Connor Watkins-Xu holds a BA in Professional Writing from Baylor University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland, where he taught creative and academic writing. He is a 2025 Writing Fellow at the Jack Straw Cultural Center. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Ploughshares, Poet Lore, North American Review, Redivider, Columbia Journal, Gargoyle, The Hong Kong Review, Salvation South, and elsewhere. His manuscript has been named a semifinalist for the Berkshire Prize and The Brittingham and Felix Pollak Prizes in Poetry. He is the recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize and scholarships to the Southampton Writers Conference and New York State Summer Writers Institute. His work has been nominated for Best of the Net and Best New Poets. Originally from Alabama, he lives with his wife in Seattle, Washington.