Shelley Puhak is the author of The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry that Forged the Medieval World and three award-winning poetry collections.
The Dark Queens received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, was selected as a USA Today Best Book of 2022 and an Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best History, and was excerpted in Smithsonian and TIME magazines. It is the remarkable, little-known story of two trailblazing women in the Early Middle Ages who wielded immense power, only to be vilified for daring to rule. The Dark Queens resurrects two very real women in all their complexity, painting a richly detailed portrait of an unfamiliar time and striking at the roots of some of our culture’s stubbornest myths about female power. The Dark Queens offers proof that the relationships between women can transform the world.
Shelley’s nonfiction has appeared in publications like The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and Virginia Quarterly Review; been anthologized in Best American Travel Writing; and designated as Notable in four editions of Best American Essays.
Her most recent poetry book is Harbinger, a National Poetry Series selection (Ecco/HarperCollins 2022). Her poetry has appeared in journals such as Cincinnati Review, Missouri Review, Shenandoah, and Verse Daily and been awarded the Anthony Hecht Prize, the Towson Prize for Literature, and two Maryland State Arts Council grants.