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Rachel Harkai received bachelors degrees in Creative writing and Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan in 2007. A former DJ and talk-radio host, she is an avid music-lover and a percussionist herself. She is a four-time recipient of the Hopwood Award, a prestigious college writing prize, for both poetry and nonfiction. Rachel's poetry has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Portland Review, Hotel Amerika, and elsewhere. She is a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Rachel spent much of her time and energy during her residency working with The Hub City Writers Project.  Through her assistance with readings and book launches, she became very connected in Spartanburg's literary landscape.  In the fall, she presented lectures and facilitated writing workshops at many local schools and organized the regional competition of the NEA's national poetry program: Poetry Out Loud.  After compiling and editing a tremendous collection of poems by Spartanburg poets, Rachel's anthology of regional poetry, "Still Home," was printed in March of 2008.  Rachel and fellow-resident Arielle Angel also worked together on a performance piece entitled "We Live Here Now," in which both artists spent 5 days and 4 nights living and making art in empty storefront windows in downtown Spartanburg.  Currently, Rachel lives in Detroit, Michigan where she works for Inside Out Literary Arts Project teaching creative writing in Detroit public schools.

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