An “about me” feels awkward as hell. Like an assumption of a level of interest that is neither guaranteed nor necessarily anticipated. But here we go:

I’m Emily. Hi. I’m a writer, a wonderer, a starer into space, an observer, the person on the train who’s trying her hardest not to make you uncomfortable, but is undeniably interested in your existence. In the way you interact with the world. The way the world moves around you to let you through. It’s how I try to understand. To remember that I’m like you and so, not alone. It’s what I am reaching for, always, in life and in writing: connection.

Also, collaging is pretty cool. I’m no good at it, but I love a purple glue stick.

Venice, Italy

Photo Credit: Emily Portillo

I have been honored to have my poems selected as:

The winner of Peatsmoke Journal’s 2025 Summer Editor’s Contest and the 2022 Ellen Conroy Kennedy Poetry Contest,

runner-up for the 2024 Ruth Stone Poetry Prize,

• the 2026 American Literary Review Awards in Poetry

• the 2025 Pinch Literary Awards in Poetry

• Breakwater Review’s 2025 Peseroff Prize in Poetry

• the 2024 Muriel Craft Bailey Poetry Contest

• the 2024 Milton Kessler Memorial Prize for Poetry

• the 2024 Sand Hills Poetry Contest

• the 2023 Sublingua Prize for Poetry

• the 2022-2023 Tennessee Williams SAS Poetry Contest

• the 2022 Poetry International Prize,

finalists in:

semi-finalists in the 2025 Crab Creek Review Poetry Prize and the 2024 Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize,

and honorable mention in Writer’s Digest’s 2025 Annual Writing Competition.