Lynn McGee is a poet and fiction writer who lived in New York City over 30 years and moved in June 2026 to upstate New York, specifically the western foothills of the Catskill Mountains. Her most recent poetry collection is Science Says Yes, released in December 2024 from Broadstone Books.

 

Lynn published a few short stories (Berkeley Fiction Review, Northwest Review and others) while earning her MFA in Poetry at Columbia University.

 

She recently returned to fiction writing and in March 2026, her story "Productive Struggle," from her fiction manuscript SAFE HOUSE, was released in The Writing Disorder. Another story from that manuscript, "Talking to Strangers," just came out in Blue Lake Review.

 

In addition to the recent poetry collection Science Says Yes (Broadstone Books, Dec. 2024), Lynn McGee's books of poetry include Tracks (Broadstone Books, 2019) and Sober Cooking (Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2016). She also published two award-winning poetry chapbooks: Heirloom Bulldog (Bright Hill Press) and Bonanza (Slapering Hol Press). 

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Starting Over in Sunset Park, Lynn McGee's children's book co-written with José Pelauz and illustrated by Bianca Diaz, was released in Spring 2021 from Tilbury House Publishers, distributed by Norton. Starting Over in Sunset Park  was one of nine picture books featured by The New York Times in the July 12, 2024 article, "Moving Day: 9 Picture Books to Help Kids Cope," by Jennifer Hubert Swan.

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Lynn McGee's poems have recently appeared in literary magazines including Eclectica, Asheville Poetry Review, The Westchester Review, Slant, San Pedro River Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Naugatuck River Review, Sugar House Review, Lascaux Review, The Atlanta Review, Atticus Review, Tampa Review and others, as well as anthologies including I Wanna Be Loved by You: Poems on Marilyn Monroe from Milk & Cake Press and Braving the Body, from Small Harbor Publishing.

 

Ten poems from Lynn's series "Crush" were released sequentially in What Rough Beast, from Indolent Books in 2020, and her audio collaborations with composer Bill Parod have appeared in the Atticus Review and The Night Heron Barks.

 

Poems by Lynn McGee have also appeared in Upstreet, Lavender Review, Stonewall's Legacy (an anthology celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising), The American Journal of Poetry, Cordella Literary Magazine, Potomac Review, The American Poetry Review, Southern Poetry Review, Storyscape, In From the Margin and The New Guard (one poem a finalist and one a semi-finalist in the Knightville Contest judged by Donald Hall).

 

Early publications include Literary Mama, Painted Bride Quarterly, Ontario Review, Phoebe, Sun magazine, Laurel Review and others. Her poems have also appeared in anthologies including Like Light, 25 years of Poetry & Prose by Bright Hill Poets & Writers and Rabbit Ears: TV Poems. 

 

Lynn held teaching and merit fellowships while she earned an MFA in Poetry at Columbia University. She serves on the advisory committee of Slapering Hol Press of the Hudson Valley Writers Center and for eight years, she co-curated the Lunar Walk Poetry Series with Gerry LaFemina, Bryn Dodsen and Madeleine Barnes. In 2020, Lynn McGee founded and until Summer 2026, co-curated with Susana H. Case, Sandy Yannone and Carolyne Wright (William Mohr was an early host), the West-East and Beyond (WEB) poetry series which has featured hundreds of poets from across the U.S., as well as in the Caribbean, Ireland, England, Brazil and Argentina. 

 

Awarded a MacDowell fellowship, Lynn was a winner of the Judith's Room Emerging Writers Award in NYC, and taught writing at private and public colleges (George Washington University, Columbia University, Southern Methodist University, Brooklyn College/CUNY and others) as well as having led poetry workshops in New York City public schools through Teachers and Writers Collaborative and teaching adults in CUNY literacy programs. She worked as a writer and communications manager in the Office of Public Affairs at Borough of Manhattan College, CUNY and currently teaches poetry workshops for the Teamsters Union retiree division.

 

A 2021 finalist for the The Hilary Tham Capital Collection (Word Works) poetry manuscript contest for her unpublished collection THE TV IN THE OTHER ROOM — which was also a 2019 quarterfinalist for the Codhill Press manuscript contest — Lynn was a 2015 Nominee for the Best of the Net award, a nominee for the McGovern Prize, five times a nominee for the Pushcart Prize, and a semi-finalist for the Dana Award. She is a recipient of the NYC Literacy Center's Recognition Award for her work in adult literacy, and received the Heart of the Center Award from the LGBT Community Center in New York City for starting, and teaching on donated time for a year, their first GED-prep class. 

 

Lynn is now busy exploring her new home just outside the Binghamton city limits and two blocks from the town of Conklin border that opens to rolling farmland and forest. She hikes often with her companion Josie, an elderly but spry Black Mouth Cur hunting hound. Exploring the state parks, finding abundant time to write and acclimating to the wonders of suburban living — such as wrangling giant garbage cans down to the curb once a week — are among the many adventures this long-time New Yorker is enjoying.