Carla Schick

Poet

Oakland, CA

California US

Email:

[email protected]

Twitter/X:

@carlsc05

Author's Bio

Carla S. Schick is a queer social justice activist and educator. Jazz music has been a major inspiration in their writings & musings. They believe in the power of the creative arts to forge a path to transformative justice. Their works have appeared in Qu, A Closed Eye Open, Black Fox Literary Magazine, Sinister Wisdom, Forum, About Place, an anthology on RBG, when there are nine, the anthology Colossus: Body, and online at A Gathering of the Tribes and The Write Launch. They were a recipient of the 2023 San Francisco Foundation/Nomadic Press poetry prize. They received their Certificate in Poetry from Berkeley City College, and served on the editorial board for Milvia St. Literary Arts Journal.

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:

Colossus: Current (Colossus Press, 2025)

When We Were Seeds (Querencia Press, 2025)

Lifespan: Loss (Pure Slush, 2024)

Ekphrastic Poetry (Moonstone Press, 2023)

Home (Pure Slush, 2023)

Which Side Are Your On? (Moonstone Press, 2023)

Journals:

About Place Journal

Black Fox Literary Magazine

Fourteen Hills

A Gathering of the Tribes

Quarterly

Prizes won:

California State Poetry Society Prize, May 2026, 1st Place, for Creating Worlds with My Dad, originally published by About Place, Centers of Gravity Issue, December 2022.

California State Poetry Society Prize, November, 2023, 3rd Place, for Today I Could Be Something I've Never Been Before

California State Poetry Society Prize, December, 2022; 2nd Place, for She Painted

Barbara Mandigo Peace Poetry Prize, 2012, 1st Place, for My Grandmother's Palm, Pantoum for Palestine

Barbara Mandigo Peace Poetry Prize, 2018, 1st Place, for When Birds Migrate, They Follow Nature

Two Sylvia's Press, 2023, Semi-Finalist, manuscript, "Words Like Stones" (renamed)

Moonstone Press Chapbook Prize, 2023, Finalist, manuscript, "Chiseling Away At Walls"

California State Poetry Society, Honorable Mention, 2024 Annual Contest, "A Candle, April 2020"

Calfornia State Poetry Society, First Place, July 2024 Contest, "On The Way to the Library"

Calfornia State Poetry Society, First Place, August 2024 Contest, ""The Woman Artist Untethers Herself"

Black Fox Literary Magazine, Longlist for Poem, Spring 2024, "Reasons for Surviving"

California State Poetry Society, first place, July 2024, "On the Way to the Library"

California State Poetry Society, first place, September 2024, " A Woman Artist Untethers Herself."

Concrete Wolf, 2024, Honorable Mention for my full-length manuscript, Words Like Stones

Tom Howard Poetry Prize, Winning Writers 2025, Honorable Mention for "Daily Life in Gaza,"

SF Foundation/Nomadic Press, Literary Award, Poetry, 2023

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors:

Toni Morrison, June Jordan, Pat Parker, Audre Lorde, Fady Joudah, Mohammed El-Kurd, Hala Alyan, Kaveh Akbar, Mosab Abu Toha,

What I'm reading now:

Horses by Jake Skeets, Ayiti by Roxanne Gay, West: A Translation by Paisley Rekdal, Here Where We Live is Our Country by Molly Crabapple

More Information

Gives readings:

Yes

Travels for readings:

Yes

Identifies as:

Jewish, LGBTQ

Prefers to work with:

Any

Born in:

New York, NY

New York

Raised in:

New York

Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.

Last update: Jul 01, 2026