Lynnell Edwards’ most recent collection of poetry, The Bearable Slant of Light (Red Hen Press, 2024), documents the burden and beauty of mental illness in one family and across this history of writers and artists. Her other collections are: This Great Green Valley (Broadstone Books, 2020), a chapbook of documentary poetry based on revisionist narratives of Kentucky’s pioneer founding in the 18th century. Three additional full-length poetry collections, Covet (2011), The Highwayman’s Wife (2007), and The Farmer’s Daughter (2003), were published by Red Hen Press. A chapbook, Kings of the Rock and Roll Hot Shop, from Accents Publishing (2014), chronicles the work and art of a glass-blowing studio. Her short fiction, book reviews, and essays have appeared in Plume, Another Chicago Magazine, New Madrid, Connecticut Review, Cincinnati Review, Pleiades, and elsewhere. Awards include a 2007 Al Smith Fellowship and a fellowship at The Hermitage in Sarasota, Florida, for 2020-2021. She currently serves as faculty in poetry and Associate Programs Director for the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing at Spalding University where she is also book reviews editor for the program's literary journal Good River Review.  She is a founding member and past president of Louisville Literary Arts and also served on the Kentucky Women Writers Conference Board of Directors. She holds the Ph.D in Rhetoric and Composition as well as the MA with Creative Writing Thesis, both from the University of Louisville. Her work often investigates the deep connections between a people and their place, including the natural, political, and family narratives in its history.