I’ve had the enormous privilege and joy to work with Elena as my editor over three published books and more. She is an energetic, creative genius who sees connections, themes, and arcs that I wouldn’t have known existed in my work. Elena amazes me with her educated magic: transformational, terrifically perceptive, finding truth with a mixture of mystery and specificity whether we’re working on single poems or a book-length manuscript. She has an uncanny ability to put together pieces of poems I’ve given up on and astonish me with new material that thrills me. Elena is fearless and teaches me by example. She is not only overflowing with knowledge about poetry, but brings in her expertise from visual art, nature, music, and film as well as cutting edge-form at the exactly pertinent time and place. Elena is one of the most generous editors (and people) I’ve ever known. She invests in my work and wants to see it sail into both excellence and publication. After working with her, I’m flying! My work feels brand new, and I can dismiss my therapist!

               -Best-selling author, Felix Pollak Poetry Prize winner, Cathy Colman

She helped me discover the power of simplicity and specificity in my writing. She showed me how language can be used rhythmically to enhance the emotional impact of a story. She always encouraged me to be more honest and to dig deeper. She taught me how to slow down in a moment and use all my senses in my writing. And to always show not tell. She helped me gain the confidence to write a book of personal essays and I'm currently writing a play based on that book.            — Actress, Director, & Author Christine Lahti

I’ve received professional editing from some of the best minds in poetry on both sides of the pond and it is rare that an editor has both the intuitive “third eye” and the critical, objective eye opened at the same time.   These gifts along with her rich palette of influences from the art world, her many years in the poetry community as president of The Poetry Society of America, and her judging expertise in national competitions allow for both a macro and micro vision of contemporary poetry – its trends, forms, voices, and language.  Her guidance has encouraged my narratives toward a cinematic view while balancing the whole of the piece allowing mystery and clarity to arrive together.  Elena Karina Byrne is not only generous with her time but her commitment to your work and genuine care for its success.  If you are fortunate enough to have her as an editor you will not only walk away with better poems, and new ways to craft your work, you will be charged and enlivened with the knowledge of your own potential.

— Author, Poet, KPFK Poets Café, Lois P Jones

When I first contacted Elena, I had no idea of the amount of vast experience she had in editing. And when she sent me her dossier, I was overwhelmed!  And before we met a feeling of inadequacy crept up on me that my writing wasn't going to be good enough for her to work with me. But that trepidation blew out the window once we met, and I got to see how she works. How can I describe the wonderful experience of working with Elena––I'll start by saying Elena eats, sleeps, inhales words.  She applied her knowledge to my project of 'rooms' of poems as if she were a rock-star interior designer ready to jump at the chance to remodel.  She rearranged lines like furniture, helped me revive them like a fresh coat of contemporary color (think the Pantone 2023 color of the year: Viva Magenta). And in the renovations, I learned a lot. She's got a library of resources at the tip of her tongue, and she's eager to share.  Now comes the challenging part for me: finding a home for the book of poems she helped me put together. But I certainly wouldn't have arrived at this without her terrific assistance. I look forward to working with her again.

–visual artist, poet, naturalist, Jeri Edwards

Working with Elena was completely transformative. And exhilarating. I thought she would help me prune my poetry manuscript, do minor editing, suggest a major revision here and there, and organize the manuscript. She did all this but much more. I had no idea that in the process, I would develop new techniques for drafting and revising my work, resulting in more ambitious and more successful poems. And that she would organize my manuscript in such a fascinating way. Elena’s organizing principles are distinctive and exciting. She identified themes and shifting perspectives in the manuscript that I never would have considered. Our phone conversations and emails— often including her recommendations for books, films, and visual art that dovetailed with my project—left me eager to dive into my work and to take it in new directions. Elena is not only an extremely talented editor, but a joy to work with: curious, energetic, supportive, funny, and brilliant in a way that I found endlessly inspiring.

— Poet, Professor, Santa Clara University, Claudia Monpere

Elena is like a therapist you'd pay a thousand dollars an hour for: She'll look so deeply into a poem and see what its words were not quite been able to say and then with just a few choice phrases––and slightly rearranging the furniture of the poem, I'll see what I've been trying to say for weeks. She opens a poem up, reaches past its breastbone, and holds the heart of it in her hand and it becomes a bird that flies off to a literary journal and I fall in love with her all over again.

Working with Elena is a labor of discovery. Not only what a particular poem tries to say, but how it echoes a theme from a poem two years ago––she'll even remember a line from that long ago poem and say, "Doesn't that belong here?" She's truly inspirational. I've been working with her for two years now and will celebrate the publication of my second book, The Coupe de Ville and the Burro. If books had godmothers, she'd be it.

— Robinson Jeffers Tor House Prize Poet, George Burns

Elena Karina Byrne is an astute reader and insightful editor who proved to be an invaluable guide through the weedy passages of my work. Her innate sense of theme, voice, and the musicality of language prove inspirational; most importantly, Elena’s easy to work with and her effervescent creativity and enthusiasm are infectious. 

— Author, Editor, & Valdosta State University Professor, Marty Williams

Elena is a whirling dervish in terms of her ability to edit my chapbook, literally taking apart stanzas while marrying end stanzas from another poem for a more effective version. Her encouragement impacted how I modified future poems, adding more imagery, tonality, and perspective. Her recommendations helped me achieve readiness for publication. She achieved my trust through respectful recommendations, always giving me choices. With the wings of her friendship, I learned to fly solo, but always just a friendship call away. Her recommendations included research materials, craft as well as subject discussions of what works line by line. Because of mutual trust, she could be both a critic and an ally. I have truly learned to critique my own work, but Elena adds another layer to my poetry.

— Lee Landau, author of Underrated Angst & Knotted

Elena is a great editor. We’ve worked together on three of my books that went on to be published with Tupelo Press and Red Hen Press. What makes a great editor? She has a mind that can hold an entire manuscript in her head and see the interrelationships among words with x-ray vision. She is diligent and is a master of focusing a poem's essential message by reinforcing a poem’s supporting structure to achieve maximum clarity of purpose. Elena is your second poetic mind when you need it most when you’ve looked at a poem too long. Her cheerful suggestions are eclectic and never conventional. She sees your words like a film editor, and she sees words the way a chef sees food ingredients. I think she can actually taste words. Show her your work and see if she asks you to dinner. If so, you will be nourished like no other editor can nourish you.                

— Red Car Studios Founder, Author & Filmmaker, Lawrence Bridges

Elena showed great sensitivity to my poetry, brought it new life, and showed exciting ways to re-imagine it. Her revisions to the poems and structure of the manuscript were thoughtful and deft. I learned more from working with Elena than I did in many graduate writing seminars. Even better, I am excited to begin new work using ideas I learned from our collaboration.

— Author, Karen Holman

Our conversations and hands-on sessions have been encouraging, inspiring, and even a sort of "game changer" for me––given the degree of insecurity I suffer from nowadays when I write in my native language, English.  (Forty years of living my daily life first in Spanish, then in Portuguese...puts a lot of linguistic twists and turns into the plot!).  Now, my rather timid idea to try to get a chapbook or two together, 'just in case' any of my material was worthwhile, has morphed into a determined commitment. And pleasure, of course!  I so treasure the fact that Elena immediately captured the spirit of my Maria das Nuvens, a long poem that takes off from an Elytis creation. It had been in the making for some time, despite the doubt on my part…  could I handle this audacious project? My Maria is now a flourishing process and persona, alongside her very own Antiphonist, in a dialogue that thickens and acquires new coherency and strength, thanks to the insightful and sensitive mentor who knows how to bring out the best in ‘the three of us.’

Yes, choosing to work with Elena was definitely the best decision I made last year, pouring infinite sunlight onto a stage invaded by penumbra. She is an extraordinary mentor, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have found her.

-Author, Translator, Prof. Dr. Miriam Adelman, Universidade Federal do Paraná

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