Valerie Wetlaufer
Adjunct Professor of English, Mount Mercy University
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)
