NHHS alum Karissa Dugan is a current student at Towson University who dreamt of publishing her own poetry book. On Jan. 8, 2025, those dreams became a reality with the release of her first book, “Everything Under the Sun.”
In the middle of pursuing a psychology major with a dream of becoming a therapist, Dugan found time to pursue her love of writing. “I have always enjoyed writing, but I wanted to finally organize my poetry into a book that could be shared with others. It is a personal accomplishment that I have been wanting to achieve for quite some time,” says Dugan.
The book is, “compiled into three sections – Haikus, Nature, and Humanity. Many of the themes that are covered relate to nature,” said Dugan. “I use a lot of personification to describe certain aspects of nature, such as a poem that gives the stars’ perspectives on wishes.”
Other poems in Dugan’s book connect with her goal of being a therapist, with several containing themes “relat[ing] the human experience, with topics rooted in psychology, emotion, and anxiety.”
Her journey to poetry has lasted years, stemming back to her middle school days. Dugan went to a creative writing class that “provided exposure to poetry, and I really enjoyed it. I think that poetry is beautiful because it is so expressive and real, and I wanted to try to write my own.”
The inspiration to write continued into highschool where Dugan said that former NHHS teacher Mrs. Jennifer Chandler had a hand in her writing journey. “[She] was my favorite English teacher and definitely encouraged me to always do my best work. From her, I was also inspired to make time for my poetry and writing.”
The inspiration for her debut book came from a desire to, “show myself that I could do it and share it with others, as well as support from family, friends, and my boyfriend,” Dugan claims.
While publishing a book was always Dugan’s goal, it wasn’t without its own set of challenges. “Sometimes,” said Dugan, “I tend to be very hard on myself and am a perfectionist. I had to let go of this while writing and just realize that I was doing my best work, and that that was enough.” These challenges didn’t dissuade Dugan, who said that she “would love to write a second book. I think it would probably be another poetry book, but I am also interested in short stories.”
Dugan utilizes social media and word-of-mouth advertising to promote her book. “I have an Instagram account called @karissas_collection that I am trying to build up and gain an audience for,” she says.
