Lydia K. Valentine is a poet, playwright, and educator who believes in the power of good, the healing capacity of writing and reading, and the necessity of the Oxford comma. A passionate advocate for equity and social justice, proud mom, and card-carrying Blerd, Lydia grew up in Aliquippa, Pa, a small, steel mill town north of Pittsburgh, where she spent many hours of her youth at B.F. Jones Library. She has a BA in psychology from Johns Hopkins University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. She now lives, reads, and writes in another gritty city, Tacoma, WA, where she has been named as the 2021-2023 Tacoma Poet Laureate.