Kelly Watt’s poetry chapbook, The Weeping Degree, was a recent finalist in the @poetrymesa and Wild Rising Press poetry contest in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (2023) and will be published by Wild Rising Press in June 2024. Her suite of poems Tales of the Faerie #26, was longlisted for the Exile Editions 2023 poetry contest. Her short works have been longlisted three times with the prestigious CBC Short Fiction (2017/2015) and Non-Fiction contests (2019). Her short creative non-fiction piece, The Road for Conquering, won an honourable mention at gritLIT, the Hamilton Readers and Writers’ Festival (2019), and was selected in an international contest of best online travel stories with Nowhere Magazine (2019). 

Watt has published two books—the gothic novel Mad Dog, Doubleday Canada (2001) and Hamilton Stone Editions, U.S. (2019); as well as the non-fiction mini book, Camino Meditations: 30 Mindful Walking Meditations to Conquer Addiction and Cultivate Joy  (2014). A dedicated wanderer, Watt has lived in five countries—Canada, India, France, Mexico and the U.S.—but currently makes her home in the Ontario countryside with her partner, and four diligent chickens. You can check her out @kellywattauthor or www.kellywatt.ca.