Margaret Ray

Margaret Ray’s second book, Practical Effects, was selected as a National Poetry Series winner by Chen Chen and is forthcoming from Penguin in fall 2027. She is also the author of Good Grief, the Ground (BOA Editions, 2023, winner of the A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize and shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award) and the chapbook Superstitions of the Mid-Atlantic (Poetry Society of America, 2022). Her poems have appeared in The Atlantic, The Nation, American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, and elsewhere. She grew up in Gainesville, Florida, and holds an MFA from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. Margaret is a lifelong teacher of poetry. You can find more of her work at margaretbray.com (Updated 10/2026)