Valerie Nieman's latest book, Leopard Lady: A Life in Verse, joins two earlier collections from Press 53: Wake Wake Wake and Hotel Worthy. Her poems have appeared widely in journals and anthologies. She has held creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council. A novel published by Press 53, Blood Clay, received the Eric Hoffer Award, and her fourth novel, To the Bones, will be published by West Virginia University Press. A graduate of West Virginia University and Queens University of Charlotte, she teaches writing at North Carolina A&T State University and at other venues including John C. Campbell Folk School.

Other poems by Valerie Nieman in Verse Daily:
April 4, 2015:   "Dark Matter" "Seaweed, scoured from the deep, scatters..."

Books by Valerie Nieman:

Other poems on the web by Valerie Nieman:
"Like Mother"
Five poems
"Adam and Eve as Fire and Water"
"Mourner's Purple"
"{Lore}"
"On the Beach"
"Black Pudding"

Valerie Nieman's Website.

Valerie Nieman on Twitter.

About Leopard Lady:

"You have not before read a book like this one. This one will take you where you have never been. Yes, you may have seen a circus but that is not exactly what is here. Nor have you met these people before. Unique, deeply moving, funny, and withal composed on the edge of danger and enlightenment, Leopard Lady is masterful. Nieman's syntax, rhymes, meter and scenes make music while the reader is charged with an energy that takes us closer and closer to the singular truth we must bear."
—Kelly Cherry

"Here, readers are taken on an unexpected adventure. In 'Destroyed by Fire Flood and Ice,' the Gypsy Queen asks, 'Do you dare see the secrets past the veil?' Readers, be ready to find what you did not know you were seeking, as the Leopard Lady will take you on an unforeseen journey and, indeed, you will discover secrets as you travel these wondrous paths."
—Jill Gerard, Editor