Daniela Naomi Molnar
Birth City, State, Country
Biography
Daniela Naomi Molnar is a poet, artist, essayist, and pigment maker collaborating with the mediums of language, image, paint, pigment, and place. She is also a wilderness guide, educator, and eternal student. Her book CHORUS was selected by Kazim Ali as the winner of Omnidawn Press’ 1st/2nd Book Award. An entry in the Oregon Encyclopedia states, “Molnar pioneered the notion that art can speak to climate change.” Her work is the subject of a front-page feature in the Los Angeles Times, an Oregon Art Beat profile, and a feature in Poetry Daily. Her next books include: Light/Remains (Bored Wolves Press, 2025), a hybrid of poetry, essay, and art; PROTOCOLS (Ayin Press, 2026), a poetic erasure of the antisemitic book The Protocols of the Elders of Zion; and her work will be included in the forthcoming Volume 2 of The Ecopoetry Anthology. Her long poem “Memory of a Larger Mind” appears alongside photographs by Julian Stettler in The Glacier is a Being (Sturm & Drang, 2023) and her work will be included in The Laurel Review‘s forthcoming folio of contemporary Jewish poetry.
Her visual work has been shown nationally, is in public and private collections internationally, and has been recognized by numerous grants, fellowships, and residencies. She founded the Art + Ecology program at the Pacific Northwest College of Art and helped start the backcountry artist residency Signal Fire in 2008 and helped run it until 2022. A third-generation Jew and the daughter of immigrants, she is a diasporic student of the earth.
What is the relationship between Judaism and/or Jewish culture and your poetry?
I am a Jewish poet writing about Jewish themes and publishing with a Jewish-oriented publisher (Ayin).
Published Works
Poetry
The Ecopoetry Anthology, Volume 2 (forthcoming 2024)
CHORUS (Omnidawn Press, 2023)
The Glacier is a Being (Sturm & Drang, 2023)
Hybrid
PROTOCOLS (Ayin Press, forthcoming 2026)—poetry and essay
Light/Remains (Bored Wolves Press, forthcoming 2025)—poetry, essay, and visual art
Author Site
Links to Sample Works
Video Reading
Current Title
Education
Warren Wilson College, Masters of Fine Arts in Poetry, 2021
University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, Graduate Certificate in Scientific Illustration, 2006
The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA, B.A. in Environmental Studies and Art, 2000
Ongoing studies at the School of Visual Arts (NY) and Pratt Institute (NY), 2006 – 2008