Tara Betts

Tara Betts is the author of two poetry collections, Break the Habit, Arc & Hue, and the forthcoming Refuse to Disappear. She also coedited The Beiging of America and edited a critical edition of Philippa Duke Schuyler’s Adventures in Black and White. Her sci-fi-related writing has appeared in Cicada, Near Kin: A Collection of Words and Art Inspired by Octavia Estelle Butler, Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements, and the Hugo-nominated Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler. Her work has also appeared in The Breakbeat Poets, The Long Term, Essence, POETRY, and many other publications.

In addition to her work as a teaching artist and mentor for young poets, Tara has taught a weekly poetry workshop at Stateville Correctional Center and has also taught at several universities, including Rutgers University and University of Illinois-Chicago. In 2019, Tara published a poem celebrating Illinois’ bicentennial with Candor Arts. Tara is Poetry Editor at Another Chicago Magazine and The Langston Hughes Review and the Lit Editor at Newcity.