Bleah Patterson
educator
arts nonprofit fundraiser and community organizer
poet
storyteller
​
About
Bleah Patterson is a queer, southern poet from Texas. Much of her work explores the contention between identity and home and has been featured or is forthcoming in various journals including Electric Literature, Pinch, Grist, The Laurel Review, Phoebe Literature, The Rumpus, and Taco Bell Quarterly.
Education and work background
Bleah received her fundamental education with the Alamo Colleges community college system in San Antonio where she received an associates in Journalism, led the more than 80-year running student newspaper, and moved it onto a digital platform. After, she completed her bachelor's at the University of Texas at San Antonio in English where she was EIC of The Sagebrush Review at UTSA.
​
After years of working in the service industry and in local consumer social media management, she transitioned to the MFA where she earned a dual degree MFA in Creative Writing, Editing, and Publishing and an MA in English Literature. While in graduate school, Bleah was a Summer 2024 intern with the National Book Foundation, a Spring 2025 intern with Deep Vellum, and a Summer 2025 intern with The Texas Book Festival. She also began (and continues still) serving as EIC for Defunkt Magazine, and assisted with organizing the Houston Poetry and Arts Festival. Additionally, during her MFA, she published two chapbooks with Bottlecap Press: THE INFLUENCERS ARE GASLIGHTING US and I'M NOT A WORM, I'M JUST A GIRL.
​​
She has taught community workshops in coffee shops in San Antonio, online with organizations like Writespace out of Houston, and with local domestic violence shelters in Huntsville, TX.
​
She also founded the [untitled] collective, which hosts fundraiser poetry readings nationwide, raising money for local literacy organizations.
​
Now a PhD student at the University of North Texas, she serves American Literary Review as Social Media Manager and is completing a fall internship with Copper Canyon Press.
