Jill Bialosky
Current City, State, Country
Birth City, State, Country
Biography
Jill Bialosky’s newest volume of poetry Asylum: A Personal, Historical, Natural Inquiry in 103 Lyric Sections, was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. She is the author of five acclaimed collections of poetry, four critically acclaimed novels, including The Prize and most recently, The Deceptions—a finalist for the Gotham Book Award—and two memoirs, Poetry Will Save Your Life and New York Times bestselling memoir History of a Suicide: My Sister’s Unfinished Life. History of a Suicide was a finalist for Books for a Better Life Award and the Ohioana Award. Her second volume of poetry, Subterranean was a finalist for the James Laughlin Award; her volume, Intruder was a finalist for the Patterson Prize. Her poems and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, O Magazine, The Kenyon Review, Harvard Review, Paris Review and Best American Poetry among others. She co-edited with Helen Schulman the anthology, Wanting a Child. She is an Executive Editor and Vice President at W. W. Norton & Company. In 2014 she was honored by the Poetry Society of America for her distinguished contribution to poetry.
What is the relationship between Judaism and/or Jewish culture and your poetry?
Many of my poems are inspired by my coming of age in a Jewish family. My volume, ASYLUM was a finalist for The National Jewish Book Award and there are many poems that deal with anti-semitism, the slaughter of the Jews, and Jewish traditions.
Published Works
Poetry
Asylum: A Personal, Historical, Natural Inquiry in 103 Lyric Sections (Alfred. A. Knopf, 2020)
The Players (Alfred A. Knopf, 2015)
The Skiers: Selected Poems (Arc publications, 2010)
Intruder (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008)
Subterranean (Alfred A. Knopf, 2003)
The End of Desire (Alfred A. Knopf, 1997)
Fiction
The Deceptions (Counterpoint Press, 2022)
The Prize (Counterpoint Press, 2016)
The Life Room (Harcourt, 2007)
House Under Snow (Harcourt, (2002)
Memoir
Poetry Will Save Your Life (Atria Books, 2017)
History of a Suicide: My Sister’s Unfinished Life (Atria Books, 2011)
Anthology
Wanting a Child, edited with Helen Schulman (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1998)
Author Site
Links to Sample Works
Video Reading
Current Title
Education
Ohio University, B.A.
Johns Hopkins University, M.A.
University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop, M.F.A.