Theo Ellin Ballew (b. 1993, deepest known matronym Srebrna or Silver) is an educator and web designer+developer who writes sci-fictional poetry and/or code. Theo founded and directs both Red Calendar, a big-tech-free arts and action calendar for NYC, and ORAL.pub, a multilingual journal of web-native poetry/art. Theo also built and designed the frontend for both websites, and many other websites.

Theo has taught in departments like NYU’s ITP/IMA (most often and most recently), RISD’s Digital + Media, Brown’s Literary Arts, CUNY Brooklyn College's Art Department, School for Poetic Computation, and The New School's Communication Design. Theo's subjects include: electric poetry, web development, net.art, introduction to creative computation, UX/UI design, cyberfeminism, AI-human interaction, socially-minded tech, computational political action, thesis project development, interdisciplinary collaboration, new media theory, creative writing, speculative worldbuilding, research skills, and more. Selected syllabi: disturb; net.art; fembot; intro; deus.

Theo's work has been published and shown widely. Bedtime Stories for the Worshiped is forthcoming with Wonder Press and An Inch Thick was released with Ornithopter Press in 2024. Other sci-fictional poetry appears in Ugly Duckling Presse's Second Factory, Antiphony, Everybody Press Journal; 1080 Press's 240P; Abobo Zine; Beautiful Days Press's Works & Days; Action, Spectacle; 3AM; Juked; Litro; New Mundo Press's La Lancha, Bone Bouquet; and elsewhere. Theo's digital works (e-lit, net.art, speculative design, interactive essay, etc.) have been shown online with The Wrong Biennale; External Pages; Tagvverk; screen_; Crawlspace.cool; HTML Review; and Ghost Proposal—and in-person with Electronic Literature Organization; Compás 88; El Quinto Piso; Bandini Espacio Cultural; IK-Projects; and Yeah Maybe.

Theo holds an MFA in Literary Arts (Digital Language Arts) from Brown and a BA in Literature from Yale. Half commie cowboy and half anti-Zionist Jew, Theo grew up on 4-to-11-hour drives through the Southwest, usually landing in or leaving Phoenix.