Jason O'Toole

Poet

Andover , MA
Massachusetts US
Email: 
jasonotoolemba@gmail.com
Website: 
operationriskyou.substack.com/

Author's Bio

Jason O’Toole is Poet Laureate Emeritus of North Andover, MA. He serves on the advisory board of the New England Poetry Club, and as treasurer of the Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco. He is the winner of the 2025 Amy Lowell Prize. He serves as a judge for the Tom Nattell Peace Poetry Prize and the Capital District Slam Poetry Festival in NY. His newest collection is The Strange Misgivings of the Sadly Gifted (Dead Man’s Press Ink). Recent poems and prose have appeared in the anthology Love is for All of Us (Storey Publishing), as well as Ghost City Press, The Somerville Times, and Deceleration News 

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
Love Is for All of Us: Poems of Tenderness and Belonging from the LGBTQ+ Community and Friends (Storey Publishing, 2025)
,
Poets With Masks On (Finishing Line Press, 2022)
,
The 2020 Rhysling Anthology (Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association, 2020)
Books:
The Strange Misgivings of the Sadly Gifted (Dead Man's Press, 2025)
,
Soulless Heavens (Middle Island Press, 2019)
,
Spear of Stars (Middle Island Press, 2018)
Chapbooks:
Enragés (Between Shadows Press, 2025)
,
Wait Out the Burn (Ghost City Press, 2025)
,
Poison Moonlight (Blood Pudding Press, 2021)
Journals:
Another Chicago Magazine
,
Avatar Review
,
Boog City
,
Columbia Spectator
,
Gargoyle Magazine
,
Heroin/Love/Songs
,
Loud Coffee Press
,
Lowell Review
,
Molecule
,
Neologism Poetry Journal
,
Neuro Logical Literary Magazine
,
New Plains Review
,
Nixes Mate Review
,
Scriblerus
,
Somerville Times
,
Sparks of Calliope
,
The New York Times
,
The Wild Word
,
Vita Brevis
Prizes won: 

2025 Amy Lowell Prize

2025 Mass Poetry Molecules Prize

2025 Pushcart nomination

2020 Rhysling Award nomination 

Watch

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Alfred Bester, Willie Carver, Jr., James Crews, Anne Waldman, Andrea Gibson, Arthur Rimbaud, Audre Lorde, William Gibson, David Ignatow, Chinua Achebe, Charles Olson, Laura Albert (J.T. LeRoy), Jack Kerouac, Herman Melville, Gregory Corso, Jeanne Robert Foster, William Lindsay Gresham, T. S. Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop, William S. Burroughs, William Carlos Williams, John Berryman, John Compton, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Percy and Mary Shelley, Joy Harjo, Lloyd Schwartz, Ted Kooser

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
American
Prefers to work with: 
Adults, At Risk Youth, Children, Disability, Homelessness, Illness/Wellness, LGBTQ, Mental Health, Naturalists/Environmentalists, Schools, Seniors
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Albany, NY
New York
Raised in: 
Albany, NY
New York
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Mar 15, 2026