Michele McDannold has organized poetry events and/or performed poetry with a bunch of unabashed free-thinkers across this great United States, most happily by roadtrip but sometimes by plane, train or coincidence. She spends most of her time producing and publishing books, when she’s not out killing miles with her magical jeep.
Michele was Editor-in-Chief at Red Fez Publications for over five years. She is the founder of The Literary Underground, a grassroots effort committed to supporting independent artists, promoting diversity in creativity, and fostering community in the small press. She is currently the editor and publisher of Roadside Press and Citizens for Decent Literature Press, home of the This Is Poetry project and the Brian Fugett Memorial Prize.
Her first full-length poetry collection, Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days, was released by Punk Hostage Press in 2014. Her chapbook Point of Departure was published by Cocklebur Press in 2018, followed by SpaceTime Continuum for Dummies from Gutter Snob Books in 2022. Roadside Press released By Train, Plane or Coincidence, and most recently, Collected Poems: 2005–2025, a twenty-year gathering of her work.
Michele was born in Jacksonville, Illinois and grew up in the nearby village of Meredosia, population never more than 1,200. She has lived in west-central Illinois most of her life. She began writing poetry in grade school and maintained a connection to writing as both pastime and coping mechanism. It wasn’t until her early thirties that she began pursuing poetry seriously and seeking publication. Since then, her work has appeared in a wide range of print and online journals and anthologies in the U.S. and beyond.
Her writing style is self-taught, developing over time and life experience, aided by a sick love for books. Her poetry tends toward the narrative—daily and life observations told in colloquial speech. Her perspective comes from that of a marginalized artist struggling with poverty, mental illness, motherhood and society’s expectations of a woman living in a small Midwestern town.
Michele is a full-time student in the school of the motherfucking underground and does a massive amount of hustle to keep the dream alive.
January 2026, Interview at Hobo Camp Review https://hobocampreview.blogspot.com/2026/01/hobo-camp-review-interview-with-michele.html
interview featuring Michele McDannold with Michael Limnios at https://blues.gr/profiles/blogs/q-a-with-poet-publisher-michele-mcdannold-of-roadside-press-work-
a much older interview published in a defunct literary magazine, Blotterature, from July 18, 2014 can be read here
an interview for Minimal Books by Piotr Siwecki, September 2010 here
and an even older interview originally published by What to Wear During an Orange Alert in 2008 can be read here