PLAINCHANT

“ Plainchant (or plainsong) is a sacred, monophonic chant with one melody, often based on psalms, and sung without accompaniment. ” — (listen to an example here)

Introduction

J.K. Balle McDole is a writer, poet, and editor from the Bay Area of California. Their love for storytelling rises to a challenge they perceived in Marianne Moore's 1967 poem Poetry: one must strive to create "imaginary gardens with real toads in them."

Their writing process focuses on intricate worldbuilding, nuanced narrative structure, intricacies of memory, intimacies found at the intersections of language, culture, and heritage, and the interiority of the individual. While they could list countless authors, poets, essayists, and artists they deem impactful or inspiring, they consider the fiction and essays of Ursula K. LeGuin, as well as the poetry of C.D. Wright, to be some of their highest writing inspirations.

Adjacent to their study of fiction and craft, they have worked for seven years in non-creative writing fields (e.g., writing for marketing, technical, science, educational, and content production purposes, with focuses in documentation specialization, scripting, copyediting, UX design, et. al.). 

A mixed Chicana of indigenous Guatemalan descent, they are queer and use they/them and she/her pronouns. (¡Elle practica y espera hablar español mas bien un día!) Passionate about music, they have played trumpet, mostly jazz, for almost twenty-six years. When not writing, they edit. When they run out of stuff to edit, they read, hike, bird-watch, garden, play video games (admittedly poorly), volunteer with local youth and public action groups, and spend time with their beloved family and friends.