Shortened Bio

Aerik Francis (they/he) is a Queer Black & Latinx poet & teaching artist based in Denver, Colorado, USA. Francis is the author of the chapbooks MISEDUCATION (May 2023, New Delta Review), and BODYELECTRONIC (April 2022, Trouble Department). They have received poetry fellowship support from SAFTA, the Chrysalis Institute, CantoMundo, and The Watering Hole. They are also a poetry reader for Underblong poetry journal and MICRO podcast, as well as a coordinator with Slam Nuba. Francis has poetry published widely, links of which may be found at linktr.ee/aerik as well as their website phaentompoet.com . Find them on IG/TW/youtube/soundcloud @phaentompoet. Lastly, please subscribe to their newsletter The Phaentom’s Haunt for updates and more.

Extended Bio

Aerik Francis is a Queer Black & Latinx poet & teaching artist born & based in Denver, Colorado, United States of America.

Aerik is the author of the chapbook, BODYELECTRONIC (Trouble Department 2022), which was also named a finalist for the 2021 Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize out of Texas Review Press. Their second chapbook MISEDUCATION was recently released (May 2023) with New Delta Review, named as the winner for the 2022 New Delta Review Chapbook Contest by final judge Dorothy Chan; MISEDUCATION was also a finalist for the 2022 Sunken Garden Chapbook Contest out of Tupelo Press.

Their first full-length poetry collection manuscript BODYPOLITIC was an honorable mention for the 2022 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, where judges noted of the book: “Aerik Francis’s intimate poems make music of theory and politics centered on the African-LatinXXX-American.” The manuscript was also named as a finalist for the 2022 Philip Levine Poetry Prize AND a finalist for the 2023 Philip Levine Poetry Prize, a finalist for the 2022 Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize AND a semi-finalist for the 2023 Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize, and semi-finalist for the 2023 Wisconsin Poetry Series, 2023 River River Open Reading Period and the 2023 Sundress Poetry ORP.

Aerik has released an experimental audiobook project for their chapbook BODYELECTRONIC under their artist name phaentom[poet] that is available now on all streaming platforms. They also released an Extended Play (EP) of poetry and music entitled SYZYGY EP that is available on Bandcamp exclusively. Aerik has also released a visual EP of self-produced audio and visuals collected over the course of months and locations called Aerial Vectors. Their micro-chapbook STASIS (Ghost City Press 2020) was included in the 2020 Summer Series and is available online for free. Their poetry has been nominated for Pushcart, the Best New Poets, and Best of the Net, as well as featured widely in print and online. Their work is featured or forthcoming in The Nation, The Rumpus, Foglifter, The Acentos Review, Smoke & Mold, Moist Literary, Voicemail Poems, Honey Literary, wildness, and So To Speak Journal among other publications. Their poetry is anthologized in The Skinny: Poetry Anthology and Slamming Bricks Anthology Vol 1 & 2, Dwellings Anthology, Infinite Constellations: Speculative Futures Anthology, as well as forthcoming in Listen to Your Skin Queer Love Anthology, and Ate Mais: Latinx Futurisms Anthology.

Aerik has received the support of a number of poetry fellowships. They were awarded the Summer 2023 Residency Fellowship for The Sundress Academy for the Arts (SAFTA) . Aerik was also among the Fall 2022 virtual cohort for the artists-in-residency Milkweed Learning Hub at the Chrysalis Institute and the Fall 2023 in-person alum retreat at The Omega Institute. They were the 2022 Spring poet resident for Tiny Spoon Literary Magazine, where facilitated a 2-day poetry generative poetry workshop entitled Human//Body: On Body Poetics & Body Politics. Aerik has also received poetry fellowships from CantoMundo and The Watering Hole. Aerik was named a fellowship finalist for the 2020 Fall Brooklyn Poets Fellowship, and named distinguished finalist for the 2021 Emerging Writer’s Fellowship at Lit Fest via Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop, where reviewers noted of their work: “Strongly rhythmic and musical; politically sharp; vibrant language; distinctive voice—this is one of the strongest submissions I've read.”

Aerik was also the recipient of poetry scholarships: the 2021 Robert Hayden scholarship for the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway at Murphy Writing Program at Stockton University, as well as the 2019 Amiri Baraka scholarship for the Summer Writing Program at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University. Aerik is also an alum of the 2019 Winter Tangerine online poetry workshop Sing That Like Dovesong.

Aerik has been a featured performer and workshop facilitator all across the state of Colorado, from the wonderful Shades of Honey, to the fantastic Sacred Voices, to historic Mercury Café in Denver, to Writer’s Block/Mi Chantli in Boulder, to Keep Colorado Springs Queer, to the Slamming Bricks poetry slam in Grand Junction. Their poetry performances have been featured by Head Room Sessions where they have been broadcasted locally via PBS 12 in Colorado, as well as Redline Art Gallery at the 2021 and 2022 48 Hours of Socially Engaged Art & Conversation Summit. They were also featured in a documentary by Rachel DeWeber on the 5th Annual Slamming Bricks and queer community in Grand Junction, Colorado called This Is Ours.

Aerik is currently a poetry reader for Underblong poetry journal. They are also event coordinator for Slam Nuba in Denver, Colorado. Aerik is a poetry workshop facilitator for the Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop in Denver, Colorado– available for both adult and youth workshops.

Aerik Francis has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Chicago (AB’14). They delivered the Student Convocation Speech during the 2014 graduation ceremony.