Valerie Wetlaufer
Current City, State, Country
Birth City, State, Country
Biography
Valerie Wetlaufer is a queer Jewish poet, editor, and educator. Valerie holds a PhD from the University of Utah, and an MFA from Florida State University. They are the author of the Lambda Literary Award-winning poetry collection Mysterious Acts by My People (Sibling Rivalry Press 2014), and Call Me by My Other Name (Sibling Rivalry Press 2016). They write a thrice-weekly newsletter on creativity in the anthropocene, Open Channel.
What is the relationship between Judaism and/or Jewish culture and your poetry?
As a late-in-life convert to Judaism, the search for identity and belonging is a major aspect (along with gender identity, sexuality, and disability) of my writing, particularly my most recent collection in progress. Poetry has always been the way I process and make sense of the world, and Judaism thus plays a major role in my writing.
Published Works
Call Me by My Other Name (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2016)
Mysterious Acts by My People (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2014)
Author Site
Links to Sample Works
Current Title
Education
Bennington College, B.A.
Bennington College, M.A.T.
Florida State University, M.F.A.
The University of Utah, PhD