Press Center

Press Center

SAMANTHA THORNHILL is a writer, educator, and dual citizen of the United States and Trinidad & Tobago.  After graduating with her MFA in poetry from the University of Virginia, Samantha arrived in New York City to accept her teaching post at The Juilliard School, where she served for a decade as a poetry professor to actors in training. Additionally, she has taught creative writing intensives to the elderly and the young. Dozens of literary journals, anthologies and digital outlets have featured her poems, and she’s been invited to share her versatile works across the US, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean.  Samantha is the founding curator of Poets in Unexpected Places, which was profiled in the New York Times for their dynamic, pop up poetry performances in public spaces. In 2014, Russell Simmons hired Samantha to curate and produce a season of poetry videos for his YouTube vertical, All Def Poetry. Samantha has since retired from her active life in New York City to her native island of Trinidad, and conducts most of her work remotely. She has recently formed The Aspirant Agency of Intuitive Talents, an intuitive advising and spiritual wellness company. The author of almost a dozen children’s books, Samantha’s debut poetry collection, The Animated Universe was published in 2022 by Peepal Tree Press in the UK.

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