Deborah P. Kolodji (1959-2024)

Poet Deborah P. Kolodji, 64, died July 21, 2024 at home in Temple City CA. She was well known in science fiction poetry circles, and was best known for her haiku.

Kolodji was born August 11, 1959 in Long Beach CA. She began publishing her work in the 1970s, mostly Star Trek-inspired poems in fanzines. She attended the University of Southern California, graduating with a mathematics degree, and worked in information technology.

She began publishing work professionally in the 1990s, producing hundreds of haiku and other short poems in the course of her career. Some of her work is collected in Tug of a Black Hole (2021). She also occasionally published short fiction.

Kolodji edited numerous poetry anthologies, including Eclipse Moon (2017, with William Scott Galasso) and co-founded and edited poetry magazines Amaze: The Cinquain Journal and Eye to the Telescope. She was active in the Science Fiction Poetry Association, serving as president for five years until 2011, and founding the Dwarf Stars Award for short poems; she also edited several volumes of the organization’s Dwarf Stars anthology series. She was involved in the Southern California Haiku Study Group, the Haiku Society of America, and the Haiku North America conference.

She is survived by two sons and a daughter.