TESS BARRY is the author of The Marvelous Real, a poetry collection published by Meadowlark Press and a finalist for Meadowlark’s 2025 Birdy Poetry Prize. Barry was shortlisted for the Manchester Poetry Prize. Twice a finalist for North American Review’s James Hearst Poetry Prize and Aesthetica Magazine’s Poetry Award, she has also been shortlisted several times for the Bridport Poetry Prize. Her work has been widely published in the U.S. and abroad and appeared in journals such as: Aesthetica, The Compass Magazine, Cordite Poetry Review, Cordella Magazine, Mslexia, The Louisville Review, North American Review, and The Stinging Fly, among others. She is a fellow of the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project and the director of Carlow University’s MFA in Creative Writing Program, a low-residency program in the U.S. and Ireland.

Education

MFA, Creative Writing/Poetry, Carlow University, Pittsburgh, Pa.
MA, English, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
BA, English Writing, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Publications 

• “My Mother as Walden Pond,” F(r)iction Literary Journal (an imprint of Brink Literacy Project), 2020 
• “A Rise Beyond Wanting,” Cordella Magazine, Rebellion, 2020  
• “Volta,” Other Terrain Journal, Australia, 2017 
• “My Mother as Walden Pond” and “Diaspora in F Major,” Backstory, Australia, 2017
• “Wild Fennel,” “My Father’s Remains,” “Raspberries,” “Near the Ocean’s Edge” and “After Singing Midnight Mass,” Poethead, Ireland, 2017 
• “Pantoum for My Mother,” Mslexia, UK, 2017 
• “Starving with Bobby Sands,” The Stinging Fly, Ireland, 2017 
• “Finding My Bearings in Picasso’s Blue Period” and “White Girl’s Sonnet for Barack Obama,” And Other Poems, UK, 2016 

Learn more at www.tessbarrypoet.com

Professional Programs and Initiatives

Carlow University MFA in Creative Writing Program’s Alumni Reading Series RAISING OUR VOICES (a series that features Carlow alums, mentors, and national/international writers)

Carlow University MFA Program’s Teaching Apprenticeship Program (Developed and Coordinated with Dr. Jose Otero, Nicole Ravas, Sarah Shotland, Anne Rashid, and others to provide MFA students interested in teaching an opportunity to apprentice with Carlow faculty by shadowing them throughout a semester)

Carlow University’s BA to MFA Program (Developed with Dr. Lou Boyle, Dr. Anne Rashid, Sarah Shotland, Nicole Ravas, and others, to provide a BA to MFA track for undergraduate Carlow students)

Professional Memberships

Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP)
Academy of American Poets
Fellow, Western Pennsylvania Writing Project
Community of Literary Presses and Magazines (CLMP)

Twitter: @tessbarry88
Instagram: @tess.barry88
Linked In: Tess Barry