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F. Scott Fitzgerald in St. Paul, photo by Roger Lathbury, used w. permission.
Denise Low, Ph.D., is an experienced reader and lecturer with audio/video files collected in archives of the San Francisco State Poetry Center collection, New Letters on the Air, Prairie Lights Bookstore, University of Kansas special collections library, and others. She teaches professional workshops, both on-the-ground and online. She has extensive experience with developmental editing of book manuscripts, both poetry and prose, with suggestions for style, structure, and sentence-level improvements, as well as publishing venues. She lectures on contemporary poetry, craft, Indigenous American literare, and Plains ledger art. Contact kansaspoetry[AT]gmail.com
READINGS & PRESENTATIONS: If 3-8 people want a workshop, contact for scheduling. Readings and/or half-day workshops $300 (negotiable under some circumstances). WORKSHOPS: Day-long in-person workshop, $500 a day in the Bay area; $750 a day outside this region (travel negotiable). ONLINE WORKSHOPS: “Layering Memory into Memoir–Poetry or Prose,” “Revise Like a Pro,” “Poetry as Cartography,” The Biology of Poetry,” “Study with the Old Masters, and New,” “Coal into Diamonds: Memories Transformed into Memoir” (poetry or prose), “Memoir: Touchable Memory: Writing within History and Place,” “Indigenous American Literature & Community Writing”
EDITING SERVICES: Base Rates: Prose and Poetry manuscript review (70-90 pages) with detailed two-page (500 words) summary of strengths and weaknesses–$300. With comments on each poem, $500. Prose manuscript overview with detailed two-page (500 words) summary of strengths and weaknesses and general suggestions for overall topic and structure–$250/100 pp. Comments on each chapter, with some style editing, $500/100pp. Hourly rate, $60 hr. (I am fast!) OR $.02 / word. For details or negotiations, contact kansaspoetry [at] gmail. Please note that my editing remarks remain private and are not available for endorsements–this would be a conflict of interest. See my blog post about ethics in publishing.
CURRENT WORKSHOPS:
Write On Door County (Wisconsin), in-person memoir workshop, Washington Island Conference, Friday, Sept. 22, 2023
“I am always energized during and for months after I attend one of Denise Low’s poetry workshops. She has a way of presenting new, stimulating, and useful writing approaches, ideas, and habits that never fails to spark my writing engine. My acceptance rates spike up a notch or two after I attend her workshops as well.” ~Roy Beckemeyer, Winner Kansas Notable Book Award
“Denise Low is one of the most experienced, comprehensive, and wise teachers I know when it comes to finding, writing, revising, publishing, and sharing poetry. She can speak, teach and lead on just about any aspect of what it means to be a writer in the world, and how writing can help us understand where we live and who we are. I recommend her with all my heart.” ~ Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, 2009-13 Kansas Poet Laureate
“Thank you again for your insightful and deep comments and reflections about my manuscript and editorial suggestions. I am grateful to you for bringing such insight to my work.” Skye Stephenson
“Denise said something and the story came pouring out. In 30 minutes an idea I’d been 
wrestling with washed up clearly on a very present shore in a very vivid way and there it was–a painful treasure looking at me with uncomfortable and striking clarity. Now I have the launch pad I have been searching for all year.” ~Laurin, Write On Door County workshop
“First, let me say how profoundly wonderful it was to work with you. . . your work has gone far and above, as noted by many of the authors [in this proect].” Ginger Breedlove, PhD, CNM, FACNM, FAAN
Denise Low, Ph.D., is a former Poet Laureate of Kansas and winner of the Red Mountain Press Editor’s Choice Award, among other honors. www.deniselow.net.As co-publisher of Mammoth Publications, she selects and edits manuscripts for publication, and she has been a contributing editor of New Letters Essay Daily, and the AWP Writer’s Chronicle. She has taught creative writing across the country, in both academic and community settings: visiting professor at the University of Richmond, & the University of Kansas; workshops at Southwest Festival of the Book-Silver City, NM; Fairmont State in West Virginia; Write On Door County in WI; The Writers Place in Kansas City; Anoka Ramsay College in Minneapolis; Excelsior Springs Cultural Museum; Omaha Metro. Community College; and across Kansas. She consults and does free lance editing. She teaches in the Baker University School of Professional and Graduate Programs.
Denise Low 