Thomas Devaney

Thomas Devaney is a Pew Fellow in the Arts and the author of seven books, including Getting to Philadelphia (Hanging Loose Press, 2019), You Are the Battery (Black Square Editions, 2019), Runaway Goat Cart (Hanging Loose Press, 2015), and The Picture that Remains, a collaboration with photographer Will Brown (The Philadelphia Print Center, 2014). He wrote and co-directed the film Bicentennial City, which explores the legacy of Philadelphia’s 1976 bicentennial celebration. His work has appeared in Best American Poetry, The American Poetry Review, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Brooklyn Rail. The literary hub Blue Stoop: A Home for Philly Writers was named after his poem, “The Blue Stoop.” In 2024, Devaney earned a master’s degree in urban design at Drexel University, completing a thesis titled “Reimagining Urban Parks: Philadelphia’s FDR Park as a Space for People and Nature.”