My Story
From my first book (an illustrated collection of Emily Dickinson's poetry) through my academic career, poetry has been essential to my life. Raised in my father's veterinary clinic and encouraged by my mother to participate in open mics from a young age, I have always sought to merge my interests in science and art. As a nontraditional student, I studied Creative Writing at the University of Colorado Denver with Nicky Beer, Wayne Miller, and Brian Barker. During the summers, I attended the New York Summer Writing Institute where I had the honor of working with Carolyn Forche, Henri Cole, Campbell McGrath, and others. I then pursued my MFA in Creative Writing with a focus in Poetry at the University of Houston, also receiving a certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. There I studied with Martha Serpas, Kevin Prufer, francine harris, and Erin Belieu. I have also had the pleasure to work with nonprofits such as Inprint Houston and Lighthouse in Denver, facilitating a variety of workshop opportunities. In 2020, I was awarded an Academy of American Poets Prize.
Through my work, I explore what it means to live in an age of mass extinction, late-stage capitalism, and rising demands for social justice. Informed by my studies in philosophy, ecology, and literature, my writing seeks an intersectional path to understanding the world we live in and our role in preserving it. What does it mean to live during cataclysmic climate change? How can we bear witness to both individual and global tragedy? What is poetry's purpose in our changing world?
Poet, Writer, Artist
Grace Wagner
Born on the plains of Oklahoma, raised in the Mississippi River delta, and educated near the Rocky Mountains, then the Gulf of Mexico, location is an important facet of my creative process. As an ecopoet, the changing landscape and the loss of native flora and fauna is integral to my understanding of the world. As a queer, nonbinary femme and new parent, I want not only to witness the world we're losing, but preserve what can be saved for generations to come.
