door Review, FOLIO, bedfellows, Wussy, and Nat. Brut.

Their chapbook Lineage was released August 2019 from dancing girl press. The poems explore themes of queerness, place, familial lineage, and investigate the Southern pastoral. It was a “Best Dressed” pick for Sundress Publication’s The Wardrobe blog.

They work at The Writer’s Center, where they started as an intern with Poet Lore while working full-time at a coffee shop. She is currently the Executive Editor of Poet Lore and the Communications Manager at The Writer’s Center. At The Writer’s Center, they are also a co-host of The Writer’s Center’s Virtual Craft Chat series, an editor of The Writer’s Center Magazine, and a poetry instructor.

In 2023, they were the chair of OutWrite, DC’s LGBTQIA+ literary festival sponsored by The DC Center for the LGBT Community. She is also an adjunct professor at The George Washington University.

Emily also offers other editorial work including website copy editing, manuscript editing, and freelance journalism. Contact them for more information regarding these services.