Selected as one of the most influential women in literature in 2022, Leah Huete de Maines is the publisher of Finishing Line Press (a division of FLP Media Group, LLC). She acquired FLP in 2002. She has edited over 800 poetry collections, including several award-winning titles. She is Poet-in-Residence Emerita of Northern Kentucky University (funded in part by the Kentucky Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities). Maines is the author of two poetry books. Her first book was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Williams Carlos Williams Book Award (Poetry Society of America). Looking to the East with Western Eyes, New Women's Voices Series, No. 1 (Finishing Line Press, 1998) reached #10 in the "Cincinnati/Tri-State Best Sellers List" (Cincinnati Enquirer), and is now in its fourth printing. Her most recent collection, Beyond the River, (KWC Press, 2002, 1st edition) won the Kentucky Writers' Coalition Poetry Chapbook Competition in 2002. Her poems have appeared in numerous national and international publications including Nebo, Owen Wister Review, Licking River Review, Flyway and other literary magazines and anthologies. Maines lived in Gifu, Japan where she studied and researched classical Japanese poetry at Gifu University. She also studied at Kings College London, England and The Marino Institute in Dublin, Ireland. Maines studied publishing at Yale SOM."Having a book accepted is a stressful time. Leah Maines made the procedure easy and painless. Her instructions were easy to follow and she answered my questions fully. It was a pleasure working with her and her crew at Finishing Line Press." ~James FowlerLeah Maines is the intrepid publisher of Finishing Line Press, perhaps the premier independent chapbook poetry house in the United States at this time. Innovative, but solidly grounded in her vision and organization, she has created a fine press and allowed it to flourish under her wise guidance. I have written a number of jacket comments for books she has selected, and it has been my privilege to endorse her writers. ~Molly Peacock