Tess! In the City
Tess Congo is a poet, fiction, and creative nonfiction writer. Her writing has appeared in Publisher’s Weekly, PANK magazine, Ripe: Tales of Hunger and Desire (Afterword Books), and elsewhere. She's been the recipient of the Frederick Hyde Hibberd Scholarship, the Colie Hoffman Prize, scholarship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and most recently, she was awarded the 2024 Goodyear Arts Fellowship and Residency for her poetry. She has led poetry workshops with the nonprofit Beyond Sober. She previously earned her MFA in poetry from Hunter College. Discover more of her work at www.TessCongo.com
The American Tree Sparrow
Publications
2024—Poetry:
Prime Number Magazine: “Family Fables” (forthcoming)
The Tusculum Review: “A Performance for Future”
Litmosphere: “The Giver” (page 65)
(semi-finalist for Charlotte Lit/South Awards)
South Dakota Review: “Four AM”
2023—Poetry:
Ripe: Tales of Hunger and Desire (Afterword Books)
“Sisters, I’ve Been Drinking the Stars”
“Sustenance on Empty”
”Cathedral in a Love Song”
”Waif’s Love Song”
Litmosphere: “Family History”
(semi-finalist for Charlotte Lit/South Awards)
2022—Poetry:
Solar Journal: “Saturday in Costa Rica”
Thimblelit: “To Tell the Truth”
2020—Poetry:
Stone Pacific Zine:
“Waifland,”
“Cartography,” and
“Cathedral in a Love Song”
2020—Drawings:
Stone Pacific Zine:
“Autumn,”
“Cycles,”
“Open Suitcase”
“Window”
2019—Poetry:
Bowery Gothic:
“Melting into Ether”
2018—Fiction:
Curlew Quarterly:
“Winter in Persephone”
2015—Fiction:
PANK Magazine:
“Dorothy & the Tin Man”
2014—Poetry:
Aegis:
“Entry Into Solitude,”
“To the Old, Young Man, My Favorite Kiss,”
“The American Tree Sparrow”
2014—Photography:
Aegis:
“Wistful”
“Feathered”
Performances
& Readings
2024
• New York City Poetry Festival Performance with Sweet Action Poetry Collective
• GoodyearArts Action Series Performance with Poet de’Angelo Dia and Musician Casey Malone.
• Cream Puff Records Event at SOCO Gallery Annex, Poetry.
• Goodlit Fellowship Reading in honor of and alongside Poet Isaac Akanmu and alongside Poets Maurice J. Norman and Caeli Faisst.
2023
• Goodyear Arts: Doomsday and Night IV, Poetry.
2021
• Hunter Poetry Graduate Reading, poetry. Zoom.
2020
• Luna Luna Magazine’s Ritual Poetics: a reading & chat on ritual, writing, & coping, poetry, and discussion. Zoom.
• Sweet Action Poetry Collective Reading, poetry. Zoom.
2019
• Poetry Reading at Art gallery SFA Projects, poetry, New York, New York.
2018
• Curlew Quarterly Launch Party, fiction, “Winter in Persephone” which appeared in Issue 3. Brooklyn, New York.
• Governor’s Island Poetry Festival with Sweet Action, poetry. Governor’s Island, New York.
• Broken Bells: poetry reading series. Brooklyn, New York.
• Girlhood Reading Series, poetry. New York, New York.
• Ripped Up Poetry reading, Lady Stardust, New York, New York.
2017
• Voice Spread: Record Keeping & Structures of Dissent, Berl’s Poetry, Brooklyn, New York.