Lisa Olstein

Who is Lisa Olstein?

Lisa Olstein is an American poet. She grew up near Boston, Massachusetts, received a BA from Barnard College and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Her first book of poems, Radio Crackling, Radio Gone Copper Canyon Press won the Hayden Carruth Award. Her second collection, Lost Alphabet was named one of the best poetry books of the year by Library Journal. Her most recent book of poetry, Little Stranger was a 2013 Lannan Literary Selection and explores motherhood with equal parts irony and earnestness. In it she reveals a curiosity of our natural world that is both wonderful and terrifying.

Her poems have appeared in the The Nation, Iowa Review, Denver Quarterly, LIT, and other journals. She has been awarded a Pushcart Prize and poetry fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Sustainable Arts Foundation.

Olstein currently teaches in the New Writers Project at the University of Texas, Austin.