Karyna McGlynn

Who is Karyna McGlynn?

Karyna McGlynn is an American poet.

She is a poet and critic associated with spoken-word, New Sincerity, and New Confessionalism.

Karyna first became popular as a performance poet in the poetry slam scene in the late 1990s, regularly performing at the Electric Lounge and South by Southwest. She was a member of the 1998 and 1999 National Poetry Slam teams representing the Austin Poetry Slam. Two of her signature pieces from that time are included on the compilation CD Tina's Fine-Ass Lingerie.

In 2000, Karyna moved to Seattle to study musical theatre at Cornish College of the Arts. In 2002, she coached the Seattle poetry slam team to a spot on the NPS finals stage. She was a Seattle team member in 2003 and an Ann Arbor team member in 2007. Her spoken-word is featured in Rhapsodists, a documentary film about women performance poets.

Karyna graduated from the creative writing program at Seattle University and received her MFA from the University of Michigan where she received the Cornwell Fellowship in Poetry, the Moveen Residency in Ireland, and the Hopwood Award in Poetry. Upon graduation she was selected by Tony Hoagland as a Helen Zell Postgraduate Fellow in Poetry at the University of Michigan.