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ANDREA WITZKE SLOT
is an artist, educator and author who writes poetry, fiction and essays. She is the author of the poetry collections The Ministry of Flowers (Valley Press 2020) and To find a new beauty (Gold Wake Press 2012) and her work has won prizes with Able Muse and Fiction International and placed in over a dozen competitions, A poem of hers that was longlisted in April 2022 in the National Poetry Competition is forthcoming in Poetry Wales as part of their online interview series and other work can be found in such places as The Rialto, Stand Magazine, Ambit, Acumen, Under the Radar, Southeast Review, American Literary Review, Litro UK and Litro US, Lunch Ticket, Rappahannock Review, and many more. Andrea lives in London and is a contributing artist with Fiona Lesley’s award-winning Poetry Exchange. She works daily to capture the unexpected meeting grounds of the human and natural worlds in words, paints, piano and photography.
With an emphasis on multiple viewpoints and understanding the interconnections of human and natural life, Andrea writes work for both adults and children that inspires compassion for each other and for the natural world too. Both serious and humorous in turn (sometimes in the same space), Andrea considers herself an ecopoet and a writer who listens and gives voice to both people and our planet. She loves to experiment with form and content in both poetry and prose. |
A lifelong educator, Andrea has taught and mentored students ages 3-83. She was a primary teacher in the UK in the 1990s, taught at Collin College in Texas as a full-time faculty member, and, after receiving her doctorate, joined the faculty as a lecturer in the English Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. During her years in Chicago, she taught many community-based workshops and worked as a poetry editor with Rhino Poetry and a book review editor at Fifth Wednesday,
Andrea's PhD from the University of Texas at Dallas and her academic work focuses on poetry, dialogue, and social change with a special interest in poetry that incorporates distinct voices and varying ideological perspectives. Her doctoral chapters on Harryette Mullen and Julia Alvarez have been included in academic anthologies used in university classrooms: Dialogism and Poetry: Hearing Over, published by Palgrave Macmillan and Inhabiting "La Patria": Identity, Agency, and "Antojo" in the Work of Julia Alvarez by SUNY Press. |
-NEWEST BOOK-
The Ministry of Flowers
is available from Valley Press The Poetry Book Society, Amazon UK and Amazon US. |
"Andrea Witzke Slot is a multi-talented poet, artist and photographer who has not only produced a highly original collection, but also illustrated it with delicate pen and ink drawings. The Ministry of Flowers [her latest collection of poems] was many years in the making, and this is reflected in the variety and quantity of the work...I can’t do justice in such a short review to this rich and varied poetry collection that speaks of our shared humanity, vulnerability and connection to others in beautifully crafted poems of great depth and resonance. I keep returning to the book to read them again. I can only recommend that you get yourself a copy and enjoy them for yourself. - Emma Storr, London Grip
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Listen to poems from Ministry on YouTube in a discussion with the writer Sarah Salway,
Listen to readings by actor Michael Shaeffer, creative Sally Anglesea, and poets Hafsah Aneela Bashir, Valerie Wallace, and Faisal Mohyuddin
Listen to a few Poetry Exchange podcasts with Andrea and other. PE contributing artists as they speak to guests about a poem that has been a friend to them:
Love Song For Words by Nazik Al-Malaika - A Friend to Maryam
The Republic of Motherhood by Liz Berry - A Friend to Ana
The Fury Of Overshoes by Anne Sexton - A Friend to Laura
De Ceder / The Cedar by Han G. Hoekstra - A Friend to Alida
Dich / You by Erich Fried - A Friend To Katharine
Last Post By Carol Ann Duffy - A Friend To Jackie
Proem by Martin Carter - A Friend to Nicholas
Listen to readings by actor Michael Shaeffer, creative Sally Anglesea, and poets Hafsah Aneela Bashir, Valerie Wallace, and Faisal Mohyuddin
Listen to a few Poetry Exchange podcasts with Andrea and other. PE contributing artists as they speak to guests about a poem that has been a friend to them:
Love Song For Words by Nazik Al-Malaika - A Friend to Maryam
The Republic of Motherhood by Liz Berry - A Friend to Ana
The Fury Of Overshoes by Anne Sexton - A Friend to Laura
De Ceder / The Cedar by Han G. Hoekstra - A Friend to Alida
Dich / You by Erich Fried - A Friend To Katharine
Last Post By Carol Ann Duffy - A Friend To Jackie
Proem by Martin Carter - A Friend to Nicholas
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FROM THE MINISTRY OF FLOWERS
Valley Press 2022 
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FROM TO FIND A NEW BEAUTY
Gold Wake Press, 2012 
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