This week on Words and Sh*t we're featuring a Texas titan of poetry, Faylita Hicks! Join hosts Chibbi and Rooster as we talk about the journey from youth slam poet to Editor-In-Cheif of Borderlands Texas Poetry Review, how to make it in this world as a writer, and so much more!
Faylita Hicks is the Editor-in-Chief of Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review and the author of HoodWitch (Acre Books, 2019), a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry and longlisted for the Julie Suk Award. They are a 2020 Tin House Resident and the recipient of fellowships from Lambda Literary, Jack Jones Literary Arts, and Right of Return USA, the first fellowship designed exclusively for previously incarcerated artists. An activist and member of the Statewide Leadership Council, established by the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, they advocate for policy changes related to pretrial incarceration, immigrant detention, and the use of cash bail in rural Texas counties. Their poems, personal essays, and interviews have been featured in or are forthcoming in Adroit, American Poetry Review, Cincinnati Review, Huffpost, Kenyon Review, Longreads, Poetry Magazine, Poetry Daily, the Rumpus, Slate, Texas Monthly, the Texas Observer, and others. An interdisciplinary artist, they have an MFA in Creative Writing from Sierra Nevada University.
