The Poetry Box® is currently based in Portland, Oregon. Many people have been surprised to find out we are a very small staff of two. That’s right. So far, it’s been Robert and me running the show. I actually love the fact that I’ve had the privilege to read each and every poem that has been submitted to The Poetry Box. And I feel humbled and blessed that hundreds of talented poets and writers from around the world have chosen to share their words on our pages.
Meet Shawn
Shawn Aveningo Sanders is the co-founder of The Poetry Box, where she is the managing editor & publisher responsible for Book Layout & Design, Cover Design, Proofreading, Marketing, Host of The Poetry Box LIVE, Website Design, Shipping, and Quality Control. How does she do it? She’s an obsessive Excel spreadsheet maker to keep everyone’s books on schedule.
Shawn is also a globally published, award-winning poet whose work has appeared literary journals worldwide, including most recently: Rattle, ONE ART, contemporary haibun online, Sheila-Na-Gig, Jackdaw Review Gyroscope Review, Cloudbank, and the award-winning anthology, Love Is for All of Us. Her newest book Pockets (MoonPath Press, 2025) was a finalist in Concrete Wolf’s Chapbook Contest. She is also the author of What She Was Wearing (2019). You can see some of her poetry at RedShoePoet.com.
Shawn is a multiple Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Touchstone Award nominee and has won multiple prizes from the Oregon Poetry Association. Shawn won Rattle’s Prompt Poet of the Month (April 2026) and was a finalist in the Steve Kowitz Poetry Award (2026), Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award (2026), and Benicia Love Poetry Contest (2014). She was voted Best Female Poet in 2009 in the Sacramento News & Review and awarded first place in the inaugural El Dorado County Slam Championship in 2013. She volunteered as the journal designer for VoiceCatcher: a journal of women’s voices and visions from 2014-2016.
Proud mama bear to Jimmy, Ashley and Nicole, she enjoys the creative life with her husband, Robert. When not writing, find her shopping for a new pair of red shoes or toy dinosaurs for her granddaughter, Charlie.
Meet Robert
Robert Sanders is a co-founder of The Poetry Box and is the visual artist responsible for many of our book cover designs, event posters and photography. Robert has enjoyed a successful career in the visual arts realm and has won over three dozen international awards in creative design, animation, and photography. While working in the art department for KATU News in Portland, Oregon, he was nominated for an Emmy for Fire Mountain, a news documentary detailing the eruption of Mt. St. Helens and the Pacific Ring of Fire. Robert’s work spans half a century of creative development through an analog and digital journey, where he’s been a pioneer in the front of the lunatic mass, always leading. He’s been a teacher to thousands of aspiring artists, while always remaining a student of the light.
As a successful commercial photographer and designer, his work is sometimes dramatic, sometimes clever, at times controversial, occasionally humorous, but always intriguing and impacting. In other words, he’s the perfect guy to design great book covers. You can learn more at RobertSandersCreative.com.
When he’s not behind the camera, you can often find him making music, drumming with his friends. He’s also a very proud papa to his two adult children, Chase and Dallas.
