Zach Simon

Zach Simon is a poet and lecturer at the University of Illinois: Urbana-Champaign where he recently graduated with an MFA in poetry. His work focuses on American projections of power—nuclear, hydrological, technological—in the Pacific Northwest, interrogating ideas of progress and the subsequent violence that underwrites the landscape of the West. He grew up in Redmond, Washington and lived in Portland, Oregon before moving to Illinois.

In 2022, he received the AWP Intro Journals Award for his poem “Homestead” and in 2024 received a Luminarts Honorable Mention award for his poem, "Transmission." His work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in The Southern Review, Poetry Northwest, Willow Springs and elsewhere. He also serves as an editorial assistant for Poetry Northwest.

In addition to writing, he is an avid fly-fisherman, cyclist, and enjoys bowling.