ANGELA M. BROMMEL
Writer I Editor I Curator
About
Angela M. Brommel is a Nevada writer and curator with Iowa roots, and the current Clark County Poet Laureate. She is the author of two books, Mojave in July (Tolsun Books) and Plutonium & Platinum Blonde (Serving House Books). Her poetry has been published in the North American Review, The Best American Poetry blog, The Literary Review’s (TLR) Share, and many other journals and anthologies.
In 2017 she was awarded the Helen Stewart Poetry Award, and in 2018 she was a Red Rock Canyon Artist in Residence, serving as the inaugural poet of the program. She serves as Editor-in-Chief and Poetry Editor for The Citron Review. Recently she was invited by a2ru (Alliance of the Arts in Research Universities) to be a founding editorial board member of their new peer-reviewed open access online journal: Tradition Innovation in the Arts, Design, and Media Higher Education.
She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University and an MA in Theatre from the University of Northern Iowa. Her playwriting thesis was a semi-finalist in The Chesterfield Writer’s Film Project. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from UNLV. At Nevada State College she serves as Executive Director of the Office for the Arts and as affiliate faculty.
PRAISE FOR
Mojave in July
In Mojave in July, Angela M. Brommel walks a tightrope between desert and neon, the natural and the social, eco science and pop culture, always with a keen observational eye, luscious language, and scintillating imagery. Throughout these billions and intelligent poems, Brommel’s attention to the senses is exquisite, especially taste, which is often the sense addressed the least in poetry. Continually delicious and tenchent, these poems rock!
– Vince Gotera, Editor of Star*Line and North American Review
Mojave in July is a celebration of Nevada, both its desert wildlife and glossy, buzzing nightlife through the eyes of women who reject stereotypes and aren’t afraid of hard work. Women with depth and warmth who, if minded, will entertain and engage you. The ones who know the desert lurks behind the glitz and glamour and aren’t afraid to keep it real. Angela M. Brommel has created an engaging collection that fizzes with energy.
– Emma Lee, The Blue Nib
More praise for Mojave in July
PRAISE FOR
Plutonium & Platinum Blonde
Brommel’s work has humor in it—wondrous juxtaposition of images, a certain flair for authenticity of voice, and a great ability to spot the absurd. She takes advantage of pop culture icons as well as film history, while at the same time locking into something very direct: ‘you heart thief.’
– Carol Potter, Author of Some Small Bees, winner of the 2014 Field Poetry Prize
Brommel’s poems about Las Vegas are wonderful—she takes the glitz of the place and reduces the scale to human proportions. With a wicked, understated humor and a keen eye for detail, she creates a wildly entertaining original voice that’s more than up to the challenge of its subject matter.
– Jim Daniels, Author of Rowing Inland
Though sometimes raucous and always gorgeous imagery laced together by larger-than-life micro narratives and themes that engage and then echo and then - with stunning risk and precision - shift, Angela M. Brommel’s Plutonium & Platinum Blonde epitomizes the importance of the poetry chapbook in today’s literary landscape.
– Heather Lang-Cassera, Author of Gathering Broken Light
Clark County Poet Laureate, 2019-2021
More praise for Plutonium and Platinum Blonde
Play: A Wetlands Park Art Installation
Featured artwork by Mark Salinas, in conversation with three poems by Angela M. Brommel. This exhibit of temporary public art installations were created for and placed into the trails of Wetlands Park. Fourteen artists created site specific artwork for the Park using recycled and earth friendly materials. Play was funded by the County Arts Plan, and was a partnership between Wetlands Park and the Public Arts Office.
Fridays | March 5, March 12, April 2, and April 9, 2021
The Clark County Poet Laureate (2019-2021), Heather Lang-Cassera, curated a selection of three and four line poems from 25 Nevada poets to tour the Las Vegas valley by Flo Mobile Digital Billboard Truck, taking Poetry Matters! out on the road.
Curated by Vogue M. Robinson, this exhibition was a partnership between Poetry Promise, Inc. and Downtown Summerlin, November 2020.
EVENTS
UNLV Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art
Friday, July 22, 2022
5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Join us for an evening of community storytelling and warmth as we say goodbyes to Spirit of the Land, Still Motion, and The Mojave Project. Engage in casual discussion with The Mojave Project artist Kim Stringfellow, and listen to five storytellers from different walks of life as they gather together in an open-ended conversation to testify to the beauty and diversity of the sacred desert region that constitutes the focus of Spirit of the Land.
The storytellers will include Angela M. Brommel (poet and educator), Todd Esque (research ecologist), Bertha Gutierrez (associate program director at the Conservation Lands Foundation), Paul Jackson (artist and member of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe), and Kim Garrison Means (Spirit of the Land co-curator and caretaker of Searchlight’s Mystery Ranch). Tell stories of your own, and take part in a postcard-writing workshop where you can share your thoughts about the future of the endangered East Mojave landscape.
This closing event will take place at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art from 5 - 8 p.m. on Friday, July 22nd. It is free and open to participants of all ages. The Stories of Avi Kwa Ame session starts at 6:30. Masks are recommended indoors on the UNLV campus. On-campus parking after 1 p.m. on Fridays is free.
This program is funded in-part with support from Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Angela Brommel is the current Clark County Poet Laureate and the Editor-in-Chief of The Citron Review, an online literary journal. She is the Executive Director of the Office for the Arts and affiliate faculty in the School of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Nevada State College. Her poems often reflect her relationship with the desert.
Todd Esque is a Research Ecologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. He is based at the Western Ecological Research Center where he investigates a range of issues related to species diversity and environmental change, specifically in arid regions. His recent studies have focused on the resilience of desert tortoises and desert flora.
Bertha Gutierrez is the Associate Program Director of the Conservation Lands Foundation in Nevada and the Volunteer Program Director of Get Outdoors Nevada. She earned a B.A. in Journalism and Art from the University of Arkansas and worked with nonprofit organizations before moving to Las Vegas in 2016.
Paul Jackson is an Elder of the Fort Mojave Tribe. A culture bearer of the Neolge (Sun and Fire) Clan, he works with the Aha Makav Cultural Society in Fort Mojave, AZ, teaching arts and culture to tribal youth.
Kim Garrison Means is a co-curator of the Spirit of the Land exhibition and a co-caretaker of the Mystery Ranch, an art and ecology research station near Searchlight, NV. She teaches in the art department at Orange Coast College, CA, where she is a curator for the Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion.
Kim Stringfellow is an artist, educator, writer and independent curator based in Joshua Tree, CA. Her work bridges cultural geography, public practice and experimental documentary into creative, socially engaged transmedia experiences. She is a 2016 Andy Warhol for the Visual Arts Curatorial Fellow and a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow in Photography. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Claremont Graduate University in 2018. Stringfellow is a Professor at San Diego State University’s School of Art + Design.
All of the museum’s galleries are accessible to wheelchair users and other visitors who cannot use stairs. Services such as sign language interpretation can be arranged. Please contact the museum to discuss your needs: barrick.museum@unlv.edu, 702-895-3381.
Upcoming Sessions
Saturdays: 8/13, 9/17
10:00 a.m. - Noon
Free and open to the public.
Winchester Dondero Cultural Center
3130 McCleod Dr., Las Vegas, NV 89121
Join Clark County Poet Laureate Angela M. Brommel for Writer-Ready, a series of events that include workshops, lectures and conversations during the first hour followed by 1 hour work sessions to set ourselves up to be ready for good opportunities to write, perform and publish our work. Work session time can be spent writing or reading even if you don’t consider yourself a poet. It’s your time to get ready!
Attendees will receive a notebook, a pen to get started, prompts and suggested small activities to complete before our next meeting. Nevada Humanities has also generously provided Nevada P.S. I Love You Postcard Project: Love Notes from Across the Silver State kits, and a copies of Sagebrush to Sandstone: A Humanities Guide to Outdoor Nevada, edited by Kathleen Kuo and Scott Dickensheets. The 100-page guide is comprised of poems by writers from around the state paired with art depicting Nevada’s natural beauty, as well as creative prompts accompanied by scientific text to inspire more active and reflective engagement with the world around us.
The Clark County Poet Laureate is selected every two years by a panel, and is funded by the Clark County Arts program which was created by the Clark County Board of Commissioners. Clark County Poet Laureate programming is managed by the Winchester Dondero Cultural Center. The poet laureate for the 2022-2024 term is Angela M. Brommel. Her project centers on poetry for resiliency with a special focus on poetry in the parks and interdisciplinary arts conversations and collaborations.
CONTACT
For bookings, signed copies, group discounts, and media inquiries, please contact:
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