Karla K. Morton

Karla K. Morton was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and earned a journalism degree from Texas A&M University. She is the author of thirteen collections of poetry, including most recently Wooden Lions (2017) and Accidental Origami: New and Selected Works (2016). Her many honors and awards include a National Wrangler Award, two Indie National Book Awards, a Betsy Colquitt award, and an E2C grant. Morton's work has been published in journals such as American Life in Poetry, Alaska Quarterly Review, Southword, descant, Boulevard, Comstock Review,  Lascaux Review, and New Ohio Review. She was nominated for the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame and appointed poet laureate of Texas in 2010. Morton is also a member of the Texas Institute of Letters. She visited all 62 National Parks, and her experiences are included in her poetry book The National Parks: A Century of Grace (TCU Press, forthcoming November 2020), with part of the sales proceeds going back to the National Park system. She divides her time between Fort Worth, Texas and Raton, New Mexico.