Biography

Renee Podunovich is a licensed professional counselor, poet, author and freelance writer living in the southwest US Four Corners Region of Colorado. She has three chapbooks of poems: “Illustrious for Brief Moments” (Finishing Line Press, 2021), “Let the Scaffolding Collapse” (Finalist of the New Women’s Voices Chapbook Competition by Finishing Line Press, 2012) and “If There Is a Center No One Knows Where It Begins” (Art Juice Press, 2008).  She is the 2019 Cantor Award winner awarded by the Telluride Literary Festival. Her poems were nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2010 and 2011.

Her most recent publications include Literary Impulse, Scrittura, Journey of the Heart, The Mindful Word, Mississippi Review, Boston Literary Magazine, FutureCycle Poetry, Caper Literary Journal, White Whale Review, The View From Here, RATTLE and SW Colorado Arts Perspective.

Her first book of poems “If There Is a Center No One Knows Where It Begins” was published by Art Juice Press in 2008. Writer Cynthia West said of the book, “Podunovich’s visions are transparent panes allowing the reader the warmth and light of a larger view. She returns from journeys beyond the daily world with medicine which explodes in us ‘with no limits, other than the filter of our hearts’. Her passionate words form conduits through which we can meet our higher selves”.

Renee believes that poetry is a language that encourages us to transcend our constricted sense of self and connect to our essential nature within and the spirit of the world around us. She is interested in poetry as a linguistic bridge between the numinous and our daily grind, a healing art form that can transport us into more profound personal knowing and more extensive global awareness.

Renee facilitates poetry Well Writing: Wordcraft for Discovery, Wholeness & Connection workshops that are designed to use creative writing as a tool for centering, reflecting and for personal growth. @rpodswords at Medium & IG www.ReneePodunovichPoet.com