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Ciara Totton reads "He is a Strange Biological Phenomenon" by Margaret Atwood

Ciara Totton
Ciara Totton

Ciara Totton was born and raised in Spokane. Her curiosity and her love of the written word was fostered from a young age.

She studied in Southern California at Azusa Pacific University and graduated with a Political Science degree. She spent the next several years living abroad. She taught English for three years in a rural town in South Korea. She reintegrated her love of writing and of poetry while living in Jeongseon, a beautiful place surrounded by mountains and pine forests.

She moved to New Zealand in 2020 and balanced her time between writing, surfing, and exploring the country. Her poetry examines the experience of grief, empowerment, loss, and identity. These themes are explored through the immersive lenses of nature and physical engagement. Ciara is a firm believer that the body is a vessel for authenticity and understanding. Nature carries great wisdom and stories of its own, many of which are begging to be told.

Ciara’s poetry gives voice to parts of the self that are often disregarded and buried. Her poetry seeks empowerment and freedom through vulnerability and honesty about life’s most unsavory parts.

She moved back to Spokane in 2022 where she is now a healthcare worker and an active participant in Spokane’s thriving literary community.