Project Poetry

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For Maya C. Popa ’11, writing poetry is a gift not to be missed. Since graduating from Barnard, the poet and scholar has dedicated much of her time to not only honing her own craft but also encouraging others to find their way to the art form.

Popa’s latest project, Conscious Writers Collective (CWC), is the most recent expression of her passion for poetry. The online, subscriber-based platform is designed to help people of every age and background fulfill their personal writing goals by offering writing instruction, a supportive community of writers, and opportunities to learn from visiting experts.

“Poets feel extremely grateful that there’s this whole mode of being and of thinking on the page that isn’t concrete. So much of my goal is to get people to want to write, because I think it’s an amazing tool. If you’re going to pass the next 90 to 100 years, [writing poetry] will give you richness,” she says.

It has been a busy few years for Popa. In addition to serving as poetry reviews editor for Publishers Weekly, she has published two books of poetry, most recently Wound Is the Origin of Wonder, which was named one of the Guardian’s Best Books of Poetry, and her first collection, American Faith, which was awarded the North American Poetry Book Award from the Poetry Society of Virginia in 2020. She owes much of her success in poetry and literary criticism to the courses, the faculty, and the feeling of “being known” during her undergraduate years at Barnard.

“I don’t think all English departments prepare their English majors the way I was prepared, because we had to learn particular skill sets. Requiring students to take literary criticism, that’s rare nowadays, and I loved it,” says Popa.

Her deepest connection to Barnard was forged by her relationship with Saskia Hamilton, the late Barnard professor and vice provost for academic programs and curriculum.

“She was my teacher, mentor, and later, my friend. I was extremely lucky because there’s no guarantee that you’re going to go to a school and find someone whose sensibilities are completely matched with your own at that age. She really set me on a path,” says Popa.

Hamilton’s death last year was a profound loss to Barnard, to poetry, and to Popa, who wrote a memoriam to Hamilton for the Poetry Foundation.

Popa’s appreciation for the power of sensitive mentorship is apparent in recent projects. Her popular Substack newsletter, Poetry Today, invites readers to embrace poetry wherever they are on their writing journey. In 2021, the United Nations commissioned her to write a poem and deliver the opening remarks for the International Day of the Girl Child. She teaches advanced poetry at NYU and is the director of creative writing at the Nightingale-Bamford School, an independent K-12 girls school in Manhattan.

This list of accomplishments merely scratches the surface of all Popa is doing and intends to do. Her work creating and leading the Conscious Writers Collective is what she calls “purpose driven.” “[It’s] the thing I’m most proud of in my adult life,” says Popa.

The CWC held its first sessions in May 2024 and, by July, had already drawn more than 130 aspiring poets and dedicated readers to its online community. Popa is now expanding the program into fiction and nonfiction writing.

“[Aspiring writers] need community. They need to be with each other,” she says. Through the platform, Popa wants to help support and motivate aspiring literary artists to stick with it.

“So much of writing is mindset. You are constantly facing rejection. The only difference between those who make it and those who don’t is those who have managed to create an inner resilience to that ‘no,’” says Popa. “For them, the CWC is like writer’s therapy.”