T.J. Sandella is the author of Ways to Beg (Black Lawrence Press, 2021), his debut collection, which was a finalist or semi-finalist for several awards, including the Miller Williams Poetry Prize (University of Arkansas Press), the Brittingham & Felix Pollak Prizes (University of Wisconsin Press), and the Crab Orchard First Book Award.
Selected by Dorianne Laux for inclusion in the Best New Poets anthology, he is the recipient of an Elinor Benedict Prize for Poetry (Passages North, selected by Aimee Nezhukumatathil), a William Matthews Poetry Prize (Asheville Poetry Review, selected by Billy Collins), two Academy of American Poets Prizes (selected by Judson Mitcham and Kenneth Hart), and two pushcart prize nominations.
He’s currently working on his first feature-length film, Battersea, which he co-wrote, co-directed, and is producing. Battersea is now in post-production, in partnership with Honey Head Films.
You can find him @egregiousteej or in Cleveland, Ohio, biking through a snowstorm, supporting his local library with late fines, or, most likely, walking his pup, Rufio.
