Writing a book is hard. Getting it published? Harder. The effort, though, is worth it.
Nadia Alexis ’09 knows this well. It took nine years to see her debut poetry collection in print—from the time she started writing Beyond the Watershed in 2016 to the day it hit stores in March 2025.
Nadia Alexis '09
Alexis first submitted her manuscript to a publisher in 2019, after completing her MFA in creative writing at the University of Mississippi. It was rejected.
She hired a manuscript reviewer in 2020, continued revising and adding poems in 2021 and 2022, but hesitated to submit her manuscript again.
“I considered the possibility of not publishing for reasons like fear, or the idea that it would be more difficult to publish a book like mine,” said Alexis, who was an interdepartmental political science and Africana studies major at Union. “But I pushed myself to submit again.”
And again, and again. It took seven tries before her manuscript was accepted by CavanKerry Press in spring 2023.
“This journey taught me a lot about persistence, trusting the work and trusting myself. I had to overcome my tendency to keep revising and seeking external permission to publish,” Alexis said. “I had to realize that I was just delaying the ‘yes’ that was trying to find me.”
Beyond the Watershed is a full-length hybrid collection of original poetry and photographs (also taken by Alexis). It has garnered attention as a Publishers Weekly spring 2025 poetry preview title and as one of the most anticipated Caribbean releases of 2025. It was also longlisted for the 2025 Maya Angelou Book Award.
Alexis was also selected for Poets & Writers magazine’s 2026 debut poets feature, part of their annual spotlight on ten emerging authors (Jan/Feb 2026 issue). This marks the 21st year of the series and was the fourth time that a book published by CavanKerry Press was featured (the last time was in 2009).
“Beyond the Watershed brings together poetry and photography to explore generational trauma, domestic violence, healing and reclamation through the experiences of a Haitian American daughter and her Haitian immigrant mother,” Alexis explained. “I trace journeys to break free—documenting pain, making space for light, connecting with spirit and becoming a reckoning on paths to safe waters and transformation.
“It’s a book about love, survival, becoming and resistance.”
When Alexis isn’t writing or taking photographs, she teaches poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and playwriting at Mississippi School of the Arts.
She loves “getting the chance to mentor talented poets and writers who will one day be bestsellers, make more of their own dreams come true, positively impact the lives of others and become favorite artists of their own audiences.”
It’s work that feels especially critical during this age of artificial intelligence and ChatGPT.
“It’s important that students and others learn to rely on their own creative genius and limitless imaginations to craft their poems, stories and essays, rather than attempting to use AI,” Alexis said. “Otherwise, you run the risk of robbing yourself of the growth you can only experience through trial and error, through community, through wins and losses and more.”
Her poetry has appeared in Indiana Review, MQR: Mixtape and Shenandoah, and her essays have been published in Poets & Writers, Madame Noire and BLACK STEW. As a photographer, she has exhibited widely in the U.S. and Cuba. Her photos have also been showcased virtually, including in Mfon: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora, alongside more than 100 women of African descent, and in group exhibitions with Carrie Mae Weems, including at the Havana Biennial.
Alexis has earned numerous honors, including a Literary Arts Fellowship from the Mississippi Arts Commission, a Mississippi STAR Teacher Award, and recognition as the Poet of the Year Honoree of the Haitian Creatives Digital Awards. A fellow of the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop and The Watering Hole, she also holds a Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi.
HOW DID UNION INFORM YOUR CAREER PATH?
“Union made me into a leader and a bigger thinker. The intellectual rigor, mentorship and community I experienced there laid the foundation for the poet, photographer, mentor and teacher I am today. It gave me the confidence to pursue my passions and graduate study. To question assumptions and develop my own truths. To combine research with my creative gifts. And to build a meaningful career grounded in storytelling.”
— Nadia Alexis ’09, author of Beyond the Watershed and literary arts instructor at Mississippi School of the Arts
This story first appeared in the summer 2026 edition of Union, the College's alumni magazine.