Ava Leavell Haymon is the Poet Laureate of Louisiana (2013-2015) and author of four collections of poetry, including Eldest Daughter, Why the House Is Made of Gingerbread, Kitchen Heat and The Strict Economy of Fire, along with five chapbooks. She is the editor of the forthcoming Louisiana State University Press, Barataria Poetry Series (Spring 2014) and has been awarded the Louisiana Literature Prize for poetry in 2003, the L.E. Phillabaum Poetry Award for 2010, the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters 2011 Award in Poetry and has taught as an Artist in the Schools for a number of years. Her third book, Why The House Was Made Of Gingerbread, was chosen as one of the top ten books of 2010 by Women’s Voices for Change. Ava’s work has appeared in Northwest Review, Prairie Schooner, Poetry, and others.
Seven of her plays have been produced by Playmakers of Baton Rouge in theaters and schools throughout Louisiana and Texas, including The Troll Girl and the Princess, The Mermaid Who Couldn't Sing, and The Quest of Jodie Nothing. She has collaborated with many different artists and in several genres: a film, dance productions, written text for artist books and text for musical composition, recently "The Gretel Songs" for Mary Carol Warwick, premiered by the Greenbriar Consort of the Houston Symphony.

Author photo by David Humphreys