About Jess Challis
Bio
Jess Challis is a poet and book artist whose work moves between text, image, and material form. She is the author of [im]perfect witness (Moon in the Rye Press, 2025), and her artist’s book body less—winner of the Becky Williams Thomas Award—is housed in the Marriott Library Rare Books Collection. Her poetry, prose, and multimedia work has appeared in Ponder Review, Slippery Elm, Open Shutter Press, Banyan Review, and Beyond Queer Words, and has been exhibited in shows including Skin in the Game at Bad Saturn (Brooklyn, NY, 2025). She is an MFA candidate in Creative Writing and Book Arts at the University of Utah, where she also teaches.
A LITTLE MORE About me
POETRY PUBLICATIONS
- Moon in the Rye Press, [im]perfect witness chapbook, 2025 (ORDER FORM FOR SIGNED COPY)
- Coda Anthology, "Genesis," “Alaska,” “Metamorphosis,” 2025
- Body of Work: A She Said Anthology, "In the Garden," 2024
- Happy Magpie Queer Art and Poetry Exhibition, “Yachats," 2024
- Flora/Fauna Ecopoetry Anthology, "Brookings," 2024
- Touchstones: Journal of Literature and Art, “Flying," 2023
- We Want to Tell You: Women's Voices in Utah Anthology, “Portrait of Us,” 2023
- Beyond Queer Words, “Portrait of Us," 2022
- Touchstones: Journal of Literature and Art, “Yachats," “Coronavirus Dreams," 2021
- Touchstones: Journal of Literature and Art, “Echo," “electroconvulsive therapy," 2019
- Touchstones: Journal of Literature and Art, “Ghazal for Katrina," 2005
BOOK ARTS PUBLICATIONS
- Booking a Brouhaha exhibition, Deeper, Get Some Rest, Exposure Therapy, and body less, hand-bound limited edition artists’ books and original poetry, 2025
- University of Utah Rare Books Collection, body less hand-bound artists’ book with custom box, original art and poetry, Limited Edition of 5, 2025
- Millenium Film Workshop, Brookly, NY, "Skin the the Game" exhbition, body less, 2025
- Salt Lake City Library solo art exhibition, body less and other original book structures, 2025
- Booking a Brouhaha exhibition, Watermarks, hand-bound artists’ book with large clamshell box, 2024
ART PUBLICATIONS/EXHIBITIONS
- Salt Lake City Library Solo Show, Photography and Digital Art, 2025
- Coda Anthology, “Contortions I and IV,” ink on mulberry, “After Infusions III and V,” ink on mulberry, 2025
- Body of Work: A She Said Anthology, "Inward," Photography, 2024
- Flora/Fauna Ecopoetry Anthology, "Shadow People," Photography, 2024
- Ponder Review, "Buddha and the Pink Umbrella," "Lantern Festival in the Rain," Photography, 2023
- Light Space Time “All Women” Art Exhibition, “Shadow Dreams,” Photography, 2023
- Light Space Time “Patterns” Art Exhibition, “Last Light of Summer,” Photography and Digital, 2023
- We Want to Tell You: Women's Voices in Utah Anthology, “Christine in Shadow,” Watercolor, 2023
- Touchstones: Journal of Literature and Art, “Christine in Shadow,” Watercolor, 2019
MULTIMEDIA POETRY
- SLCC Writing Anthology, "Get Some Rest," "The Last Judgment," "Unstructured," and "Kidney Pool," multimedia poetry and cyanotype, 2026 (forthcoming)
- Lake as Legacy/Lake as Future Anthology, “Last Family Photos at the Great Salt Lake,” “Spiral,” Photography and Poetry Collage, 2024
- Body of Work: A She Said Anthology, “Visiting Alcatraz with my Teenager,” Photography and Poetry Collage, 2024
- Happy Magpie Queer Art and Poetry Exhibition, “Portrait of Us,” “Echo,” Photography and Poetry, 2024
- Open Shutter Press, "Five Lanes Closed," Digital Art and Poetry Collage, 2024
- Slippery Elm Literary Journal, "I asked to go to Classic Fun Center for my first Soberversary," Video Poem, 2023
PROSE PUBLICATIONS
- The Banyan Review, "Among the Rock Art," Flash Fiction, 2025
- We Want to Tell You: Women's Voices in Utah Anthology, “Solo,” Creative Nonfiction, 2023
- Touchstones: Journal of Literature and Art, “Rosalyn,” Horror Short Story, 2020
- Touchstones: Journal of Literature and Art, “Solo,” Creative Nonfiction, 2020
AWARDS/HONORS
- Solo art and creative writing exhibition at the Salt Lake City Library, including my photography, handmade paper art, and poetry.
- Awarded the Becky Williams Thomas Award through the University of Utah Book Arts Program for my artist’s book body less to be included in the Rare Books Collection.
- Awarded the Wick R. Miller Scholarship through the American West Center at the University of Utah for studies of indigenous peoples.
- First place in Touchstones: Journal of Literature and Art poetry contest, as judged by Michael Lavers.
- Second place in the Slippery Elm Literary Journal Deanna Tulley Multimedia Contest.
- Second place in the Creative Writing category in the Utah Valley University Showcase.
- Third place in Touchstones: Journal of Literature and Art poetry contest, as judged by Darlene Young.
- Photography & Digital Special Recognition Artist Award in Light Space Time “Landscapes,” “Patterns,” “Nature” and “All Women” Art Exhibitions.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Creative Writing/Book Arts MFA candidate at the University of Utah (graduating Spring 2026).
- Bachelor’s degree in English Creative Writing from Utah Valley University.
- Intermediate Writing and Creative Writing/Book Arts Instructor at the University of Utah.
- Chapbook Editor for Quarterly West literary journal.
- Reader for the University of Utah Press's Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize.
- Founded Lakeshore Art Studio, which taught art classes and events to children, youth, and adults for several years.