Rhony Bhopla

Poet

Author's Bio

Rhony Bhopla is a British Indo-American poet, book critic, and visual artist. Her poems have appeared in Southern Humanities Review, PRISM International, The Hopper, Notre Dame Review, Cherry Moon: Emerging Voices from the Asian Diaspora, The Ekphrastic Review, The Good Life Review, among other literary journals. Her book reviews can be read in Northwest Review and Harvard Review. Her artworks are a regular feature of the Big Names Small Art (BNSA) auction with the Crocker Art Museum. Kathakali, a series of artworks featuring the ancient Indian dance of Kerala, is published online with Cosumnes River Journal. Rhony Bhopla serves as the President of the Alumni Association Board of Representatives at Pacific University for the term 2025 - 2027. Her honors include the Kwame Dawes Mapmakers Scholarship, the Kwame Dawes Mapmakers Teaching Assistantship, and the Pacific University Alumni Association's Emerging Leader Award. Her fellowships include the inaugural Rooted and Written Fellowship and an Emerging Critics Fellowship from Anaphora Arts. Rhony earned a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences and a minor in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Davis. She completed a Multiple Subject Teaching Program with San Francisco State University, and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Pacific University. She volunteers as a peer reviewer for Teaching and Learning in Medicine, and as an outdoor science educator with Sierra Nevada Journeys. She also serves with the Medical Reserve Corps, and the Cosumnes River Preserve. Rhony enjoys spending time with loved ones, hiking, cooking, and creating watercolor nature journals for her friends.

Essays:

"The Blue Clerk: Bhāvika and the Literary Revolution", presented at the Popular Culture Association Conference 2022 https://pcaaca.org/page/past-conferences

"The Blue Clerk: Bhāvika and the Literary Revolution", presented at the Furious Flower Poetry Conference IV Worlds of Black Poetry 2024. Category: Saving Anew: Reinterpreting Black Women's Poetry https://2024.furiousflower.org/schedule/

"No Ruined Stone: Poems of Archival Imagination and Active Waiting", published in The Fight and The Fiddle, Furious Flower Poetry Center, James Madison University. https://fightandfiddle.com/2025/05/28/no...

Artworks:

Kathakali Series in Cosumnes River Journal Vol. 16, No. 2 Fall 2025: https://cosumnesriverjournal.org/

Open Library Print Publications:

Bhopla, Rhony. "dear ganesha" PRISM International, 61:4, Summer 2023 Print Publication, University of British Columbia. Pp. 81-82. https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/...

 

Scholarly Work in 2026:

"New Ecopoetic Theory: The Sustaining Poems of Jamaican Writers," will be presented in the Poetry Studies & Creative Poetry area for the 2026 Popular Culture & American Culture Association Conference to be held April 8-11, 2026, in Atlanta, GA.

Poetry Studies & Creative Poetry Area Chairs: Drs. Katie Manning (she/her) & Billie R. Tadros (she/her or they/them) Conference Information: https://pcaaca.org/

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Publications & Prizes

Anthology:
Cherry Moon: Emerging Voices from the Asian Diaspora (Gasher Press, 2023)
Journals:
Cosumnes River Journal
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Notre Dame Review
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The Hopper
Prizes won: 

2024 Emerging Leader Award, Alumni Association at Pacific University

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Dec 20, 2025