Who We Are

Tapping the transformative power of poetry for diverse communities, we value radical collaboration, joyful creative process, and the vitality of human connections.

We serve the Fordham University community, as well as a national network of poets, scholars, and social justice workers. Every two years, we determine a new theme in dialogue with what is urgent in the national focus and create an institutional partnership to generate extraordinary programming and outreach.

Our 2020 - 2023 theme is WITNESS.

We are grateful to Fordham College at Lincoln Center
and the Axe Houghton Foundation for making our programs possible.

Staff

Elisabeth Frost (Co-Director)

A poet and scholar, Elisabeth Frost is the author of a collection of poetry, All of Us (White Pine Press, 2011); two chapbooks, A Theory of the Vowel (Red Glass Books, 2013) and Rumor (Mermaid Tenement Press, 2009); and a critical study, The Feminist Avant-Garde in American Poetry (University of Iowa Press, 2003). She is also co-editor (with Cynthia Hogue) of Innovative Women Poets: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry and Interviews (University of Iowa Press, 2006). In addition to a Fulbright Fellowship as a visiting professor at the University of Wroclaw, Poland, Frost has received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation-Bellagio Center, the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute, MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Ledig-Rowohlt Foundation, among others.

Sarah Gambito (Co-Director)

is the author of the poetry collections Loves You (Persea Books), Delivered (Persea Books), and Matadora (Alice James Books). Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Iowa Review, POETRY, Harvard Review, American Poetry Review, The New Republic and other journals. She holds degrees from The University of Virginia and The Literary Arts Program at Brown University. Her honors include the Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award from Poets and Writers, The Wai Look Award for Outstanding Service to the Arts from the Asian American Arts Alliance, and grants and fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts, The New York Foundation for the Arts and MacDowell. She is co-founder of Kundiman, a non-profit organization serving writers and readers of Asian American literature.

Sally Wen Mao
(Graduate Assistant)

Sally Wen Mao is the author of the forthcoming poetry collection The Kingdom of Surfaces (Graywolf Press, 2023), and the debut fiction collection Ninetails (Penguin Books). She is also the author of two previous poetry collections, Oculus (Graywolf Press, 2019), a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and Mad Honey Symposium (Alice James Books, 2014). The recipient of two Pushcart Prizes and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, she was recently a Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library and a Shearing Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute.

Fellows

Yev Gelman

Yev Gelman is a NY-based student, writer, and theatre artist currently getting his B.A. in Theatre Directing and Creative Writing from Fordham University, where he is active as a theatre director, poster artist, and designer. Through his work with Fordham Creative Writing and the Poetic Justice Institute, Yev hopes to learn more about advocacy within the literary world, and how to best uplift voices that have long been silenced. In his writing, Yev tells stories of queer love, immigration, and the New York ecosystem.

Jacob Myron Cerdena

Jacob Myron Cerdena is a sophomore studying English with a concentration in Creative Writing and a minor in Psychology. Though he is involved in many areas around campus, he has been a Black Sheep Performance Poet since his first semester of freshman year and hopes he can continue their legacy of bringing experimental entertainment to Fordham. He enjoys writing about deep, messy, infatuating systems of human connection and finds overwhelming comfort in nature. He has been published in the Ampersand and Bricolage and is striving to spread his talents elsewhere.

Chaise Jones

Chaise Jones is a rising junior at Fordham College at Lincoln Center studying New Media & Digital Design and English with a creative writing concentration. Through her studies, she aspires to investigate design impact on Black and brown communities and diversity in literature. She enjoys poetry that explores self-love and generational trauma. She is excited to uplift much-needed, diverse voices through her fellowship at the Poetic Justice Institute.

Katherine Lussen

Katherine Lussen (she/her) is a rising junior studying English and Communication and Culture at Fordham College Rose Hill. A poet and songwriter, she is incredibly excited to work with the Poetic Justice Institute and the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of how lyrical work can evoke compassion and change. An executive board member for Fordham's oldest literary magazine, the Ampersand, and a member of Black Sheep performance poetry, she hopes to spread appreciation for student creative work in the Fordham community.

Past Fellows

Advisory Circle

Tamiko Beyer
Janlori Goldman
Cynthia Hogue
Deborah Paredez
Roger Reeves

Poetic Justice Institute initiatives are made possible through the support of
the Dean’s Office of Fordham College at Lincoln Center
and The Axe-Houghton Foundation