Founder: Jackie Garcia-Morales
Jackie is a Boricua and neurodiverse publishing professional and author from New Jersey. After beginning her career in science, Jackie transitioned into publishing through roles at Penguin Random House and Baker & Taylor. She is now the editor of a nonprofit journal, a freelance reviewer for Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Indie, and the director of The Storytellers Foundation, an equity-driven initiative dedicated to removing barriers by sharing knowledge in publishing. As of October, Jackie is serving as a literary agent intern at Writers House, where she continues to expand her toolkit to serve her mission of advocating for inclusive voices in publishing.
Jackie founded Feathered Stag to create an equity-based, lower-barrier platform for poets whose expressive work deserves space in today’s literary landscape. She sees a growing need for poetry that embraces emotion and authenticity in a culture increasingly shaped by polarized selectional pressure. Jackie believes poetry should be accessible, alive, and unafraid to break rules, an art form for all ages that reflects our human condition.
Thresholds
Volunteer Poetry Editors
What sets Feathered Stag apart from other presses is how deeply we care about the poets in our family. That’s why we offer a free editorial process. Every poet is paired with a volunteer editor who will work closely with you to polish your work, clarify your intention, and help you grow not just as a poet of this piece, but as an artist of words overall.
Each editor brings a unique approach shaped by their diverse backgrounds in academic publishing, university teaching, and live performance poetry. Some editors focus on line-by-line feedback, while others guide through workshop-style exercises. The goal is always the same: to give you a taste of what traditional trade publishing feels like so that you can grow beyond the poem.
We also believe writing should never be a solo sport. Because it isn’t. Once you begin publishing, you realize how much of a team effort it really is. Every poet needs support, guidance, and collaboration to thrive. Success at Feathered Stag means being satisfied both as a creator and in the connection you build with your readers. At Feathered Stag, your creative growth matters just as much as the work you submit and we are dedicated to your evolution.
Millie Burdett
Millie is the Senior Editor of Hungry Tomato, a non-fiction publishing house based in the United Kingdom. She is also a published poet and children’s author, with over 15 titles to her name. She loves writing about the natural world and everyday joys, and is passionate about making poetry accessible to as many people as possible.
Ciaran Moss
Ciaran is a writer and creative based in Manchester, England. He gained a love for poetry in his time studying at Edge Hill University. During his time at Edge Hill, Ciaran competed at UniSlam 2024 where his poem An Ode to Northern Women was selected to open the final. Since graduating in 2024, Ciaran has written mainly short fiction and scripts, but his passion for bringing poetry to communities has led him to running several community outreach projects, including working as Associate Producer on For Slam’s Sake in March 2025.
Nina Kenney
Nina Kenney is a writer and editor from a small town in New Jersey, now based on the Gulf Coast of Florida. She holds an MA in Writing from the University of Warwick and is an academic publisher at Wiley by day, and writer by night. A native of New Jersey’s coast and marshland, she gravitates toward work that navigates the balance between self and nature.
Zach thomas
Zach is a writer from Richmond, Virginia and a graduate of Virginia Tech’s MA in English program. When he isn’t teaching English, he writes poems sparked by various locations in Appalachia, the American South, and Latin America. His work appears in Moria, Rue Scribe, Blue Villa, Routledge’s Rock Music Studies, and elsewhere.
Bethany E. Simpson
Bethany is an emerging author inspired by Maya Angelou, with a passion for exploring how intersectional identities shape culture. She serves as a Survivor Advocacy Social Media Intern for the Women’s Advocacy Initiative, an Editorial Intern and Ambassador at The Dinner Table Doc, a writer at Afrique Noire, and a gallery guide at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Bethany is the recipient of the 2025 Midwest Regional Silver Key Award in the Youth Alliance of Artists & Writers competition. Her narrative poem Girlhood, Interrupted, which examines the adultification of Black girls during childhood, was featured in Chicago’s Black Youth Project 100 art installation #SheSafeWeSafe in August 2024 and will appear in the Fall issue of Period.org magazine.
Kate Smith
Kate is a journalist, artist, and freelance book editor with seven years of editorial experience in community newsrooms. She believes storytelling is our collective way of recording, processing, learning, and dreaming up our world. A lifelong reader and published poet intrigued by the independent poetry press tradition, she completed her certificate in book editing in summer 2025. Kate is a volunteer editor at The NonBinary Review and Alphanumerics poetry podcast starting in Fall. She also holds an editing certificate from Poynter and a bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science from Creighton University. At home in Walla Walla, Washington, she tends to her garden, crochets odd shapes, and plays roller derby.
Feathered Stag Press 