Charlotte Pence is a poet and critic who recently received her Ph.D. in creative writing from the University of Tennessee. She is the author of two chapbooks, one of which won Black Lawrence's Black River Chapbook Award. The chapbook, THE BRANCHES, THE AXE, THE MISSING, is scientific yet sexy, and explodes with startling imagery as it explores evolution, paranoid schizophrenia, and the nuclear family. She also edited The Poetics of American Song Lyrics (University Press of Mississippi, 2011). This anthology, the first of its kind, considers song lyrics as appropriate for study in a literature classroom. Her awards include numerous Pushcart nominations, the Discovered Voices award, and a fellowship from the Tennessee Arts Commission. Her work has appeared in Kenyon Review Online, North American Review, DENVER QUARTERLY, Rattle, Tar River Poetry Review, Prairie Schooner, Southern Poetry Review, and many other journals.
