L.J. Sysko

“A valley girl Beowulf.”

That’s what one reviewer called American poet L.J. Sysko. Her debut full-length collection THE DAUGHTER OF MAN was selected by Patricia Smith for the Miller Williams Poetry Series and published by University of Arkansas Press in 2023. Publishers Weekly wrote, “This whip-smart collection is a playful celebration of feminine power.” THE DAUGHTER OF MAN is “goddam funny” and “a clinic in irony,” said poet Ross Gay.

An MFA from New England College, Sysko has had work published in anthologies such as BEST NEW POETS and LET ME SAY THIS; BATTLEDORE, a chapbook about pregnancy, postpartum depression, and early motherhood; and publications such as Ploughshares, The Georgia Review, The Missouri Review, RHINO, and Mississippi Review. Also a prose author, Sysko’s nonfiction was The Georgia Review Prose Prize finalist in 2023, selected by judge Jennine Capó Crucet; her prose has also been recognized by Zoetrope’s All Story, judged by novelist Anthony Marra; The Bellingham Review Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction; and The Pinch Literary Awards.

Sysko taught high school English for fourteen years, but she now writes professionally for Delaware State University's president in the role of Director of Executive Communications. Contributing Editor at Tupelo Quarterly where her original interview series, “Be Kind Rewind: Where Poetry Meets Proust" appears, Sysko lives in Wilmington, Delaware with her family.