Jennifer Elise Foerster

Poet Jennifer Elise Foerster was raised across the United States and Europe by parents of German, Dutch, and Mvskoke descent. She is the author of two poetry collections—Leaving Tulsa (2013) and Bright Raft in the Afterweather (2018), both from University of Arizona Press—and has published work in numerous anthologies and journals. She received a BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts, an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and a PhD in English and literary arts from the University of Denver.

A member of the Mvskoke (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, Foester has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a Wallace Stegner Fellowship, and a Lannan Foundation Writing Residency Fellowship. With Joy Harjo, she co-founded and co-directs the Oklahoma-based program For Girls Becoming, which provides arts mentorship for Mvskoke youth. She currently lives in San Francisco and teaches at the Rainier Writing Workshop and the Institute of American Indian Arts low-residency MFA program.