Samantha Renee Ratcliffe is a second year MFA poetry candidate and graduate assistant. She taught 11th-12th grade high school English for 4 1/2 years before coming to UK. She's the winner of the 2025 Kings Library Press Broadside contest, as well as the 2025 Hindman School's Oak Ledge Writing Residency. Her work has been published in White Wall Review, Pegasus, Untelling, Yearling, as well as a number of anthologies. She's a senior editor for Broadstone Books, a guest editor for the Backwoods Literary Press anthology Testament, as well as a poetry editor for The New Limestone Review. She performs regularly as a folk artist is central Kentucky under the name Fields May. She runs a free local writing collective and reading series called Hill Writers Collective. Find out more at SamanthaRatcliffe.com