Donna Reiss

Donna Reis is the author of two full length poetry collections: Torohill (Deerbrook Editions, 2022) and No Passing Zone (Deerbrook Editions, 2012), which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. 

She is co-editor and contributor to the anthology, Blues for Bill: A Tribute to William Matthews (The University of Akron Press, 2005).  Her non-fiction book, Seeking Ghosts in the Warwick Valley: 60 Personal Accounts (Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2003) has sold nearly 3000 copies.  She has written three poetry chapbooks: Certain (Finishing Line Press, 2012); Dog Shows and Church: A Sequence of Poems (2000) and Incantations (1995) both published by Eurydice Press.  Her work has appeared in numerous journals including Atlanta Review, Cimarron Review and Delmarva Review.  Reis has been published in more than ten anthologies, most recently CAPS Poetry 2020: 20th Anniversary (Caps Press, 2020); Coffee Poems, Reflections on Life with Coffee (World Enough Writers, 2019); Local News: Poetry about Small Towns (MWPH Books, 2019).  She received her Master of Science Degree in Education from Hunter College, The City University of New York, in 1986.  A student of the late William Matthews, she completed her Master of Arts Degree in Creative Writing at The City College, City University of New York, in 2002.

Reis was born in Greenwich, Connecticut and grew up in Greenwood Lake, New York.  She was married to the late musician and composer, Tom Miller. She has taught poetry workshops at The Northeast Poetry Center, College of Poetry and the Albert Wisner library in Warwick, New York.  She is an avid quilter and now lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with her dog, Phoebe and her cats, Peekamoose and Pud-Tud.

 

Select Honors 

  • Winner of the Violet Reed Haas Prize, 2012

  • Finalist for the Violet Reed Haas Prize, 2011

  • Finalist for the Violet Reed Haas Prize, 2010

  • Finalist for the Violet Reed Haas Prize, 2009

  • Second Place in Kalliope’s Sue Saniel Elkind Poetry Contest, 2005

  • The James Ruoff Memorial Essay Award, 2002

  • The Meyer Cohn Essay Award in Literature, 2001

  • Honorable Mention in the Billee Murray Denny Poetry Contest, 1998 

  • Finalist for the Emily Dickinson Award, 1996