“I think I started [poetry] as soon as I could write at all. I remember in second grade we were introduced in school to poets like Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky. I loved their humor and precision and started to imitate them—mostly poems about how much I loved flowers or chicken nuggets, that kind of thing. But I’m [still in love with the poetry] I read today.”
-Emily Kingery interview with Cathexis Northwest Press.
Some people have called Emily Kingery a Gangster, or The Goat. Some people whisper that Taylor Swift was inspired to make the Tortured Poets Department after reading Emily Kingery’s works. Her writing is baller, and some of the best poetry either of us have read. She has such a distinctive style and structure of her writing that is engrossing and captivating. Not only that, but as a teacher she does a very good job of providing helpful feedback and being encouraging of the writing of other students.
Emily is most well known on campus for her workshop style classes which bring said workshop environment into the classroom to better and improve the writing of the students. These classes are so popular they very quickly fill up leaving stragglers on the waitlist. It helps that Emily Kingery never talks down as a teacher, and she’s always concerned about your opinions and what you value in your writing. For her classes she likes to have conference meetings where you’ll meet up and talk about how best she can assist the writer to get where they want. She shows this strength best as the head of the Quercus literary arts magazine.
When Carl Herzig, who originally created the SAU quercus magazine retired, Emily easily stepped in and brought her own vision into Quercus’s new digital era. She’s already proven herself to be an effective and well organized leader as the change to online for the magazine was happening. She keeps us on point when deciding submissions, as well as providing feedback for the best course of action. When Esther became the lead of the website team for Quercus, Emily always made sure she was comfortable and confident in her actions as lead, and the necessary steps needed to move forward.
She also took Quercus to new places with a special failsafe edition of a Quercus release reading put on by SAU theater. She has also worked with Daniel Hale to put on a special performance for the Honors 101 students with inventive storytelling, and is also planning on collaborating again for the new play directed by Dan called Secret in the Wings, which some people have described as fairy tales in the basement. She is working as the production’s dramaturge on all things fairy tales and fears.
Most of her own creative writing is done outside of the school though, one notable example being her book: Invasives, released last year. Not only that, but she also has two forthcoming books that are currently in the works. Her other pieces have also been published in several magazines and collections including, Birdcoat Quarterly, Blood Orange Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, and Midway Journal. Examples of her work can also be found on her own personal website found here!