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
November Poets
The volunteer poets for November are: Michelle Frost, David Hadbawnik,
Alexander Shalom Joseph, Sally Kuzuma, Rachel Lee, Lincoln McElwee,
Michelle Stoll, and Sandra Tan.
Michelle Frost
Michelle Frost has been writing poetry, creative non-fiction, news, & children's stories since 1973. Bookseller & library aide keeps me close to what I love. Currently residing in Mesa, AZ and excited to be considered for another 30/30 month of poetry!
David Hadbawnik
David Hadbawnik is a poet, translator, medieval scholar, and an editor, with Chris Vitiello, of Polis Press. Books include Damage, forthcoming from Knife Fork Book (2026); a translation of the Aeneid (Shearsman, 2023); an edited volume, Postmodern Poetry and Queer Medievalisms (Medieval Institute Publications, 2022); and Holy Sonnets to Orpheus and Other Poems (Delete Press, 2018). He currently lives in the Minneapolis area with his wife and son.
Alexander Shalom Joseph
Alexander Shalom Joseph is an award winning poet, novelist, playwright and author of six published books spanning poetry and fiction with three more forthcoming in 2027. His novels have been runner up and shortlisted for the Faulkner Wisdom Prize as well as FC2’s 2026 Catherine Doctorow Prize as well as many others. David has an MFA in Creative Writing from the Jack Kerouac School and an MA in English Education. He writes a weekly poetry column on Substack and for the Mountain Ear Newspaper, and has taught at Naropa University, lectured on fiction and form at Columbia University and John Jay College and currently teach writing workshops in Libraries, Museums, Schools and Prisons across the Colorado Front Range.
Sally Kuzma
Sally Kuzma is an educator, visual artist, writer, and a maker of small self-published books. She teaches English language and trains teachers in the US and abroad. She relishes these opportunities to learn from and converse with people across borders, and gave her first poetry workshop in Kazakhstan. Her handbound collaborations are at Woodland Pattern Books in Milwaukee where she was a frequent reader in the annual Poetry Marathon; her poems have appeared in Bramble (Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets publication) and the AFCU Journal (Association of Franciscan Colleges and Universities). A recent transplant to New England, she is currently reading and re-reading local histories and voices in the public domain, and is often in conversation with them through poetry.
Rachel Lee
Creative writing, especially poetry, is where Rachel Lee’s soul speaks most vividly. She aspires to pursue a career in the arts. Rachel enjoys using film and music to capture emotional imagery and inspire others. She believes in the power of collaboration and constructive destruction of the mind. Rachel is a mother, partner, societal wage earner, and is working on opening a daycare. After 2 years of sobriety she is learning to love herself again.
Lincoln McElwee
Lincoln McElwee hails from Southern California but currently lives in Washington State. He currently works as a copywriter for the University of Washington. Lincoln earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree in English Literature from California State University, Fullerton, where he also received a Professional Certificate in Teaching and Writing. His favorite poets and writers include W.H. Auden, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Zadie Smith, and Haruki Murakami. He was a semifinalist in the 41st New Millennium Writing Awards and received an Honorable Mention in the 45th New Millennium Writing Awards (both for creative nonfiction), and has poetry published in DASH Literary Journal, Prism Review, Lullaby of Teeth: An Anthology of Southern California Poetry, Crosswinds Poetry Journal, Dark Ink: A Poetry Anthology Inspired by Horror, and Open Minds Quarterly, among others. His chapbook, "This Place Could Be Haunted if I Didn't Believe in Love," is published by Moon Tide Press. When not writing, whining or wine-ing, he’s scouring Seattle for french fries and vegan donuts.
Michelle Stoll
Michelle Stoll lives in Arkansas. She is a multi-genre writer whose work has appeared in journals such as SLANT, West Trade Review, Pine Hills Review, Galway Review, Literally Stories, and others. She was a finalist for the Tennessee Williams Poetry Prize, a runner-up for the River Heron Review Poetry Prize, and was shortlisted for the Wigtown Poetry Prize. She has worked for Poetry South and is currently a reader for SLANT. Michelle received her MFA in Creative Writing from Mississippi University for Women.
Sandra Tan
Sandra Tan is a poet from Singapore. She was a finalist for the 2025 Ninth Letter Literary Awards, longlisted for the 2024 National Poetry Competition (The Poetry Society), and nominated for the 2024 Panorama Prize. Her poetry has appeared in Anthropocene, West Trade Review, Panorama, The Oxonian Review, and Quarterly Literary Review Singapore.
October Poets
The volunteer poets for October are: Katerina Canyon, Sam Calhoun, Luka at/om Erausquin, Ellen Fergusun, Brett Gastineau, Joy Johnson, Nicoletta LaMarca-Sacco, H.T. Reynolds, Gabriel Phillips, and Colin Sturdevant.
Katerina Canyon
Katerina Canyon is a poet, writer, and peace advocate whose work explores memory, history, survival, and the political imagination. She is the author of Surviving Home and Changing the Lines, and her poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she served as Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga and just completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Mississippi University for Women. Her current work engages Black feminist poetics, inherited trauma, speculative memory, and the lyric as a site of resistance. She is also the Executive Director of Peace Economy Project, where she works to challenge militarism and redirect public resources toward human needs. Katerina lives in Harlem, New York.
Sam Calhoun
Sam Calhoun is a poet, geoscientist, and nature photographer. He is the author of seven chapbooks, including The Call-back from Bottlecap Press and First Things from Eulogy Press. His award winning work has been nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net awards, and can be found in Frogpond, Paddler Press, Dishsoap Quarterly, and GRIT magazine. A regular contributor to WLRH's weekly broadcast, The Sundial Writers Corner, he serves as the founder and editor-in-chief for the Tanasi River Review. He lives with his wife in Elkmont, Alabama.
Luka “at/om” Erausquin
Luka “at/om” Erausquin (he/they) is a poet and writer from New Hampshire. He is a transgender, mentally ill, poet in his early thirties who, like many, has a dream of being a full time artist. He began writing as a child when he realized he had more to say than any person was willing to listen to. He was always a person with a big heart and a passion for making other people feel. Luka is a firm believer that the spoken and written word is one of the most powerful tools we have to change the world, and believes that by sharing it we can all do exactly that.
Ellen Ferguson
Ellen Ferguson has been a 30/30 poet several times. She has written three chapbooks for Finishing Line Press largely made up of 30/30 poems: Small Fiasco, Raccoon Latrine & 6 Chobani Blueberry Yogurts in the Conference Room Fridge That Expire Today (forthcoming 2027).
Brett Gastineau
Brett Gastineau writes poems daily and stories about his former varied life and daydreams that have carried him from Indiana to Georgia to California to Minnesota and back again, through over forty odd jobs, countless fumbles of the heart, and a fascination with guitars and bus terminals. He has translated this meandering sojourn into the poetry manuscript, Postcard Intimacies, and am hoping to see its publication in the near future. Brett has also completed a chapbook length manuscript of a more surrealist nature, The In-Between. For fun, he has been working on his own translation of Neruda's Canto General.
Joy Johnson
Joy Johnson was born in Florida and lived in North Dakota, Georgia, Alabama, Saudi Arabia, and the UK. She has degrees in French, physics, and mathematics. After being thwarted in her writing endeavors as a child, she started to write poetry again about 25 years ago. She also produces a podcast on local politics: HSV Progressive.
Nicoletta LaMarca Sacco
Nicoletta LaMarca Sacco, PhD (she/her) is a writer, daughter, wife, teacher, and mom to two adults. She wrote the first multimedia hybrid creative writing dissertation at Binghamton University. Nicoletta is a bilingual first-generation Italian-American. Her writing is published in the Paterson Literary Review, quill&parchment, New York Magazine’s The Cut, parents.com, and Newsweek.com. Dr. LaMarca-Sacco is a past co-director of Binghamton University Poetry Project and Common Ground. Find updates at nicolettalamarcasacco.com
H.T. Reynolds
H.T. Reynolds is a teacher and father whose work has appeared in Rust & Moth, Moonstone Arts Center, The Rising Phoenix Review, Boundby, The Bombay Literary Magazine, and The Amazine, as well as in his full-length poetry collection, Chatter in the Skull (BookLeaf Publishing). His poetry often explores American mythology through persona, the effects of systems on the vulnerable, trauma through the body as witness, and grief’s transformative nature. He has served as poetry co-editor at River and South Review for over two years and holds an M.A. and an M.F.A. from Wilkes University, where he was awarded the Beverly Blakeslee Hiscox '58 Scholarship.
Gabriel Phillips
Gabriel Phillips is a surrealist poet from Alabama who returned to writing in 2025 after a twenty-three-year hiatus. His poems appear in the Miscreant Anthology. An image-first poet, he believes a poem should be felt before it is understood. He enjoys time with his wife and two daughters, cold weather, outdoor fires, coffee and whiskey. He posts micro-poems on Instagram as @poet_of_the_surreal.
Colin James Sturdevant
Colin James Sturdevant is a poet, writer, and food journalist from Houston, TX. Aside from being a high school teacher during the daytime, by night he is a an MFA Candidate in Creative Writing, Poetry in a low residency program at Western Colorado University. He is the founder of pass the salt presse which houses table//FEAST Literary Magazine and other literary art endeavours. During his spare time, he works with unhoused youth in the inner city to write poetry they are compensated and said poems become published in an annual anthology. He's more interested in knowing your story.
September 2026 30/30 Project Participants
The volunteer poets for September are: Laura Bandy, Alicia Boemi, Jesse DeLong, Shelly Krehbiel, Rob Mclennan, Piper Rasmussen, Connor Simons, Veronica Vo, and Melinda Wilson.
August 2026 30/30 Project Participants
The volunteer poets for August are: Zoe Berger, Ashley Howell Bunn, Dahhee Chung, Alison Henderson, Ash Kemp, Hannah Page, PF Potvin, Janette Schafer, and Kate Thuma.
July 2026 30/30 Project Participants
The volunteer poets for July are: Clayre Benzadon, RJ Ingram, MeraBaid Kuar, Kes Maro, Azmia Ricchuito, Tammy Smith, and Daphne Stanford
June 2026 30/30 Project Participants
The volunteer poets for June are: Kristina Byas, Shavahn Dorris-Jefferson, Jess Tønseth Lee Gleason,
Shane Moran, Jingyu Li (李静雨), and Stefanie Zito
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