Holly Wren Spaulding

Writer & Founder of Poetry Forge

I’m a poet, teaching artist, and mentor to other creatives. In my poetry and art projects, I’m interested in things like: quiet, observation, the natural world as critical nourishment, brevity, and the ways in which poetry can be taken off the page and into the world. Increasingly, I collaborate with visual artists and others who join me in making work that interacts with the public space, and seeks to restore our relationship to the commons, or provides respite from the ugliness of consumer culture, or reminds us of what’s beautiful, interesting, or delicate, especially off-screen. As a teacher and mentor, I create spaces where ongoing inquiry, experimentation, and a spirit of solidarity support our work as writers and artists. I do this by bringing perspectives, conversations, and practical support to those interested in making meaning, and moving forward in their creative lives. We grapple with matters of process and craft, and study how other artists and thinkers can show us the way. At the heart, I’m interested in sharing ideas and practices that can help all of us thrive amidst the many social, technological and existential pressures of our time.​

I studied creative writing at University of Michigan and at Trinity College, in Dublin, Ireland. My poems, articles and reviews have appeared in The Nation, Michigan Quarterly Review, Witness, The Ecologist and in the book ‘We Are Everywhere: The Irresistible Rise of Global Anti-Capitalism’ (Verso). My most recent collection of poems is ‘Pilgrim’ (Alice Greene & Co., 2014).

Five Avery Hopwood Awards for poetry and essay; two Pushcart nominations; sundry publications, awards, and fellowships. Waking up each day and doing the work I find most interesting.