Leslie McIntosh
Leslie McIntosh (all pronouns respectfully used) chiefly explores and explodes the morphologies and hermeneutics of AAVE, with an eye toward the pragmatic language of neurodiverse Black folk, among other things. Leslie’s debut volume of poetry, within-group variance, was selected by Terrance Hayes for the 2025 Changes Book Prize and is forthcoming from Changes Press in Fall 2026. Leslie has received grants and fellowships from Breadloaf Writers Conference, Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop, Hawthornden Foundation, Jersey City Arts Council, Millay Arts, The Watering Hole, Zoeglossia, and more. Leslie’s poems have appeared in Adi Magazine, Fourteen Hills, Indiana Review, Obsidian, Ploughshares, and elsewhere. Previously a chapbook editor at Newfound: An Inquiry of Place, Leslie lives on the stolen land of the Munsee Lenape, presently known as Jersey City, NJ, USA.