Benjamin Aleshire received a James Merrill Fellowship to attend VSC in March, 2020. His work has appeared in The Times UK, Iowa Review, Boston Review, Lit Hub, and London Magazine, and he has received support from Bread Loaf, the Vermont Arts Council, and the University of New Orleans. Ben travels the world with a manual typewriter, composing poems for strangers in the street. The first chapter of his novel-in-progress, POET FOR HIRE, was selected by Nathaniel Rich as the winner of the 2019 Words & Music Festival prize. "Love Poem" is from Ben's poetry manuscript, FAKE NOOSE, a finalist for the 2020 Alice James Award. He lives in New Orleans, and serves as a contributing editor for the Green Mountains Review.
