Jessie McCarty

itisjessiemccarty@gmail.com | jessiemccarty.com

b. 1997

Jessie McCarty is an Irish-American writer. Their poetry, in English and Gaeilge, uses the South and Midwest as memory tools. Their poems can be read in Bog Bodies Press, Sarka Journal, The Minnesota Review, Charm School, The Documentarian, Don’t Submit Lit, Thick Press, and more.

Their full-length debut, Pretty Punks, is forthcoming with Magra Books in December 2025 (ed. Sean Pessin, Paul Vangelisti). Previous collections include The Bovine Huff (Track and Field Studios, 2021) and the self-published artist book, Our Fairy Diary (2023).

Jessie’s writing has been published as research chapbooks for the following theatrical productions: The Sarcoma Cycle (11:11 Press, 2024), the Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions: A Homo-Turgy (Jack Bowes, 2024), and Perforated Play (Dir. Miles Sennett, 2022). They have taught writing at Index Space, The Center for Fiction, and more. Their poem, “Loving you is ordinary heaven,” was featured in Only Poems Daily under Best New Poems in August 2025. They were nominated as Best New Poetry Book by a Chicagoan and Best New Poet for the Chicago Reader’s Best of Arts and Culture in 2022, for their work, The Bovine Huff.

Jessie McCarty holds a BFA in Creative Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They hold certifications in systems migration and rare book cataloging (DCRMB). They are an upcoming MLIS student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, studying Information Management.

Writing Courses

Now enrolling!

Folk Memory: A Generative Workshop for Writing Folklore: The Center for Fiction (October 2025).

Previous Taught:

An Index is a Diary: Cataloging the Personal Diary at Index Space (Summer 2023).

A List is a Letter: The Center for Fiction (Summer 2023, 2024).

Teaching the Personal Archive for K-5th Grade: The Latin School (Winter 2023-Spring 2024).

Awards & Features

Best New Poems (Only Poems Daily), “Loving you is ordinary haven” in the Minnesota Review

GOOD FOLK, Episode 35. Feat. Jessie McCarty

Nominated Best New Poet (Chicago Reader, Best of Arts and Culture, 2022), “The Bovine Huff”

Nominated Best New Poetry Book (Chicago Reader, Best of Arts and Culture, 2022), “The Bovine Huff”

Books

Pretty Punks Magra Books (December 2025).

Our Fairy Diary Read Stuff Bookstore (2023).

The Bovine Huff Track and Field Studios ( 2022).

The Bovine Huff SAIC Thesis Repository (2021).

Selected Poetry

Runner Bog Bodies Press: Issue 008 (Summer 2025)

Bad Beds Bog Bodies Press: Issue 008 (Summer 2025)

Man Prayer Before Charm School (August 2025)

The Pity of Love The Minnesota Review (Summer 2025).

Three Poems: Pitybath, Pity Milk Press (Spring 2025).

Quick Ballad of the Fox Hunter. Sarka Journal (Issue 4, Disrobed, Spring 2025)

Ephemera Sarka Journal (Issue 4, Disrobed. Spring 2025).

Fiction

Club Category Borametz Press (2024)

Hole Story Don’t Submit (2023).

Selected Plays

LAMB PLAY The Runaways Lab Theater, Dir. Ryne Nardeccia (2024

Dramaturgy

The Sarcoma Cycle: An Indexed Dramaturgy

General Things Press, Dir. Logan Berry (2024).

Reviewed by Dennist Cooper via his blog, here.

Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions: A Homo-Turgy

Bramble Arts Loft (2024).

Perforated Play Hate-Lab Theater, Facility Theater (2022).

Essays

Interdisciplinary Catalogs as a way to Self-Soothe

Thick Press An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping (2024).

Memories of Sinead O’Connor The Documentarian (2023)

Jessie McCarty is an Irish-American writer. Their poetry, in English and Gaeilge, uses the South and Midwest as memory tools. Their poems can be read in Bog Bodies Press, Sarka Journal, The Minnesota Review, Charm School, The Documentarian, Don’t Submit Lit, Thick Press, and more.

Their full-length debut, Pretty Punks, is forthcoming with Magra Books in December 2025 (ed. Sean Pessin, Paul Vangelisti). Previous collections include The Bovine Huff (Track and Field Studios, 2021) and the self-published artist book, Our Fairy Diary (2023).

​Jessie McCarty holds a BFA in Creative Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They hold certifications in systems migration and rare book cataloging (DCRMB). They are an upcoming MLIS student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, studying Information Management.

Jessie McCarty holds a BFA in Creative Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They hold certifications in systems migration and rare book cataloging (DCRMB). They are an upcoming MLIS student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, studying Information Management.