Charlie Peck grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and received his MFA from Purdue University. His poetry has appeared previously in Cincinnati Review, Ninth Letter, Massachusetts Review, and Best New Poets 2019, among others. His first collection, World’s Largest Ball of Paint, is the winner of the 2022 St. Lawrence Book Award from Black Lawrence Press.

"WORLD'S LARGEST BALL OF PAINT is written by a man who has earned his living as a cook. Charlie Peck speaks of what he knows well, 'the smell / of pork fat &garlic leading the way to the steel noodle counter.' His poems feed us. They feed us hunger, want, loneliness, loss, addiction, violence, boredom, depravity, laughter, grief, joy. The menu is memory. Watch out. Eating this poetry can burn your tongue. Bite down. The words may bite you back, but they will fill your mouth completely. They talk back. This is a book like the best Gaeng Keow Wan, green Thai curry. It is habanero hot." - Donald Platt