MONICA PRINCE

Monica Prince was born and raised in Lakewood, Colorado, where she learned how to wear high heels and love writing.
She attended Knox College for her B.A. in English Creative Writing with a minor in the Pedagogy of Poetry. While there, she worked for the Association for Black Culture Centers (A.B.C.C.) under Dr. Fred Hord and Ms. Terry Duffy. In addition, she was a TRiO Achievement Program scholar, as well as a Ronald E. McNair Fellow. Monica studied abroad in Dakar, Senegal for a semester in 2010, where she wrote 85 poems, struggled to speak Wolof, and decided to never join the Peace Corps.

Instructions for Temporary Survival

Winner of the Red Mountain Discovery Award. Monica Prince’s INSTRUCTIONS FOR TEMPORARY SURVIVAL suggests a path that moves one from suffering to healing. The poems tackle historical trauma, racism, rape, and depression—all explain that pain is meant to inform, not define, one’s life. Rather than ask us to live in a constant state of survival, or give up entirely, this collection shows the many ways we can save ourselves, while revealing the secrets that require a rescue in the first place.