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
December Poets
Kate Bowers
Kate Bowers (she/her) is a a Pittsburgh-based writer who has been published in Sheila-Na-Gig, Rue Scribe, The Ekphrastic Review, MacQueen’s Quinterly, So It Goes!, and The Thomas Wolfe Review. Her work appears also in the anthology “Pandemic Evolution: Poets Respond to the Art of Matthew Wolfe” by Hayley Haugen (Editor) and Matthew Wolfe (Artist) and the anthology “The Gulf Tower Forecasts Rain” edited by Doralee Brooks. Kate is an alumna of Tupelo Press’s 30/30 Project, a 2024 Pushcart nominee for her poem “Green Man” appearing in So It Goes!, and serves as a volunteer social media team member for The Ekphrastic Review..
Katie Ashlyn Collins
Katie Ashlyn Collins is a playwright dramaturg, and scholar. She grew up in Laurel Hill, North Carolina and graduated from Scotland High School in 2015 as class valedictorian. She then went on to study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she received a BA in Music and Dramatic Art. During her time there, she was awarded the Old Well Scholarship, became a Buckley Public Service Scholar, and completed her honors thesis: "Same Trailer, Different Park: Small Towns on the 20th Century American Stage".
After Carolina, Katie went on to receive her Masters in Theater at Binghamton University in 2022 completing a Master's Thesis which was her show, Maared, which has since been given staged reading at both the Gruber Theater in New York and the Sunrise Theater in North Carolina. She has worked as stage manager, costume crew, scene shop assistant, sound operator, assistant director, and whatever else was thrown at her in time working backstage at Scotland High School, Playmakers Repertory Theatre, Richmond Community Theatre, Binghamton University, and Sunrise Theater. She won Volunteer of the Year for the 2020-2021 season at Richmond Community Theater where she served on the board for five years serving briefly as Board President and, later, director.
Katie was set to have her work debut in April of 2020 with her work Cannon, but it was cancelled due to the pandemic. Her first staged work, The New Twenties, was produced virtually in January 2020 with RCT. RCT would also be where her plays The Ladybug Inn and Marley would be produced in 2022 and 2023 respectively. Her radio play, Time and a Half was produced at the Sunrise Theater in 2024. From 2023-2025, she served as the Operations Manager at the Sunrise Theater. Since 2023, she's served as the Box Office Manager at The Carolina Philharmonic, where she’s also participated in their Mozart’s Requiem choir.
Katie’s full list of plays includes High School Revisited, To the Devil, Cannon, The New Twenties, Sympathy for Judas, Maared, The Ghosts and the Green Bananas, Out of Town, The Ladybug Inn, Marley, Time and a Half, and the Masterpiece. She’s also published one book of poetry, A Wrap Dress, and has just finished writing her first book, The Other Side.
Ellen Ferguson
Ellen Ferguson Having lost count of how many 30/30 projects Ellen's done, let's call it four/five. Ellen has published two chapbooks after dragging them kicking and screaming from the 30/30 project, Small Fiasco and Raccoon Latrine.
Chris Fong Chew 招偉明
Chris Fong Chew 招偉明 is a writer and educational administrator pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing at Emerson College after he completed his undergrad at Berklee College of Music. At Emerson he was part of the inaugural cohort of the Transformational Leadership Fellowship and now serves on the Presidential Advisory Committee as the Deputy Chair for Graduate Students. He also founded and leads the Nonprofit Organization Collections of Transience, a literary collective that runs a yearlong residency program for writers of color, which he founded in 2023. Chris has been published in Dear Asian Youth’s literature page, Berklee’s Fusion Magazine, OCA's IMAGE magazine, and Trident Poetry Collective's chapbooks. In 2025 Chris was selected as part of the Boston Mayor’s Poetry Program. Chris is passionate about the intersection of creative disciplines and the meshing of different fields of knowledge.
Davis Hicks
Davis Hicks lives in Wake County, North Carolina. A fan of the outdoors, his dog, and not taking himself too seriously, Davis got his BA in English at Samford University before moving to pursue his masters, writing all the while with the loving support of his family, friends, and caring wife Natalie. His work has been published or is upcoming in Wide Angle Literary Journal, Prosetrics Literary Magazine and Trident Poetry Collective, among others. He can be found @davis.drafts on Instagram.
Victor Barnuevo Velasco
Victor Barnuevo Velasco reads a lot, writes a little, and curates art shows every now and then. His prose and poetry have been featured in print and online journals. He is a founding member of Albay Arts Foundation.
Five years ago -- during the pandemic -- he participated in Tupelo 30/30.
Jennifer Wagner
My name is Jennifer Wagner. I am an author, poet, and creative entrepreneur whose work moves between noir fiction, memoir-infused prose, and emotionally charged poetry. I write about empowerment, femininity, and the hidden motives that shape human connection. My stories explore the shadows we walk through, the desires we follow, and the power we reclaim along the way. I’m currently working on a dual-narrative noir novella and a hybrid poetry-memoir collection titled Inconvenient Inspiration.
Stacy Walker
Stacy Walker After 20 successful years in corporate America leading teams, managing complex projects, and scaling companies, I left a notable career to escape the desperate unhappiness and lack of fulfillment I could no longer ignore. I was a Vice President at a growing healthcare company and led company growth through proven collaboration, implementation, change management, and product development skills, but found myself burned out, depressed, and in need of change. During my exploration of whether I could make a drastic change, I began writing poetry, and it led the way. I now offer purpose coaching and provide small business consulting as companies navigate growth and changing industries, but my passion is writing (prose and poetry) and helping others find their way out of situations that don't serve them or align with their values.
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