In 2011, Aracelis Girmay was presented with the Isabella Gardner Award for Kingdom Animalia. The prize is awarded biennially to a poet in midcareer with a new book of exceptional merit. Girmay is also the author of the collage-based picture book changing, changing, and the poetry collection Teeth, for which she was awarded a GCLA New Writers Award.She was born and raised in Southern California, with roots in Puerto Rico, Eritria, and African America. Girmay has taught youth writing workshops in schools and community centers for the past ten years, and is assistant professor of poetry writing at Hampshire College. Girmay also teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Drew University in New Jersey, and is a Cave Canem Fellow and an Acentos board member.
