About

Malaika King Albrecht served as the inaugural Heart of Pamlico Poet Laureate and is the author of four poetry books. Her most recent book, The Stumble Fields, published by Main Street Rag, was a finalist in the 2021 Eric Hoffer Award. 

Her book, What the Trapeze Artist Trusts, available at Press 53, won honorable mention in the Oscar Arnold Young Award. Her chapbook, Lessons in Forgetting, was published by Main Street Rag and was a finalist in the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and an honorable mention in the Brockman Campbell Award. Main Street Rag also published her second book, Spill. 

Her poems have been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies, and she has been nominated for Pushcart Prizes. Her poems have won several contests and awards, including from Poetry Southeast, the North Carolina Poetry Council, Salem College, and Press 53. 

She is the founding editor of Redheaded Stepchild, an online magazine that only accepts poems that have been rejected elsewhere. Alongside her poetry, she writes personal essays grounded in attention, presence, and relationship, often shaped by her work with animals, the land, and practices of care. 

She lives in Warsaw, Virginia, on Freckles Farm with her family, and works as the Programs and Outreach Specialist at the Richmond County Public Library. In addition to her literary work, she is an equine specialist in mental health and learning, a therapeutic riding instructor, a meditation and Reiki practitioner, and a yoga instructor.

She facilitates a weekly online book launch celebration for writers with newly published books and has hosted over 400 writers over the past five years. Video archives of these celebrations are available on YouTube.

Writers with new books who are interested in being the featured poet are encouraged to email Malaika.