Linda Nemec Foster’s profile on the Poets & Writers’ Directory website
Author’s Bio
Linda Nemec Foster is the author of eleven collections of poetry including Amber Necklace from Gdansk (LSU Press), Talking Diamonds (New Issues Press), and The Lake Michigan Mermaid (Wayne State University Press). Her work has been published in numerous magazines and journals such as The Georgia Review, Nimrod, Quarterly West, Witness, New American Writing, North American Review, and Paterson Literary Review. Foster’s poems have also appeared in anthologies from the U.S. and Great Britain, been translated in Poland and Germany, inspired original music compositions, and have been produced for the stage. She has received nominations for the Pushcart Prize and has been honored by the Arts Foundation of Michigan, ArtServe Michigan, the National Writer’s Voice, and the Academy of American Poets. From 2003-05, she served as the first Poet Laureate of Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 2015, she was honored by the Dyer-Ives Foundation for her poetry and advocacy of the literary arts in west Michigan. Foster is the founder of the Contemporary Writers Series at Aquinas College.
Publications and Prizes
Books: Amber Necklace From Gdansk (Louisiana State University Press, 2001), Listen to the Landscape (Eerdmans Publishing, 2006), Living in the Fire Nest (Ridgeway Press, 1996), Talking Diamonds (New Issues Press, 2009), The Lake Michigan Mermaid (Wayne State University Press, 2018)
Anthologies: Abandon Automobile: Detroit City Poetry (Wayne State University Press, 2001), Amazing Women of West Michigan (Eerdmans Publishing, 2006), Contemporary Michigan Poetry (Wayne State University Press, 1988), Fast Break to Line Break: Poets on the Art of Basketball (Michigan State University Press, 2012), Fresh Water: Women Writing on the Great Lakes (Michigan State University Press, 2006), Modern Poems of Ohio (University of Akron Press, 2002), New Poems From the Third Coast (Wayne State University Press, 2000), Poetry in Michigan/Michigan in Poetry (New Issues Press, 2013), Song of the Owashtanong: Grand Rapids Poetry in the 21st Century (Ridgeway Press, 2013), The Art of Survival (Kings Estate Press, 2014), The Heart of All That Is: Reflections on Home (Holy Cow! Press, 2013)
Journals: America, Another Chicago Magazine, Apalachee Review, Artful Dodge, Atlanta Review, Big Scream, Cheap Pop, Connecticut Review, Connecticut River Review, Driftwood Review, Duende, Earth’s Daughters, Eclipse, Ekphrasis, Fogged Clarity, Free Lunch, Georgia Review, I-70 Review, inch, Indiana Review, KYSO Flash, Mid-American Review, New American Writing, New Millennium Writings, Nimrod, North American Review, Passages North, Poet Lore, PRESA, Quarterly West, River Styx, Sou’wester, Streetlight Magazine, The Cresset, The Fox Chase Review, The MacGuffin, Two Review, Windhover, Witness
Chapbook: A History of the Body (Coffee House Press, 1987), A Modern Fairy Tale: The Baba Yaga Poems (Ridgeway Press, 1992), Contemplating the Heavens (Ridgeway Press, 2001), Ten Songs from Bulgaria (Cervena Barva Press, 2008), The Elusive Heroine: My Daughter Lost in Magritte (Cervena Barva Press, 2018), Trying to Balance the Heart (Sun Dog Press, 1993)
Prizes Won: Finalist, New Millennium Writings Poetry Prize (2016); Lifetime Achievement Award in Poetry, Dyer-Ives Foundation (2015); Pushcart Prize Nominations (1982-2013); First runner-up, New Letters Poetry Award (2013); Runner-up, I-70 Review’s Gary Gildner Poetry Award (2013); Honorable Mention, New Millennium Writings Poetry Prize (2013); Finalist, ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Award (2010); Finalist, New Letters Poetry Award (2010); Creative Arts Award, Polish American Historical Association (2008); Finalist, Michigan Governor’s Arts Award (2007); Selected to be first Poet Laureate of Grand Rapids, Michigan (2003-2005); Finalist, Ohio Book Award for Poetry (2003); Nominee, Laughlin Award (2002); Creative Artist Grant, ArtServe Michigan (2001); Fellowship, National Writers’ Voice (1999); Finalist, Poet’s Prize (1997); Creative Artist Grant, Arts Foundation of Michigan (1996); Creative Artist Grants for Poetry, Michigan Council for the Arts (1984, 1990).
