Rachel Turney
Educator · Poet · Editor · Advocate
ABOUT RACHEL
Dr. Rachel Turney (she/her) is an educator and artist based in Denver, Colorado. Her work sits at the intersection of poetry, research, and advocacy — driven by a deep passion for immigrant rights, teacher support, and empowering other artists.
Her perspective is shaped by her time in higher education, her life as a global citizen, and her experience as a woman navigating expectation versus reality. Whether through verse, essay, or editorial work, Rachel writes with a critical eye to the state of womanhood in society—and a hopeful heart for what it can become.
She is a Writers' Hour prize winner and a Best of the Net nominee. Her photography has appeared on multiple magazine covers. Beyond her own writing, Rachel runs the popular online reading series Poetry (in Brief), serves on staff at Bare Back Magazine with her monthly column Friday Night in the Suburbs, and reads for The Los Angeles Review.
ABOUT TO BE (A WOMAN)
To Be (a Woman) is a poetry collection that examines womanhood through the past, the workplace, relationships, mental health, travel, and metaphor. Poetry, nonfiction, and storytelling converge in a compelling journey of self-discovery and self-love. This book embodies everything redrosethorns stands for: examining societal expectations, reclaiming identity, and empowering voices.
To Be Released: May 2026
JOIN THE BOOKLAUNCH
We are hosting a few events to celebrate the book launch in May 2026. Join us online for an open mic-style book release celebration on 13 May 2026, and or in person at Honey Art Gallery in San Francisco on 19 May 2026. Click below to get your tickets and participate in Rachel's Book Tour.
OTHER BOOKS BY RACHEL
Rachel has an exciting array of collections you can find below:
Record Player Life (The Poetry Lighthouse)
Retired Wannabe Club Kid (Parlyaree Press)
Women Making Soup Together (Vinegar Press)
SELECTED PUBLICATION CREDITS
Rachel's poems, articles, reviews, and drawings have appeared widely. Selected credits include:
Literary Magazines & Journals
-
Mediterranean Poetry
-
Major 7th Magazine
-
The Los Angeles Review (as a reader)
-
Bare Back Magazine (monthly column: Friday Night in the Suburbs)
-
Numerous other poetry journals and anthologies
Editorial & Literary Citizenship
-
Founder & Host: Poetry (in Brief) — a popular online reading series
-
Staff Columnist: Bare Back Magazine
-
Reader: The Los Angeles Review
Podcasts
Recognition
-
Writers' Hour Prize Winner
-
Best of the Net Nominee
Additional Work
-
Cover photography featured in multiple magazines
-
Research articles and academic publications
-
Book reviews and critical essays
SAMPLE POEM
The poem below was originally published in redrosethorns journal and will be included in To Be (a Woman):
Gotta
My mom’s dad told me
you can be anything you want to be,
but you gotta get an education.
My mom’s mom told me
you can buy anything you want to buy,
but you gotta invest in property.
My dad’s dad told me
you can go anywhere you want to go,
but you gotta learn and know the dangers;
respect other people.
My dad’s mom told me
you can be alone; you can do it on your own,
but you gotta be wise and shrewd.
My mom told me
you can have a great career and help others too;
but you gotta keep your balance.
My dad told me
you can be an athlete, strong and capable,
but you gotta train and practice.
My sister told me
you can be an artist,
but you gotta ignore the critics.
My brother told me
you can overcome,
but you gotta be tougher than the pull.
My kid sister told me
you can love completely,
but you gotta accept that it’s not a weakness.
My friends told me
you can do it; you can do absolutely anything
you want to do,
but you gotta stay realistic; stay grounded.
I told myself
I can achieve any and every goal,
but I gotta decide
which ones are mine.
~ Rachel Turney
PRAISE & RECOGNITION
"To Be (a Woman) is an intuitively arranged constellation of poems that moves with the rhythm of women’s lives: one moment luminous and ancestral, the next pierced by the crude indifference of everyday misogyny. Each page turns with a quiet shock—beauty giving way to brutality, tenderness to truth. Through shifting forms and fearless emotional reach, this collection holds both strength and frailty with neither apology, nor sentimentality. It is essential reading for any woman who longs to see her experience affirmed, and especially for those who have struggled to name what they feel or to voice their experiences, but will nonetheless recognize themselves instantly in these pages."
— Chandra Grace Johner, author of Naked in Turkey
"In a biting, tender, poignant, and witty mix of innovative poetry and prose, To Be (a Woman) by Rachel Turney declares that women are strong, multifaceted, legitimately angry, perpetually dismissed, “rhythmic” and “chaotic” humans, damaged by the ubiquitous patriarchal structures we grow and survive in. It unfolds like a diary and travel log, increasingly intense at its center, as Turney generously offers her journey of fragmenting emotional and psychological abuse that leads her to deposit “pieces” of herself “scattered all over the world”. There is healing and hope; she moves towards wholeness, carving new identities as a writer, and a “deserving” woman who finds “love” based in equity and recognition."
— Sandra Beth Levy, author of Unfurling The Scroll Of Seven Decades
"In To Be (a Woman), Rachel Turney uses the natural world and familial relationships as her muses, to claim her identity and encourage other women to do the same. In poems such as “About Me” and “Permission to Speak?” – which proffers topics like, Can I be assertive without being a bitch? – Turney explores womanhood in the modern era; whilst poems like “Little Pieces” deal with the various roles women play; and “My Mother, The Poet” addresses the sometimes rough edges around mother-daughter relationships. Turney also spends a fair amount of time describing – through poems such as “She Says” and others – what identity might look like for an immigrant woman. Throughout the book, which includes several concrete poems and a bit of photography, Turney considers what she wants to be remembered for – not only as a woman, but as a human being, with pieces like, “I Read My Own Poetry Sometimes” and “Final Word.” Ultimately, in this brave and artistic collection, Turney seems to be pleading with society – to see her, to see women everywhere, and to see how hard women work, just ‘to be.’"
— Samantha Terrell, poet/author/editor
CONNECT WITH RACHEL
Website: turneytalks.wordpress.com
Instagram: @turneytalks
Bluesky: @rachelturney
Substack: @rturney
For press inquiries, readings, or collaborations: contact@redrosethorns.com
