Nancy Hightower

The Acolyte Nancy Hightower

Publisher Marketing: Nancy Hightower's The Acolyte is a poetry collection which explores myth and ritual through a surreal retelling of Biblical stories and cultural movements. It includes the 2014 Rhysling nominated poem, "A Virtuous Woman," which is available in the 2014 Rhysling Anthology. "In The Acolyte, Hightower reimagines the lives of biblical figures, particularly women, so that they stand out in unexpected beauty and strangeness. Vivid, uncompromising, and saturated with spiritual longing, these poems offer both a critique of our old readings of the Bible, and a passionate series of new ones." - Sofia Samatar, author of A Stranger in Olondria, and winner of a Crawford Award (2014) and a Campbell Award (2014) Nancy Hightower received a PhD in English/Creative Writing and was previously a full time instructor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she taught classes such as Writing for Digital Media, the Grotesque, and Writing for the Visual Arts. She has published short fiction and poetry in journals such as The New York Quarterly, storySouth, Gargoyle, Sundog Lit, Up the Staircase Quarterly, and Word Riot. Her novel, Elementari Rising (2013) received a starred review in Library Journal, and was named Debut of the Month. Kinds of Leaving, her short story collection currently under submission, was shortlisted for the Flann O'Brien Award for Innovative Fiction in 2014. Two stories from that collection recently won first place and honorable mention in Prick of the Spindle's Open Fiction Competition No. 3, which was judged by Michael Martone. Her poem, "A Virtuous Women" was nominated for a 2014 Rhysling Award. She reviews science fiction and fantasy for The Washington Post and was featured in the 100 Top Creatives article in Origin Magazine. She is currently working with Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky) on a collection of essays about digital storytelling."