Heather H. Thomas

Poet

Reading, PA
Pennsylvania US

Author's Bio

Heather H. Thomas has published nine collections of poetry, including Vortex Street (FutureCycle Press, 2018), Blue Ruby (FootHills Publishing, 2008), Resurrection Papers (Chax Press, 2003), and Practicing Amnesia (Singing Horse Press, 2000), twice a National Poetry Series finalist. Alice Notley called Blue Ruby "a beauty, composed by a fearlessly compassionate intelligence." Thomas's three chapbooks include an embroidery art and poetry collaboration, The Fray, with artist Barbara Schulman. She has two bilingual Spanish-English editions, with Argentine poet and translator Patricia Diaz Bialet.

Thomas's poems are anthologized in 23 volumes, including Keystone Poets Anthology (Penn State University Press, 2025); Shining Rock Poetry Anthology (2022), Welcome to the Resistance: Poetry as Protest (Stockton University, 2021); Undocumented: Great Lakes Poets Laureate for Social Justice (Michigan State University Press, 2019); and Birdsong: In Celebration of Birds (FootHills Publishing, 2017).  

Among the fifty print and online journals that have published Thomas's work are Barrow StreetCutthroat, A Journal of the Arts; Mizna: Prose, Poetry, and Art Exploring Arab AmericaAbout Place Journal; Barrow Street; Cardinal Points; Interim; The Wallace Stevens Journal; Stillwater Review; and Women's Studies Quarterly. She is also published as H.T. Harrison, most recently in the Pedestal (2023) and Persimmon Tree (2022).

Her poems are translated and published in Albanian, Arabic, Italian, Lithuanian, Spanish, and Swedish. She has read in Argentina, Bosnia, Egypt, Ireland, Kosovo, Lithuania, Macedonia, Russia, Sweden, and Turkey. Thomas is a co-founding editor of the poetry journal 6ix, which she co-edited for a decade with five Philadelphia poets. She edited a folio of international women poets for Persimmon Tree.

Her scholarly work is on Alice Notley, Anne Waldman, Emily Dickinson, H.D., and Wallace Stevens, including publication in the volumes We Who Love to Be Astonished: Experimental Women's Writing and Performance Poetics; Approaches to Teaching H.D.'s Poetry and Prose; and The Emily Dickinson Journal. After more than a decade in journalism, she pivoted to teaching literature and creative writing. She was Professor of English for 25 years at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, where she won the Outstanding Faculty  Award. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Pennsylvania; her M.A. and Ph.D. are from Temple University. 

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets (Texture Press, 2019)
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Undocumented: Great Lakes Poets Laureate on Social Justice (Michigan State University Press, 2019)
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Birdsong: Poems in Celebration of Birds (Foothills Publishing, 2018)
,
Common Wealth: Anthology of Pennsylvania Poets (Penn State University Press, 2005)
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Poezijos Pavasaris (Leidykla VAGA, 2001)
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The Gertrude Stein Awards in Innovative American Poetry (Sun & Moon Press, 1996)
Books:
Recognition/Reconocimiento (bilingual selected, trans. Patricia Diaz Bialet) (Foothills Publishing, 2019)
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Vortex Street (FutureCycle Press, 2018)
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Blue Ruby (Foothills Publishing, 2008)
,
Papeles de Resurreccion (bilingual edition trans. by Patricia Diaz Bialet) (Editorial Vinciguerra, 2004)
,
Resurrection Papers (Chax Press, 2003)
,
Practicing Amnesia (Singing Horse Press, 2000)
,
The Fray (collaboration with Barbara Schulman) (Kutztown Publishing, 2000)
,
Circus Freex (Standing Stones Press, 1995)
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Circus Freex (Pine Press, 1995)
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Voiceunders (Texture Press, 1993)
Journals: ,
American Letters & Commentary
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Barrow Street
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Cardinal Points
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Fledgling Rag
, , , ,
Poetry24
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Talisman
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The Wallace Stevens Journal
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Washington Review
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Women's Studies Quarterly
Prizes won: 

Academy of American Poets Prize, Temple University.

Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Literature Fellowship.

Gertrude Stein Award in Innovative American Poetry.

Berks County (PA) Poet Laureate.

Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship.

Rita Dove Poetry Prize, Honorable Mention.

Joy Harjo Poetry Prize, Honorable Mention.

 

Personal Favorites

What I'm reading now: 
Memorial Drive by Natasha Tretheway, In Praise of Darkness by Jorge Luis Borges, Dear Memory by Victoria Chang, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
English American
Prefers to work with: 
Adults, At Risk Youth, Schools
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
NY
New York
Raised in: 
Reading, PA
Pennsylvania
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Sep 02, 2023