Marlanda Dekine-Sapient Soul (she/her/they/them) is a poet and social worker living in Georgetown, South Carolina with her beloved labrador mix, Malachi (Chi). Her work is to sit down, read, think, and write. She shares her work with the world through her voice, presence, and publication. Soul’s poems have been published and/or reviewed by Emergence Magazine, Screen Door Review, Penn State University Press, Minerva Rising, Castle of Our Skins, Flycatcher Journal, and more. She is the author and recording artist of a self-published collection of poems, i am from a punch & a kiss. These poems, as well as others, can be heard on all digital streaming platforms. Soul has served communities as an arts and social justice administrator, child therapist, crisis therapist, community trainer, and child abuse forensic evaluator. She is a 2019 Keller Cushing Freeman Fellow, one of SC Humanities 2019 Fresh Voices of the Year award recipients, and an altMBA Alum. She is a 2008 graduate of Furman University (B.A. Psychology) and a 2011 graduate of the University of South Carolina (Master’s in Social Work). Currently, she is completing her MFA in Poetry with Converse College’s Low-Residency program. For more information: www.sapientsoul.com.