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| image by John Cropper |
The Storialist is Hannah Stephenson, a poet, writer, editor, and instructor living in Columbus, Ohio She is the author of Cadence (Wick Poetry Center--Kent State University Press, In the Kettle, the Shriek (Gold Wake Press), series Co-Editor for New Poetry of the Midwest (New American Press, editor of The Ides of March: An Anthology of Ohio Poets (Columbus Creative Cooperative). Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, 32 Poems, Vela, The Journal, and Poetry Daily.
She is founder and curator (along with Paige Webb and Anisa Gandevivala) of Paging Columbus!, a literary arts event series. If you are a writer in Columbus or swinging through Central Ohio, and you'd like to chat about reading for Paging Columbus, please get in touch.
About The Storialist
Hannah began The Storialist in July 2008, determined to make poetry a part of her daily life. As a lifelong people-watcher and daily reader of the fashion blog, The Sartorialist, she found herself wondering about the lives of the people in the photos...who were they, what were they in the middle of, where were they going, how did they get there, what was in their pockets and purses, what instruments did they play, who were they connected to and disconnected from? Initially, Hannah's Storialist poems were companion pieces or imagined backstories to The Sartorialist's daily images.
Her sources for inspiration have widened considerably. Much of her work at The Storialist links to paintings, drawings, sculptures, architecture, and photography. And while these pieces of art are indeed jumping-off points for inspiration, the Storialist poems are not dependent on the images they link to. Rather, the Storialist plays with these images--constructing new contexts, describing, imagining, inventing.
Currently, The Storialist is a place to see Hannah's works-in-progress and new publications. She's not sure how it will evolve. And that's ok.