Laurel BenjaminA San Francisco Bay Area native, born and raised, Laurel's writing is sculpted by the coastal landscape, foghorns, and trains, but also by the stories of her ancestors. Her work has been recognized widely. Her book, Flowers on a Train (Sheila-Na-Gig ditions, 2025), was finalist for the Cider Press Book Award and Honorable Mention for the Small Harbor Publishing Laureate Prize. She is a finalist for The Ekphrastic Review contests, has received Honorable Mention for the Ruben Rose Memorial Poetry Competition, Honorable Mention from OPA (Oregon Poetry Association), and holds Pushcart Prize and Best-of-the-Net nominations. She has been interviewed by The Ekphrastic Review and Flapper Press. Her poems appear in Pirene's Fountain, Lily Poetry Review, Taos Journal of Poetry, Mom Egg Review, and elsewhere. Her work has also been anthologized in Women in a Golden State (Gunpowder Press, 2025), The Nature of Our Times (Paloma Press, 2025), among others. Laurel is active with the Bay Area Women's Poetry Salon and is a reader for Common Ground Review. She founded and leads Ekphrastic Writers, a group dedicated to writing and community. Laurel holds an MFA in Fiction from Mills College. She is a former temp worker, children's book buyer, and community college English instructor. She invented a secret language with her brother. Learn more at laurelbenjamin.com Read More Read Less