Anna Lena Phillips Bell's poems have appeared in the Southern Review, 32 Poems, and Poetry International. The recipient of an NC Arts Council Fellowship, she teaches at UNC Wilmington and is editor of Ecotone. She lives with her family near the Cape Fear River.

Ornament is a kind of tribute album. The poet, who is also a banjo player, pays tribute in many poems to the old-time music of the Carolinas, and like the music, her poems are marked by bursts of lyric beauty, deft storytelling, and haunting set pieces."" - Geoffrey Brock, author of Voices Bright Flags and judge