Liza Porter
Poet ~ Essayist
PUBLICATIONS
Poetry
"The Southern Baptists Visit the Methodists," The MacGuffin, Spring 2024
Del Bac, full-length poetry collection, Finishing Line Press 2023
Keep the Singing, poetry chapbook, Finishing Line Press 2021
“Let Me Return,” Finalist, New Millennium Writings 50, 2020
“To Joy Harjo on the Radio from New Mexico,” The Red Wheelbarrow Review, 2020
“The day my brother meets Bob Dylan …” in Visiting Bob: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Bob Dylan (New Rivers Press: Moorhead, MN, 2018)
Red Stain, poetry chapbook, Finishing Line Press, 2014 (Finalist, 2015 Arizona/New Mexico Book Award; Finalist, 2015 WILLA Award—Women Writing the West)
“She Could,” poem in What Wildness is This: Women Write about the Southwest (University of Texas Press: Austin), 2007
Poems published in AGNI On-line, Cobalt Review, The MacGuffin, The Ilanot Review, 2River View, The Progressive, Barrow Street, Diner, The Worcester Review, HazMat Review, The Chrysalis Reader, The Pedestal Magazine, and other literary magazines, 2005-present
Prose
"Breathing Salvation," essay, Another Chicago Review, 2025
“Skar,” essay, The Write Launch, June 2020
“Mugshot,” essay, Bending Genres, June 2020
“Esther of the Hearts,” short story, The Write Launch, May 2020
“There will be falling,” essay, Brevity, May 2019
“June 21, 2018,” Essay Daily, June 2018
“Reconstructing,” PRISM International (First Runner Up, Nonfiction Contest;
(Honorable Mention, New Millennium 42nd Nonfiction Prize), 2016
“How to Survive the Dinner Table,” 2015, Chautauqua (Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2016)
“Labyrinth,” hybrid (poetry and prose) essay, 2014, Passages North (Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2015)
“Hejira del Bac” and “The Corvair Yard,” Ilanot Review, 2015.
"Down the Tracks: Bruce Springsteen Sang to Me," essay in Poets on Prozac: Mental Illness, Treatment and the Creative Process (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008)
"In Plainview," Cimarron Review 2005 (Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2006)
“In Search of the Thickest Towel,” Hotel Amerika, 2005
“Standing in the Dark,” Concho River Review, 2005
Audio-Video
“Arizona Spotlight,” Luis Alberto Urrea shares the blueprint for "The House of Broken Angels". - AZPM
Mary Ann Campau Memorial Fellowship Reading, University of Arizona Poetry Center, March 25, 2010; VOCA Search | Voca (arizona.edu)
“Arizona Spotlight,” Luis Alberto Urrea shares the blueprint for "The House of Broken Angels". - AZPM
Awards and Grants
Finalist, Cider Press Review Book Award, (Del Bac), 2021
Finalist, Masters Workshop in Creative Nonfiction for “What Was it About Us? Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards, 2021
Finalist, Cleveland State University Poetry Center Essay Collection Competition, (Bruce Springsteen Sang to Me), 2019
Finalist, Narrative Nonfiction Book Prize, Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, Faulkner Society (Bruce Springsteen Sang to Me), 2018.
Finalist, Masters Workshop in Creative Nonfiction for “Breathing Salvation,” Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards, 2018
Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2016, “How to Survive the Dinner Table,” (Chautauqua 2015)
Semi-Finalist, 2016 Two Sylvias Press Wilder Series Poetry Book Prize (Rape Register), 2016
Honorable Mention, 42nd Nonfiction Prize, New Millennium Writings (essay “Reconstructing”)
First Runner Up, Nonfiction Contest, PRISM International, (“Reconstructing”), 2016
Semi-Finalist, Cleveland State University Poetry Center Open Book Poetry Competition (Rape Register), 2016
Notable Essay, Best American Essays, 2015 (“Labyrinth,” Passages North, 2014).
Finalist, Arizona/New Mexico Book Award (Red Stain, poetry chapbook, Finishing Line Press, 2014).
Finalist, WILLA Award, Women Writing the West (Red Stain, poetry chapbook, Finishing Line Press, 2014)
Finalist, Gabriela Mistral Poetry Prize, “Blue Gloves, Stars,” Cobalt Review, 2014
Semi-Finalist, Press 53 Award for Poetry, The story of a body, 2014
Semi-Finalist, Washington Prize (Word Works Press) poetry book contest, The story of a body, 2014
Finalist, Santa Fe Writers Workshop nonfiction book prize, Down the Tracks, 2013
Honorable Mention, nonfiction, “Labyrinth,” New Millennium Writings 35th Awards, Fall 2013
Honorable Mention, poetry, “Urgent Care,” New Millennium Writings 35th Awards, Fall 2013
Finalist, Masters Workshop in Poetry, Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards, 2013
Finalist, Lamar York Prize for Nonfiction, “Labyrinth,” hybrid personal essay, (Chattahoochee Review, 2013)
2nd Place, Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Award, 2012
1st Place, Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Award, 2010
2009 Mary Ann Campau Memorial Fellowship, University of Arizona Poetry Center
National Finalist, 2009 and 2010 Mark of Excellence Awards, Society of Professional Journalists
Professional Development Grants, Arizona Commission on the Arts, for Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico residencies, 2009, 2006
Selected Projects/Readings
EDGE 72 Reading Series, Casa Libre en la Solana, Tucson, January 28, 2015, invitational
Poetry Celebration, Antigone Books, Tucson, October 31, 2014, invitational
Other Voices Women’s Reading Series, founder/director, Antigone Books, Tucson, 2002-2012
EDGE Reading Series, featured reader, Casa Libre en la Solana, Tucson, 2011, invitational
Lamplight Reading Series, featured reader, Tucson, 2008, 2004, 2003, 1999, invitational
Writing in the Dark, Elephant Rock Writing Workshops, 2023
Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Woodside, CA, 2012, 2004 & 1999, juried
Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, Taos, NM, 2019, 2009, 2006 & 2002, juried
Hedgebrook Retreat for Women Writers, Whidbey Island, WA, 1998, juried
Education
Creative Nonfiction Magazine Online Writers Courses, 2015-present
UCLA Extension On-line Writer’s Program, 2012-2013
Stanford University Continuing Studies On-line Writing Studio 2011-2013
Pima Community College, Tucson, AZ, journalism, 2008-2010
Pima Community College, Tucson, AZ, creative writing, 1994-1999; 2014-2016
Lane Community College, Eugene, OR, music, 1979-80
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, women’s studies, 1977-1979
Elk Grove Sr. High School, Elk Grove, CA, Diploma, 1973