Dylah Ray in Conversation with Olena Jennings for PERENNIALS

Dylah Ray (she/her) is a queer poet and the owner of Petals & Pages, an independent bookstore in Denver, Colorado. Ray holds a BA from the University of Denver and an MA from Columbia University. Perennials, a poetry collection that begins as an exploration of heartache and continues through the seasons of healing, rebuilding, and finding joy through new and emerging identities, is her first book.

Olena Jennings (she/her) is the author of the poetry collection The Age of Secrets (Lost Horse Press, 2022), the chapbook Memory Project, and the novel Temporary Shelter (Cervena Barva Press, 2021). She is a translator of collections by Ukrainian poets, Yuliya Musakovska, together with the author, Kateryna Kalytko, together with Oksana Lutsyshyna, and Vasyl Makhno. She was shortlisted for the Ukrainian Literature in Translation Prize 2023 for her translations of Yuliya Musakovska's poetry. She founded and curates Poets of Queens reading series and press.