Draft:Jennifer Maier

• Comment: Passes neither WP:NPOET or WP:NPROF. Also, still written in a biased-sounding tone. Commandant Quacks-a-lot (talk) 18:46, 14 May 2026 (UTC)

• Comment: There are a couple of independent sources (reviews) which indicate that she might be notable, but the tone of the entire draft is promotional, bordering on advertising. bonadea contributions talk 11:10, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

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Jennifer Maier
Born	(1961-07-18) July 18, 1961 Oak Harbor, Washington
Occupation	Poet, professor
Language	English
Nationality	American
Education	University of Washington, Tulane University
Notable works	Dark Alphabet (2006), Now, Now (2013), The Occupant (2025)
Website
www.jennifermaier.net

Jennifer Maier is an American poet and professor whose work, often expressed in hybrid forms or genres, explores themes of time and impermanence evoked by the beauty, strangeness, and humor of everyday life.

Biography

Jennifer Maier was born in Oak Harbor, Washington, and raised in the Pacific Northwest, California, and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She holds baccalaureate and master's degrees in neuropsychology and English from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in American Literature from Tulane University. Her doctoral dissertation explores the aesthetic alliance between photography and poetry in the early 20th century.

Maier's work has appeared in print, online, and broadcast media, including Poetry, Scientific American, Southern Humanities Review, Plume, American Poets, Image, New Letters, and The Writer's Almanac.

Her books include Dark Alphabet (Southern Illinois UP), named one of Ten Remarkable Books of 2006 by The Academy of American Poets; Now, Now (2013), an alternate selection for the National Poetry Series competition; and The Occupant (2025), both from the University of Pittsburgh Press.

Until 2026, Maier worked as professor of modern poetry and poetics, Poet in Residence, and senior faculty in poetry in the MFA program at Seattle Pacific University. From 2008 to 2017 she served as Associate Editor for the arts quarterly Image.

Maier divides her time between Seattle, Washington, Washington's San Juan Island, and Rome, Italy.

Selected honors and awards

Year	Honor or award	Institution / press	Notes
2025	Pulitzer Prize Nominee	University of Pittsburgh Press	The Occupant
2025	Visiting Artist Residency	American Academy in Rome
2023	Visiting Artist Residency	American Academy in Rome	Nov. 2023
2022	Pushcart Prize Nominee	Tiny Spoon	"The Occupant is Knitting an Infinity Scarf"
2014	Visiting Artist Residency	American Academy in Rome
2012	Emily Dickinson Award	Poetry Society of America	For Fly
2012	Alternate Selection, National Poetry Series	National Poetry Series	Now, Now Ed Ochester, Series
2012	Featured Poet	Tuolumne Meadows Poetry Festival	U.S. Dept. of Interior
2010	Judge, Student Poetry Contest	Conference on Christianity and Literature
2009	Faculty Appointment	Sewanee Young Writers Conference	University of the South
2006	Double Nominee	Best New American Poets 2005; Crab Orchard Review First Book Award in Poetry	Judge: Jason Sommer
2010	Faculty Appointment	Sewanee Young Writers Conference	University of the South
2010	Judge, Student Poetry Contest	Academy of American Poets
2009	Faculty Appointment	Sewanee Young Writers Conference	University of the South
2006	Double Nominee	Best New American Poets 2005; Crab Orchard Review First Book Award in Poetry	Judge: Jason Sommer
2006	New Letters Award in Poetry	New Letters	Hangman and A Puzzle
2005	Tennessee Williams Fellowship	Sewanee Writers Conference	Sewanee, TN
2005	Mississippi Review Prize	Mississippi Review	Judge: Angela Ball

Critical Reception

Jennifer Maier's poetry has been discussed within the context of contemporary Christian and secular literary traditions. In an essay by Karen An-hwei Lee published in Christianity & Literature, Maier is included among a group of poets whose work engages questions of faith, doubt, and spiritual experience in the twenty-first century. Lee sees Maier's poem “Black Molly” as reminiscent of the work of Elizabeth Bishop, situating her work within broader historical discussions of faith, epistemology and poetic expression.

In The Hudson Review poet and critic Mark Jarman has noted that, “None of the great poets of the life of things, Francis Ponge, Pablo Neruda, Marianne Moore, Elizabeth Bishop . . . wonders whether their regard for things is proper, or ethical, or distorting . . . . Here, Maier reminds us that we are objects possessed by an even larger object.

Editorial work

Role	Publication	Notes
Associate editor	Image	2008–2017

Works

Books

• Dark Alphabet (2006), Southern Illinois University Press.
• Now, Now (2013), University of Pittsburgh Press.
• The Occupant (2025), University of Pittsburgh Press.
• What It’s Like: Five Poems in English and Italian (2006). Translated by Enrico Santi.

Selected poems

• "Poems", Plume.
• "In Reality", Scientific American.
• "Poem", Christianity & Literature.
• "Poem", Poetry Society of America.
• "A True Story", Image.
• "Poem", Poetry.

External links

• Jennifer Maier faculty page at Seattle Pacific University
• Jennifer Maier at the Poetry Foundation
• Jennifer Maier at The Writer’s Almanac
• "Jennifer Maier on Constructing a Responsible Person" — interview, KUOW
• Jennifer Maier at The Slowdown
• "A Conversation with Madeline DeFrees" — Maier interview with poet Madeline DeFrees, Image
• Review of The Occupant at The Adroit Journal
• "Living in the Moment" — critical commentary on The Occupant, The Hudson Review
• Review of The Occupant at Cassandra Voices
• "Truth in Every Guise" — critical discussion of The Occupant in relation to contemporary Christian poetry, Christianity & Literature