Writing Biography
Elizabeth Maria is a Cave Canem poetry fellow and has been published in print and online journals including Wicked Alice, the Cave Canem Anthology XII, the Georgia Anthology: Stone, River, Sky, and Pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture. She earned her BA and MFA from the University of Georgia and taught as an English Lecturer for close to a decade. She currently freelances as Elizabeth Maria Unlimited and is scheduled to participate in Tupelo Press’ 30/30 Poetry Project in July 2023.
Services Offered (but not limited to):
Literary Concerns
-Idea/project development
-Character development readings
-Plot and character sensitivity readings
-Global & line level editing
Nonliterary Concerns
-Idea/project development consultation
-technical / content writing
-business plans
-business proposals / research
-global & line level editing
-grant writing: non-profit & for-profit with an emphasis on the following: women’s empowerment, sustainability, mental health advocacy, creative arts education, food justice, and holistic health.
Please click here to set up a consultation.
A Writer’s Life
I wrote my first poem at three, my first short story in grade school, and have been writing almost daily since. It is my solace, my constant companion, a therapist at times, and one of the ways I connect to God, Great Spirit, Source energy. I have always engaged in poetic community. When I was in elementary school I turned my book collection into a home library and checked out books to my friends. I also wrote serial short stories and passed them around for my friends to read. Throughout my teens and early twenties I spent many evenings going to and hosting poetry nights at coffee shops, working in community with other writers, and supporting bookstores and independent presses.
I started college as a nontraditional single mother when I was twenty seven and majored in English Literature and African American Studies. While a student, I sought out leadership roles and consistently created writing communities. I served as editor of the Oconee Compass, Editor and Chief of The Mandala Literary Journal, envisioned and spearheaded UGA’s Creative Writing in Costa Rica Maymester program, and worked with students, faculty, and staff on numerous interdisciplinary creative projects. I was awarded a Cave Canem fellowship during my graduate studies, and while I served as the Graduate Assistant for the Institute of African American Studies I was nominated and awarded UGA’s Graduate Student Diversity Engagement Award.
As an academic, I taught African American Studies, Rhetoric & Composition, Research Strategies, and English Literature. While teaching at the University of North Georgia, I collaborated on several visual and poetic art projects, including No Small Measure: A Collaborative Portfolio of Letterpress Printed Broadsides with Smokey Road Press. I also envisioned and spearheaded The Dance Between East and West: An Intercultural Collaborative Art Project while I was teaching at Liaocheng University in Shandong, China. This project bridged students, faculty, and community members from over five different nations and culminated with a community event and publication. During this time I gained extensive experience with organizational concepts and curriculum development, and in 2016 I was selected by the UNG Center of Global Engagement to teach a Maymester course in China based on my class curriculum proposal. Throughout my writing life I have consistently focused on cross- cultural and interdisciplinary work because I believe in innovative approaches to help individuals and communities come together and build spaces to connect, enjoy, learn, heal, laugh, and grow.
(a 3rd generation English Major!) Fall 2020
Now as an independent writer, I am pleased to offer writing and project services through working with a small number of clients. My focus is literary and non-literary writing, editing, and consulting services for individuals and businesses. I am most interested in working with authors who create work that uplifts while challenging the current status quo. I also love creative multimedia projects and am available for collaborations. For non-literary concerns, I am interested in working with businesses that know the importance of maintaining integrity while providing services that will uplift humanity. I am most passionate about working with companies whose services focus on women’s empowerment, sustainability, mental health advocacy, creative arts education, food justice, and holistic health.
Please click here to set up a consultation.
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elizabethmaria.org 