About

The Boston Sunday Globe has made Steven Riel a poet worthy of attention.

His first full-length collection of poetry Fellow Odd Fellow was published by Trio House Press in 2014. Lily Poetry Review Books brought out his second full-length book Edgemere in 2021.

Riel’s third chapbook Postcard from P-town was runner-up for the inaugural Robin Becker Chapbook Prize.

Amherst Writers & Artists Press published Steven’s first two chapbooks, How to Dream and The Spirit Can Crest.

Riel is currently editor-in-chief of the Franco-American literary e-journal Résonance. He served as poetry editor of RFD magazine from 1987 to 1995.

Recipient of a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Steven was also selected as a 2016 Fellow by the Lambda Literary Foundation and was named the 2005 Robert Fraser Distinguished Visiting Poet at Bucks County (PA) Community College.

He grew up in Monson, Massachusetts, and graduated from Wilbraham & Monson Academy, Georgetown University (A.B., 1981), Simmons College (M.S.L.S., 1987), and New England College (M.F.A. in Poetry, 2008).

Riel has retired as manager of the Serials Cataloging unit of the Harvard University Library.

Steven Riel, 2020. Photo by Jamison Wexler.