Jo Van Arkel

Jo Van Arkel writes poetry and fiction, including micro, flash and short stories. Her stories and poems have appeared in Northwest Review, The Literary Review, Sou’wester, Cave Region Review, Elder Mountain, Big Muddy, OPA Pandemic Anthology and elsewhere. She is a past winner of the Missouri Writers Biennial Award and the author of two short story collections, The Things I’ve Got Growing Deep Down Inside and The Life of Birds and six chapbooks of poetry including Give Me a Hat to Wear.  She writes literary fiction about ordinary people on extraordinary days and sometimes ventures into magical realism, rewriting fairy and myth.

She earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Oregon, a Masters in Literature at Texas Christian University.  She has served as a past editor of Gingko Tree Review, and is publisher and editor for Pencil Box Press. Jo is a Professor of English at Drury University with. 35 years of teaching experience in publishing, creative writing and literature.  She is available for speaking engagements and workshops.

Jo lives with her husband and two cats in a fairy tale house on the Ozark Plateau.