Kristy Odelius is a poet and professor living in Chicago, Illinois. She teaches creative writing and literature at North Park University, where she is an Assistant Professor in the English department. She is a co-editor and co-founder of Near South, a Chicago-based journal of innovative writing. Last November, her poem "Vertigo to Eros" was nominated for a 2003 Pushcart Prize, and she recently received the 2004 Charles Goodnow Memorial Award in Poetry. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming in a variety of journals, including Chicago Review , ACM, and Diagram and she has just completed her first book length manuscript of poems titled Strange Trades. Campbell McGrath has said of her work, "Deft, dry-witted, fabulistic and musical, these are poems to be savored." She has one cat.  email address: kodelius AT northpark DOT edu (opens your default email program)