Elena Karina Byrne

Elena Karina Byrne is an editor, freelance lecturer, Programming Consultant & Poetry Stage Manager for The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and the Literary Programs Director for the historic Ruskin Art Club. Former Regional Director of the Poetry Society of America, Elena served as a final judge for PEN’s Best of the West award, the 2022 co-judge for the Laurel Prize, one of the final judges for the Kate and Kingsley Tufts Poetry Awards in Poetry from 2016–2018 and visiting speaker for the 2018–2019 ten university consortia in the Georgia Poetry Circuit.  A Pushcart Prize and Best American Poetry recipient, Elena’s poems, reviews, essays, and interviews can be found in POETRY, The Kenyon Review, The Paris Review, Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day, LARB, Poetry International, BOMB and elsewhere. Her five poetry collections include If This Makes You Nervous (Omnidawn) and No Don’t (What Books Press). Squander (Omnidawn), MASQUE (Tupelo Press), and The Flammable Bird, (Zoo Press/ Tupelo Press).