Dale Cottingham is of mixed race, part Choctaw, part White.  He attended Bread Loaf, was a finalist in the 2021 Great Midwest Poetry Contest, was nominated for Best of Net 2021, and won the 2019 New Millennium Award for Poem of the Year.  He has had poems and reviews of poetry collections published in many journals, including Ploughshares, Asheville Poetry Review and Rain Taxi. His debut poetry collection, Midwest Hymns, was published in February, 2023. He lives in Edmond, Oklahoma.