Founder & Editor-in-Chief

Thomas Kneeland is an Afrocuban poet whose research explores ancestry, ecological memory, and the effects of intergenerational trauma. He is the author of We Be Walking Blackly in the Deep. A child of the Deep South, Kneeland’s work reaches deep into the soil of his grandmother’s backyard for roots that run along the Mississippi, down to the Gulf, and onto the red clay shores of Cuba. Kneeland was recently nominated for Sundress Publications’ 2024 Best of the Net and is a 2022 Frontier Poetry Global Poetry Prize finalist. 

His current and forthcoming publication credits include Prairie Schooner, Columbia Journal, Modern Language Studies Journal, Southern Humanities Review, The Amistad, The Rumpus, South Florida Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. Kneeland holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Butler University. During the summer of 2024, Kneeland joined the Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA) Aspects of Leadership Summer Institute—LEDA Scholars Program—at Princeton University this summer to serve as a Writing Faculty member. 

He is currently a tenure-track, Assistant Professor of English at Anderson University (Anderson, IN). Recently, Kneeland was named a 2025 Emerging Scholar by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. Beyond the writing community, Kneeland is a Girl Dad to an eight-year-old who wants to become a baker. Occasionally on weekends, you will find them trying new dessert recipes. 

Student Poetry Editor

Clay Close is an Student Poetry Editor at The Elevation Review. A college senior and a writing major with a minor in history and literary studies, Clay is very passionate about artistic expression, creativity, and the message behind art and literature. When not on the job, you can find Clay playing games with friends, writing his own stories, and working towards his goal of becoming a storyboard director to turn his stories over onto the big screen.