Lauren Tivey is an accomplished poet and professor of English and creative writing at Flagler College, where she has taught for nine years. Her full-length poetry collection, Traveler in the Sunset Clouds, was released in 2022 by Main Street Rag Publishing Company, followed by the poetry and photography collaboration Fire Carousel in 2023.
A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and Best of the Net nominee, Tivey’s work has appeared in numerous online and print publications. She brings decades of writing and publishing experience into her classroom.
Q: What or who inspired you to pursue your field of study?
A: Sylvia Plath’s work lit a fire inside me. I also had incredible mentors in college, including poets Patrick Armstrong, Mary Ruefle and Richard Jackson, who pushed me to keep going. Most of all, though, it was an inner motivation to write. I could not not write. It has always been in my blood.
Q: What courses do you teach, which is your favorite, and why?
A: The Healing Power of Poetry, Intro to Poetry Writing, Advanced Poetry, Poetry of Witness, Composition, Publishing and Editing, FLARE: The Flagler Review, FlagSHIP, and ENG or CRW Selected Topics. I love all the courses I teach, especially poetry, but my favorites are the Selected Topics courses, such as Memento Mori: Writing About Death, Bad Girls of Literature, my Sylvia Plath class, and Epic Russian Novels, which I will teach in fall 2026. In addition to teaching, I run the English Department open mics and the department’s social media pages, which I enjoy very much.
Q: How do you bring real-world experience into your teaching and classes?
A: I bring 40 years of experience in writing, both creative and academic, and publishing into the classroom. I have been around the block. I have a lot of personal experience, and I enjoy sharing it with students. I believe it is helpful to them.
Q: How has your field evolved, and how do you prepare students for those changes?
A: I have seen many changes in the writing and publishing field, including the shift to digital submissions. Staying on top of these changes gives me a well-rounded understanding of the landscape and allows me to share practical tips with students. Now, of course, the biggest challenge is AI, so we have many discussions about the ethics surrounding it and where the field may be headed.
Q: What skills do you hope every student walks away from your classes with?
A: I hope they leave inspired to continue writing, first and foremost. I also hope they hone their critical thinking skills and become disciplined in the intensive labor of writing and revision, whether creative or academic. Those are skills that will benefit them throughout their lives, both personally and professionally.
Q: If you could take one Flagler class outside your department, what would it be?
A: I would love to take Kim Bradley’s COR 152 class, The Haunted South.
Q: What is your favorite spot on campus and why?
A: The Proctor Library. It is always bustling, and I run into many current and former students. I also enjoy being surrounded by books.
Q: Coffee or tea, and where is your go-to spot in St. Augustine?
A: Coffee. I like The Modern Rose. It is on Cuna Street, right next to my office.
Q: What book, movie or podcast are you currently enjoying?
A: I am currently reading “The Mind on Fire,” by Robert D. Richardson Jr., a biography of the life of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Fun fact: I am distantly related to Emerson, as we share a common ancestor who was accused during the Salem Witch Trials.
Q: What is something your students would be surprised to learn about you?
A: That I am a bit of an adventurer. I have gone skydiving in Slovenia, taken an ultralight flight around the Annapurna Range in Nepal, hiked the Himalayas in Tibet, four-wheeled across the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia, and gone camel trekking in Morocco.
Q: What is your go-to pump-up song?
A: “War Pigs,” by Black Sabbath.
Q: What is your favorite pair of shoes, and how do they reflect you as a faculty member?
A: Converse or my Docs. I guess they say I am down to earth.
