Welcome to the 30/30 Project, an extraordinary challenge and fundraiser for Tupelo Press, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) literary press. Each month, volunteer poets run the equivalent of a “poetry marathon,” writing 30 poems in 30 days, while the rest of us “sponsor” and encourage them every step of the way.
THE 30/30 PROJECT: VOLUNTEER POETS
July Poets
Clayre Benzadon
Clayre Benzadón (she / they) is a queer (bi /pan) Jewish poet, educator, and activist. Her manuscript, Moon as Salted Lemon, was published by Driftwood Press in 2025 and is a 2026 Lammy Finalist for Bisexual Poetry. Her Miami sonnet recently won second place in the Sonnet! Boom competition. She has also been published in places including Penumbra: Literary and Art Journal, Blood + Honey, and SWWIM.
RJ Equality Ingram
RJ Equality Ingram lives in Portland, Oregon & works as a necromancer & weigher of soles for Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette. RJ received their MFA in creative writing at Saint Mary’s College of California with concentrations in poetry & creative nonfiction. RJ’s two collections of poetry Peacock Lane & The Autobiography of Nancy Drew were published by White Stag. RJ is also the author of the chapbooks How To Eat An Entire Wedding Cake & Two Angels. RJ lives with their husband Michael Lee & their cats Twyla & Senator Padme Amidala who chase feathers tied to wands in the shadow of their late sister Brenda who lost a leg crossing Burnside in the moonlight.
Mera Kaur
Mera Kaur is a Montessori Educator, birth nerd, intuitive healer, mama. Mera lives in South Carolina with a gaggle of kids and a lovely garden. She has been published in Vallum, Heartwood, One Sentence Poems and other publications.
Kes Maro
Kes Maro (they/he) is a queer poet and visual artist based in Brooklyn. They were a recipient of a 2024 A4A grant and have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Their work has previously appeared in Passengers Journal, Beyond Queer Words, ___figuration: An Anthology of Trans Writers, and elsewhere. They are a current MFA candidate at New York University and were a member of the Mill City Speaks slam team in 2023 and 2024. You can find them on ig: @kes.maro
Dallas (Amber) Outlaw
Dallas (Amber) Outlaw is a DEI advocate, poet, photographer and educator based in Las Vegas, NV. She completed a Bachelor's of English degree at Nevada State University, MS in HR Management, and currently earning another MS in Organizational Leadership. She has a niche for micropoems, but writes poetry focused on life's many experiences, conversations, and encounters.
As a former Tupelo Press 30/30 contributor, Dallas implores readers to engage in the nuances of the imagery and openness of the poetry she produces to get an understanding of her as a writer, and life in its many variations. She’s a mom of a toddler boy and golden retriever.
Azmia Ricchuito
For Azmia Ricchuito, writing is the highest form of alchemy. Verbal vandal built for intellectual violence. Lover girl or professional hater fluent in both poetry & menace. Therapist bc we’re all mad here. Words: Teen Vogue, Glamour, Allure, Bustle, PAPER, SELF, & more.
Tammy Smith
Tammy Smith is a poet and licensed clinical social worker from New Jersey. She is winner of the 2026 Four Feathers Press Chapbook Contest. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Thimble Literary Magazine, ONE ART, Paterson Literary Review, The New Verse News, The Stillwater Review, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, and elsewhere. She received honorable mentions in the Journal of New Jersey Poets 2026 Poets Prize and the 2026 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards.
Daphne Stanford
Daphne Stanford writes poetry & nonfiction. Since 2012, she’s hosted The Poetry Show—a community radio show dedicated to interviewing poets and reading poems over the FM airwaves. She holds a BA in English from Reed College and graduate degrees in Secondary English Education and Creative Writing. Her chapbook, The Inevitable Surfacing of Bodies, was published in 2019 from Dancing Girl Press, and she is currently at work on a full-length poetry collection.
June Poets
Kristina Byas
Kristina Byas is a writer who often explores the psychological landscapes of the human experience, focusing on identity and the inner and outer conflicts that shape how people move through the world. Her work has been featured in Gypsophila, Prosetrics, and Fieldwren, and her debut poetry collection, Intrusive Thoughts, was released in 2024. Find her on Instagram at @KristinaByas_
Shavahn Dorris-Jefferson
Shavahn Dorris-Jefferson is a writer and educator living in the suburbs of Chicago. Her work has appeared in New Ohio Review, Rattle, Off Assignment, Painted Bride Quarterly, Cimarron Review, Carve Magazine, Salamander, The Baltimore Review, Sugar House Review, and other journals. She’s received support from Vermont Studio Center, Cuttyhunk Island Writers’ Residency, and The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow. She’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best American Essays, and Best New Poets. She earned an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is the former co-poetry editor for The Maine Review.
Jess Tønseth Lee Gleason
Jess Tønseth Lee Gleason is a queer, disabled poet, graduate of the Bennington Writing Seminars, who works in the medical field, and lives in Jamaica Plain, MA.
Shane Moran
Shane Moran is a poet and writer whose work explores the intersections of memory, place, and devotion. He was shortlisted for the 2025 Vallum Chapbook Award and is a recipient of an American Poets Prize. He has been featured in The Common Online and is forthcoming in spring printed edition of The Common. A graduate of William & Mary, he is currently studying and writing at NYU’s Low-Residency MFA Writers Workshop in Paris. Dividing his time between Richmond, New York City, and Paris, he is always eager to talk about God, poetry, love, and grief—if you can find him.
Jingyu Li (李静雨)
Jingyu Li (李静雨) is a poet and translator born in Beijing, China. She immigrated to the states at the age of three and grew up in Wyoming. She studied computer science and mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently pursuing her MFA in poetry at The University of Texas at Austin. Her work can be found in The Adroit Journal, Bombay Lit, The Margins, Sundog Lit, Rust & Moth, and others. She has two small kittens and a metaphysical dog named Doug. Her favorite food is hotpot which she eats on a weekly basis.
Stefanie Zito
Stefanie Zito is an interdisciplinary artist and writer based in Pittsburgh whose practice is grounded in ecology, walking, and sustained attention to material and place. Working across fiber, installation, and language, she explores tension between the domestic and the wild, permanence and impermanence, structure and transformation. She is a Certified Permaculture Designer, a graduate of the New York Center for Arts and Media Studies, and a current MFA candidate at Carnegie Mellon University. Her work has been shown internationally, including at Contemporary Craft, Fiberart International, Atlantic Gallery, World of Threads Festival, and the International Art Textile Biennale. She lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and two sons.
May 2026 30/30 Project Participants
The volunteer poets for May are: Meredith Ann Avera, Desirae Chacon, Heather Frankland, John Hanright III, Jillian Humphrey, Shane Moran, Hali Sofala Jones, Christina Vagenius, and Sonya Wohletz.
April 2026 30/30 PROJECT PARTICIPANTS
The volunteer poets for April are Maureen Alsop, Bob Bradshaw, Sarah Carson, Stan Galloway, Ava Hu, Sergiy Pustogarov, Nate Raum, Daniel Avery Weiss, and MK Zariel.
March 2026 30/30 PROJECT PARTICIPANTS
The volunteer poets for March are Kathleen Bednarek, Mymona Bibi, Susan Hankla, Amy Haworth,Elizabeth McGraw, Christina McCleanhan, and Alexis Wolfe
FEBRUARY 2026 30/30 PROJECT PARTICIPANTS
The volunteer poets for February are Kristine Anderson, Barbara Audet, Bee Cordera, Ashby Logan Hill, Amy Marques, Sonia Sophia Sura, and Samuel Spencer.
JANUARY 2026 30/30 PROJECT PARTICIPANTS
The volunteer poets for December are Tess Adams, Haley Bosse, Jess Bowe, Joanna Lee, Thomas Page, Sarah Paley, and Amy Snodgrass.
December 2025 30/30 Project Participants
The volunteer poets for December are Kate Bowers, Katie Collins, Ellen Ferguson, Chris Fong Chew, Davis Hicks, Victor Barnuevo Velasco, Jen Wagner, and Stacey Walker.
November 2025 30/30 Project Participants
The volunteer poets for November are Megan Bell, Jono Crefield, Alison Lake, Maya Cheav, Jada D’Antignac, Laurie Fuhr, Dominic Leach, Dawn McGuire, and Samantha Murphy
October 2025 30/30 Project Participants
The volunteer poets for September are Lilly Frank, Anna Ojascastro Guzon, Kathryn Johnson, Kimberly McElhatten, and H.T. Reynolds
September 2025 30/30 Project Participants
The volunteer poets for September were: Yael Valencia Aldana, Catherine Bai, Danielle Boodoo-Fortune, Kimberly Gibson-Tran, Kendra Brooks, Yvette Perry, Abigail Ardelle Zammit, and Amber Wei
August 2025 30/30 Project Participants
The volunteer poets for September are: Allison Baldwin, Daniel Becker, Ayana Cole Fletcher, Jaclyn Youhana Garver, Shivani G, Beth Siciliano, Ariana Suits, and Benin Lemus