Carla M. Cherry is an English teacher, multi-title author, and poet from New York City. A VONA (Voices of Our Nations) alum, she holds degrees from Spelman College, New York University, and Lehman College, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing  (Poetry) from the City College of New York.

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Carla has been nominated four times for Best of the Net:

-in 2018 by Picaroon Poetry for her poem "Pyrophobia"

-in 2020 by Variety Pack for her poem "Mettle"

-in 2021 by Porcupine Literary Journal for her poem "Woke"

-in 2022 by OyeDrum for her poem "Under the New Moon".

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Carla was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2022 by OyeDrum for her poem, "Peril".

 

Carla performs her poetry and vends her books and apparel throughout the tri-state area:

• featured poet at the Stark Reality open mic on August 29, 2015.  

• competed thrice in Underground Books' Jackie Robinson Poetry Day in Harlem, NY. She won first prize for her poem, "Bits and Pieces", from Gnat Feathers and Butterfly Wings in 2016, second prize for several poems from Honeysuckle Me in 2017, and third prize in 2018.

• vendor at the Bronx Book Fair on May 4, 2019.

• vendor and performer at the New York City Poetry Festival, 2019-present.

• featured poet at Bronx Poetry Night at the 10:02 Lounge on August 7, 2019.

• won first prize for her poem "Ode to Harlem" in Art Crawl Harlem's Fire & Soul: 100 Years of Harlem Art Exhibition in 2020, and performed it onstage with Art Crawl Harlem during the NYC Poetry Festival in 2021.

• featured poet in Merciful Delusions Productions' "Defeat the Street: A Variety Show Fundraiser Benefitting the Coalition for the Homeless", June 10-11, 2022.

• featured poet for Daniela Perez's A Summer Bloom exhibit, July 2022 at the Bronx Brewery

• featured poet for Adverse Abstraction on December 16, 2022 at Otto's Shrunken Head.

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Committed to social change, she is a vegan and donates to worthy causes. In her spare time, she studies Chicago-style stepping and dances at every set she can make!