Claudia Cortese

Claudia Cortese is a poet, essayist, and fiction writer based in New Jersey. Her debut full-length collection, Wasp Queen, was published by Black Lawrence Press and won Southern Illinois University's Devil's Kitchen Award for Emerging Poetry. She also has two chapbooks, Blood Medals and The Red Essay and Other Histories, and her work has appeared in journals including Black Warrior Review, Crazyhorse, Blackbird, and The Offing. Cortese teaches in the Writing Studies program at Montclair State University, where she was honored with a 2018 OUTstanding faculty ally certificate from the LGBTQ+ Center.