Author Description

"I have written all my secrets by hand in wet sand." Woven in Salt is a tender, tidal collection of poetry tracing six years of becoming-through love, heartbreak, and the constant call of the sea. Divided into the four seasons, Kayli Shenk's debut moves like water through time: from the golden grief of autumn to the quiet ache of winter, through rebirth and back to warmth again. Anchored in the coastal landscapes of South Carolina, these poems are both elegy and love letter-to the places that shape us, the people who teach us, and the versions of ourselves we must leave behind. Shenk's voice is luminous, feminine, and fiercely honest, capturing the salt-stung beauty of loving deeply and letting go. With imagery steeped in sunlight and ocean spray, Woven in Salt explores what it means to grow, grieve, and rise again-green, enamored with the blue. Perfect for readers who loved Ocean Vuong's Night Sky with Exit Wounds, Sabrina Benaim's Depression & Other Magic Tricks, or Amanda Lovelace's The Princess Saves Herself in This One, this collection reminds us that even in endings, there is tide, motion, and renewal.