January O'Neil

Poet

Beverly, MA
Massachusetts US

Author's Bio

January Gill O’Neil is a professor at Salem State University and the author of Glitter Road (2024), Rewilding (2018), Misery Islands (2014), and Underlife (2009), all published by CavanKerry Press. Glitter Road won the 2024 Poetry by the Sea Best Book Award, was a finalist for the New England Book Award and the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award, and is longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award and the Julie Suk Award. From 2012 to 2018, she served as executive director of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival. Her poems and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Poetry, The Nation, American Poetry Review, the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series, Sierra, and more. Her poem “At the Rededication of the Emmett Till Memorial” won a 2022 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award. A recipient of fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Cave Canem, and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, O’Neil was the 2019–2020 John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi. She lives in Beverly, Massachusetts, and chairs the AWP Board of Trustees (2022–2025).

Publications & Prizes

Books:
Glitter Road (CavanKerry Press, 2024)
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Rewilding (CavanKerry Press, 2018)
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Misery Islands (CavanKerry Press, 2014)
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Underlife (CavanKerry Press, 2009)
Journals: , ,
Callaloo
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Can We Have Our Ball Back
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Crab Orchard Review
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Drunken Boat
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Field
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Ouroboros Review
, , ,
Poetry Magazine
, , ,
Seattle Review
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Shenandoah
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Sierra
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Sou'wester
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Stuff Magazine
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TAB: The Journal of Poetry & Poetics
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The Nation
Prizes won: 

January Gill O'Neil's fourth collection, Glitter Road, was a finalist for the 2024 New England Book Award. Her poem, “At the Rededication of the Emmett Till Memorial,” was a co-winner of the 2022 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award from the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College. The recipient of fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Cave Canem, and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, O'Neil was the 2019-2020 John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi, Oxford.

 

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
African American
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Norfolk, VA
Virginia
Raised in: 
Norfolk, VA
Virginia
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Jun 03, 2025