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TRIO SSS Student: America's Best Emerging Poet

Article by: Ruby Nambo

Recently, I was selected to be part of America’s Best Emerging Poets. It is a true honor that I was chosen to be one of the 150 poets in America’s Best Emerging Poets out of at least 3,000 poets. However, like most stories, there is a backstory to everything.

This started back when I was first published in Manastash, which is Central’s literary magazine, back in spring 2017. The poem that was published in the literary magazine was “The Love, Pain, and the Independence.” It was a fortunate start in my dream of being a published writer. After I was published from Manastash, I thought that it was time to take a break in writing. However, I decided to keep on writing, and to continue my dream of being published. It was not until late September that I received an email from a representative from Z Publishing House for that dream. They stated that they were impressed with “The Love, Pain, and the Independence,” and wanted to feature one or more of my poetry pieces in the book: Washington’s Best Emerging Poets. I submitted a few pieces of poetry that I wrote in the past. By early December, the publishing company announced that my poem “A Champion’s Direction’s,” was going to be featured in Washington’s Best Emerging Poets. On January 2018, the book was released to the public. The book featured more than 75 poets around Washington State, including a handful of student poets from Central Washington University.

Two months later, after Washington’s Best Emerging Poets was released, I received an email from Z Publishing House. I was surprised because I did not expect an email from them at all. Z Publishing House invited me to be part of America’s Best Emerging Poets. They selected 150 poets, out of 3,000 poets who were part of the Emerging Poets around the United States, to take part of it in a national level. This was something unexpected for me because I never expected myself to be an emerging poet of America! Like the past, I had a certain time frame to submit and wrote new poetry pieces. Nearly a month later, I heard back from the publishing company, and was told that the poem “What is a Friend?” will be in America’s Best Emerging Poets! For those who are interested, the book will be released in August 2018.

To this day, I could not believe how far I came in my dreams. It was such an honor to achieve of publishing at a young age. Personally, I expect that this dream was going to be achieved later in life, like in my 30’s and 40’s and in my profession. Instead, I am achieving my dreams to be professionally published in my early 20’s and working on my education. My goal is that one day, as a future English educator, that I can use my published work and encourage students to their dreams, just as I did.