Vanessa Butler

Hello everyone! A little bit about me. I received my B.S. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz (Go slugs!) and my Masters in Public Health from the University of East London. I speak Spanish and I have a mixed background, Mexican and White. Born and raised in San Diego, California. In addition to editing, I also love to write poetry, short stories and I’m currently working on my first novel. My flash fiction piece “When the Wren Calls” was published in the Killer Nashville Magazine and reprinted in the Roi Faineant Press. This past summer, my story “My Goldfish is an Empath” was selected in the #cbsummerstory25 competition held by Curtis Brown Creative.

I enjoy literary fiction and stories with a strong character who will ultimately break my heart in some way. I love stories that incorporate the environment as a character and that weave in our connection to nature.

Some of my favorite books are The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, Betty by Tiffany McDaniel, The Overstory by Richard Powers and Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. I also love Mary Oliver, Wendell Berry, Ocean Vuong, Percival Everett, Robin Wall Kimmerer and William Blake.

When I’m not writing, I’m procrastinating or chasing around my 3 year old son or listening to my husband play piano or crocheting while watching Gilmore Girls. I also love drawing and illustrating.

What drew me to The Poetry Lighthouse was the style of the poems selected. All uniquely different but many draw on the natural world in some way and they inspire me to write. I knew that the editors behind the poems selected must be my kind of team! And because of that, I’m looking forward to being an editor with The Poetry Lighthouse and discovering more beautiful work.