Tess Barry is the author of The Marvelous Real, a poetry collection published by Meadowlark Press in December 2025 and a finalist for Meadowlark's Birdy Poetry Prize. Barry was shortlisted for the Manchester Poetry Prize. Twice a finalist for North American Review's James Hearst Poetry Prize and Aesthetica Magazine's Poetry Award, she has also been shortlisted multiple times for the Bridport Poetry Prize. Her work has been widely published in the U.S. and abroad and appeared in journals and publications such as: Aesthetica, The Compass Magazine, Cordite Poetry Review, Cordella Magazine, Mslexia, The Louisville Review, North American Review, and The Stinging Fly, among others. Barry is a native of Western Pennsylvania and lives in Pittsburgh. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing, Poetry, from Carlow University, and an MA in English from the University of Pittsburgh. She is a Fellow of the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project and the Director of Carlow University's MFA in Creative Writing Program, a low residency program in the U.S. and Ireland.