Photo credit: Hummingbird Studios, Chicago, IL

Jamie Wendt

b. 1987

Current City, State, Country

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Birth City, State, Country

Illinois, United States

Biography

Jamie Wendt is the author of the poetry collection Fruit of the Earth (Main Street Rag, 2018), which won the 2019 National Federation of Press Women Book Award in Poetry. Her poems and essays have been published in various literary journals and anthologies, including Feminine Rising, Green Mountains Review, Lilith, Jet Fuel Review, the Forward, Third Wednesday, and others. She contributes book reviews to the Jewish Book Council as well as other publications, including Literary Mama and Mom Egg Review. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska Omaha. She teaches English and lives in Chicago with her husband and two kids.

What is the relationship between Judaism and/or Jewish culture and your poetry?

I am interested in communicating with past generations in my poems: my great-great-grandmothers, imagined family members from the “old country,” individuals photographed or painted by Jewish artists whom I admire, etc. Sometimes my poems draw on the empathy of the persona poem by stepping into the shoes of Jews of the past. Sometimes I am struck by a simple image — a ner tamid in a sanctuary or a woman lighting Shabbat candles — and these images find their way into my poems because they help me identify important questions about the world (in addition to inspiration and awe) and help me navigate my experiences as a Jewish woman and mother in America.

Published Works

Fruit of the Earth (Main Street Rag, 2018)

Author Site

Links to Sample Works

Video Reading

Current Title

Teacher

Education

University of Nebraska Omaha (MFA in Creative Writing)
Drake University (Bachelor of Arts in English; Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education)

Subject Matter

Antisemitism, Art & Ekphrasis, Childhood, Cultural Identity, Death, Diaspora, Eastern Europe, Family, Feminism, Gender, History, Israel/Palestine, Jewishness, Loss, Love, Motherhood/Fertility, Narrative, Parenting, Trauma

Genre

Nonfiction, Other, Poetry