Samantha Padgett is a poet and essayist from Dallas, TX. Her work explores a childhood plagued with alcoholism and generational trauma and the ways in which trauma—no matter how far removed—is a ghost one must learn to live with. Through the blend of realism and surrealism, she blurs the line between her current experience, her childhood memories, and the absurd.

Padgett’s poetry and essays have been featured in Cleaver Magazine, New Ohio Review, North American Review, New South, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing, Publishing, and Editing and an MA in English Literature from Sam Houston State University. She currently lives in Austin, TX with her partner and two cats.