about

Sarena Pollock was born and raised in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where she first discovered her love for poetry and nonfiction.

She attended Susquehanna University for her B.A. in Creative Writing, where she was the recipient of the Gary and Elizabeth Fincke Outstanding Senior Portfolio Prize and was recognized as a University Scholar. While there, she served as President of SU Slam Poetry Club, where she harnessed her appreciation for performance poetry and helped create Write, Speak, Repeat, Susquehanna's first online digital anthology to showcase the work of undergraduate poets and widen support for the slam poetry community. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Susquehanna University in May 2020.

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Thanks to the support of SU Slam Poetry Club and the creative writing department, her debut chapbook After the Impact was published by Chrysalis Press of Susquehanna University in 2019, a collection of poetry exploring the consequences of growing up without a father figure. Her writing seeks to explore the fragile intersection of loyalty, betrayal and familial ties while searching for identity and grappling with the residual trauma of abandonment.

Sarena recently acted as an Acquisitions Editor & Senior Editorial Intern for Santa Fe Writer's Project, an independent press dedicated to the craft of writing and specializing in all forms of fiction and nonfiction. She now works as a Publications Support Assistant at PaTTAN East - Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, which supports the efforts and initiatives of the Bureau of Special Education (BSE) and builds the capacity of local educational agencies to serve students receiving special education services.