Awards, Nominations, and Scholarships:
Out of Order won the 2021 Donald Justice Poetry Prize.
Out of Order won the Best Book of 2022, Poetry by the Sea Book Award.
“Hair Sestina,” originally published in Northwest Review, was included in 2022 Best American Poetry Anthology.
Out of Order was nominated for post-publication prizes including the L.A. Times Book Prize.
I was a 2019 Sewanee Writers’ Conference MFA Scholarship recipient.
“All I’ve Ever Wanted is to Write,” originally published in American Literary Review, was nominated for Best of the Net 2025 anthology.
“After My Mother’s Cancer Returns, I Start Praying Every Night,” originally published in American Literary Review, was nominated for 2024 Best Spiritual Literature anthology.
“Intimacy,” originally published in Cimarron Review, was nominated for 2020 Pushcart Prize.
Poetry chapbook Children of the Streets was longlisted for the 2018 Glass Chapbook Series.
Out of Order was a finalist for the 2021 Vassar Miller Poetry Prize.
Panels, Classes, and Speaker Events:
Panelist and Reader, AWP (forthcoming). “Women Poets Inventing and Embracing Forms.” March 2026.
Panelist, AWP (forthcoming). "Twist!: New Directions for Teaching Poetic Turns.” March 2026.
Master Class Instructor, Hudson Valley Writers Center (forthcoming). The 6-week generative workshop, entitled “Driven by Obsession: Writing What You Can’t Outrun”, focuses on how obsession appears in poetry. We will also explore how to effectively write about our own obsessions. October 2025.
Master Class Instructor, Hudson Valley Writers Center. The master class, entitled “Is There A Plot In This Poem?,” focused on the ways plot appears in poetry and explore hybrid modes of writing, such as prose poetry and novels in verse. July 2025.
Master Class Instructor, Hudson Valley Writers Center. The 6-week generative workshop, entitled “Finish the Damn Book!”, focused on tackling the obstacles of completing a book: writer’s block, lack of direction, self-doubt, and more. June 2025.
Master Class Instructor, Hudson Valley Writers Center. The master class, entitled “Do the Twist!: The Art of the Volta”, focused on the volta and other moments of surprise, shift, and dramatic change within individual poems and songs. June 2025.
Master Class Instructor, Hopkins Review Workshop Series. The one-day workshop, entitled “Reflections on Mirror Poems,” focused on the craft, history, and significance of the poetic mirror form. March 2025.
Master Class Instructor, Hudson Valley Writers Center. The master class, entitled “Poets Just Want to Have Fun: When Poetry Incorporates Pop Culture,” focused on analyzing poems throughout history that reference or discuss pop culture. July 2024.
Faculty Member, Poetry by the Sea Conference 2024. Taught a workshop about confessional poetry, gave a faculty reading, partook in a roundtable discussion, and chaired two panels: “Is There a Plot in This Poem?” and “Moving Images: Where Poetry Meets the Screen.” May 2024.
Presenter and Reader, SMU Symposium on Poetic Form. One of four panelists and presenters in the discussion entitled “Sonnots” (note: the spelling is intentional). My presentation, entitled "The Confessional Sonnet: Struggle and Structure,” challenged preconceived conceptions about sonnets and their relationship to race, identity, and belonging. March 2024.
Panelist, “Heroic Crowns: On the Values of Difficulty and Dazzle.” AWP. February 2024.
Master Class Instructor, Hudson Valley Writers Center. The master class, entitled “Making Order From Chaos: Turning Our Wild Lives Into Organized Received Forms” focused on the relationship between formal and confessional poetry. January 2024.
Visiting Writer, Indiana University East. Gave a craft lecture and a reading. Lecture was entitled “You Are Hysterical: When Comedy Meets Sadness In Art.” October 2023.
Visiting Writer, Long Beach City College. One of two writers selected (one per semester) to give a reading and partake in a Q+A at Long Beach City College. October 2023.
Keynote Speaker, “The Dramatic I/Eye: Reflections on Voice and Form in Contemporary Poetry.” West Chester Poetry Center, Conference November 2022.
Panelist, West Chester Poetry Center Conference: “A Talisman Against Disintegration: Tradition and Experiment in Recent American Sonnets.” November 2022.
Reader and Panelist, Best American Poetry 2022. Southern California Poetry Festival. November 2022.
Alumni Speaker, Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars Alumni Reading. April 2022. One of two Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars alumni selected to read their poems to graduate and undergraduate students.
Master Class Instructor, West Chester Poetry Conference, “Transformations: Evolving Approaches to Teaching, Poetry, and the Natural World.” The class was entitled “What the Hell is a Villanelle?” November 2021.
Did readings for and taught formal poetry to university-level classes (or will do so in the future) at Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, Vanderbilt University, Salem State University, Southern Methodist University, Southern Illinois University (forthcoming), Marshall University, Western Colorado University, Community College of Rhode Island, and elsewhere.
Interviews and Podcast and Video Appearances:
Girls! Girls! Girls! ft. Alexis Sears ft. Alexis Sears & Joanna Pearson, Sleerickets (Podcast). September 2025.
“The Poem Tells Me What It Wants to Be:” A Conversation with Alexis Sears, by Deena Monnett, Tributaries (page 96). April 2025.
Making Formal Poetry Cool, with Special Guest Alexis Sears: Part 2, Table for Deuce. February 2025.
Making Formal Poetry Cool, with Special Guest Alexis Sears, Table for Deuce. February 2025.
Posting with Poets Live Interview Series, moderated by Justin Hamm. January 2025.
How Racist Is Creative Writing?, ft. Alexis Sears & Joanna Pearson, Sleerickets (Podcast). October 2024
The Sears & Pearson Dope Chill School for Wack Daughters, ft. Alexis & Joanna, Sleerickets (Podcast). April 2024.
Sassy Kids ft. Alexis Sears Pt 2, Sleerickets (Podcast). October 2023.
Sassy Kids ft. Alexis Sears, Sleerickets (Podcast). October 2023.
Shoutout LA: Meet Alexis Sears, Shoutout LA,. August 2023.
Both Sides Eventually ft. Alexis Sears, Sleerickets (Podcast). May 2023.
Dog Wedding ft. Alexis Sears, Sleerickets (Podcast). May 2023.
“Writing Makes Sense of What Does and Doesn’t Matter!:” An Interview with Alexis Sears, by Jasmine Bates, Pine Hills Review. January 2023.
Rattlecast, Rattle Poetry. July 2022.
My Amanda Gorman Thing ft. Alexis Sears, Sleerickets (Podcast). February 2022.
Collaborations, Shout-outs, and Praise:
My poem “A Poem About Plums, I Think” adapted into a short film by Cutter Streeby. April 2025.
My poem “On Turning 20” featured on Form in Formless Times. July 2024.
My poem “Heartbreak Ghazal” praised by scholar and poet Victoria Moul in Horace & friends: Do ghazals work in English? July 2024.
Out of Order recommended by poet John Belk in Poets and Writers, The Beauty of Being: Our Eighteenth Annual Look at Debut Poets. January/February 2023 issue.
My poem “For My Father: A Sonnet Redoublé” endorsed on Culture Gabfest- Slate Magazine (about 51 minutes in). June 2022.
My poem “Heartbreak Ghazal” featured on Poetry Across the Pee Dee: Poetry Sunday. June 2022.
Out of Order included on “A Reading List for Mental Health Awareness Month,” CLMP. May 2022.
My poem “September” praised and thoroughly discussed by US Poet Laureate Ada Limón on the Slowdown podcast. May 2022.
Recognized in Johns Hopkins University Arts & Sciences Magazine, Alumni to Watch. Spring 2021 issue.
Recognized in Creative Writing News, University of Wisconsin, MFAs and MFA Alums Getting Recognition.
Editing, Judging, and Other Community Service:
Literary Matters, Contributing Editor (2023- 2025)
Northwest Review, Editor-at-Large (2022- 2025)
Voyage of Verse, Judge (2024)
Kansas Authors Club Literary Contest, Judge (2024)
Buckeye Foundation Poetry Showcase, Judge (2024)
Indiana University East Tributaries Creative Writing Prizes, Judge (2024)
Donald Justice Poetry Prize, Reader (2023- present)
Northwest Review Poetry Contest, Reader (2023)
Up North Lit, Poetry Editor (2020-2022)
Able Muse Write Prize for Poetry, Selection Committee Member (2019)
Brittingham and Felix Pollak Prizes in Poetry, Reader (2018, 2019)