Beers

PENDLETON — Shaindel Beers, a Blue Mountain Community College English and writing instructor, was recently awarded the Woodrow Hall Top Shelf Award from Poetry Jumps Off the Shelf.

Beers was recognized for her poetry collection, “Secure Your Own Mask” (2018, White Pine Press). The award honors books of poetry published in 2018.

She has earned several honors for the collection, including the White Pine Poetry Prize. “Secure Your Own Mask,” which features poems that deal with domestic violence, continues to win praise from the literary community, said Casey White-Zollman, BMCC vice president of college relations & advancement, in a written statement

Beers called the award a “great honor,” while highlighting the organization’s mission.

“It is to ‘bring poetry out of the libraries, bookstores and classrooms into the general public arena.’ I applaud this mission because poetry is for everyone,” she said. “‘Secure Your Own Mask’ is a deeply personal book, and I’m heartened that it’s really resonating with people, especially people who might not have thought of themselves as poetry lovers.”

The poetry collection is Beers’ third published book, following “A Brief History of Time” (2009) and “The Children’s War and Other Poems” (2013), both from Salt Publishing. She also serves as poetry editor of Contrary Magazine. The books are available through Amazon.com or www.shaindelbeers.com.