April Freely was a Cleveland, OH–born poet and essayist based in New York City, NY, where she directed the Fire Island Artist Residency. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Ninth Letter, Gulf Coast, and elsewhere. The recipient of fellowships and awards from the Ohio Arts Council, Vermont Studio Center, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and others, Freely was a graduate of Brown University and held an MFA in nonfiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and an MFA in poetry from New York University. In addition to her advocacy for LGBTQ and BIPOC artists, Freely was an activist for labor rights and the end of gun violence.