Jen Karetnick

Poet, Creative Nonfiction Writer

Miami, FL
Florida US
Twitter/X: 

Author's Bio

Jen Karetnick is the author of five full-length books of poetry: Inheritance with a High Error Rate January, 2024), winner of the Cider Press Review Book Award; the 2021 CIPA Gold Medal-winning The Burning Where Breath Used to Be (David Robert Books, 2020); The Treasures That Prevail (Whitepoint Press, September 2016), finalist for the 2017 Poetry Society of Virginia Book Prize; American Sentencing (Winter Goose Publishing, May 2016), long-listed for both the 2017 Julie Suk Award and the 2017 Lascaux Prize; and Brie Season (White Violet Press, 2014). She has also published five poetry chapbooks, including The Crossing Over, winner of the 2018 Split Rock Review Chapbook Competition, and Bud Break at Mango House, winner of the 2008 Portlandia Poetry Chapbook Prize, and is the editor of two anthologies of South Florida poets and writers. She has received fellowships from Vermont Studio Center, Wildacres Retreat, Artists in Residence in the Everglades, The Writers' Room at The Betsy Hotel-South Beach, The Solarium International Hostel in Fort Collins, Colorado, and literary workshops in Patzcuaro, Mexico and Transylvania, Romania. She is the recipient of grants from the Maryland Transit Administration Purple Line Writers' Program, O, Miami, IMPACT II Ideas, and Target. She is co-founder of the non-profit residency and reading series SWWIM (Supporting Women Writers in Miami), and co-founder/managing editor of the online international literary journal, SWWIM Every Day. Jen works as a dining critic, a freelance food-travel-lifestyle writer, a recipe developer, and a cookbook and guidebook author, including The 500 Hidden Secrets of Miami (Luster, 2024, fourth edition); Ice Cube Tray Recipes: 75 Easy and Creative Kitchen Hacks for Freezing, Cooking, and Baking with Ice Cube Trays (Skyhorse Publishing, June 2019), and the award-winning cookbook, Mango (University Press of Florida, 2014), based on her real-life experiences on a working mango grove. She is also co-author of Raw Food/Real World (William Morris, 2005), as seen in the Netflix documentary, Bad Vegan.

Literary agent: 
Jessica Alvarez, BookEnds Literary Agency

Publications & Prizes

Creative Nonfiction

Anthology:
Wild Horses: The Women on Fire Series (ELJ Publications, 2015)
Journals: ,
Good Housekeeping
, ,
Miami Herald
,

Poetry

Anthologies:
A Run for the Money: Poems from Hialeah (Tigertail Productions, 2016)
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2013 Poet's Market (Writer's Digest Books, 2013)
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Sun-Struck Matches: Volume X (Tigertail Productions, 2013)
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The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry (Bloomsbury USA, 2013)
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Florida Flash: Volume IX (Tigertail Productions, 2011)
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gape-seed (Uphook Press, 2011)
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Reeds and Rushes (Pudding House Press, 2010)
, ,
A South Florida Poetry Annual, Editor's Choice, Volume I-IV, (Tigertail Productions, 2005)
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A South Florida Poetry Annual, Volume III (Tigertail Productions, 2004)
Books:
The Burning Where Breath Used to Be (David Robert Books, 2020)
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American Sentencing (Winter Goose Publishing, 2016)
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The Treasures That Prevail (Whitepoint Press, 2016)
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Brie Season (White Violet Press, 2014)
Chapbooks:
The Crossing Over (Split Rock Review, 2019)
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Prayer of Confession (Finishing Line Press, 2014)
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Landscaping for Wildlife (Big Wonderful Press, 2012)
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Bud Break at Mango House (Portlandia Group, 2008)
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Necessary Salt (Pudding House Publications, 2007)
Journals: , ,
Alimentum
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Amethyst Arsenic
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Barrow Street
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Black River Review
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Blood & Fire Review
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Blood Lotus
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Blue Lyra Review
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Blue Unicorn
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Carpe Articulum Literary Review
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Chest
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Cider Press Review
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Cobalt Review
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Consequence
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Construction
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Crab Orchard Review
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Gastronomica
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Georgetown Review
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Gordon Square Review
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Heavy Feather Review
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Helen
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Hospital Drive
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Icon
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Intima: Narrative Medicine
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Isotope: Journal of Nature and Science Writing
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IthacaLit
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JAMA
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Journal of New Jersey Poets
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Lyre Lyre
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Maryland Poetry Review
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Nebo
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Nebraska Review
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Negative Capability
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Nexus
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OCHO
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Oyez Review
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Pearl Magazine
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Phase & Cycle
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RE:AL
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Rogue Agent
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Scintilla Magazine
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Slab Literary Review
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Slate
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Sou'wester
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Spillway
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Spoon River Poetry Review
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Stickman Review
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Sweet: A Literary Confection
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The Gambler
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The Inquisitive Eater
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The Ledge
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The Oval
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The Poetry Storehouse
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Tidal Basin Review
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Verse Daily
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Yellow Chair Review
Prizes won: 

2022 Cider Press Review Book Award

2021 CIPA Gold Medal for The Burning Where Breath Used to Be (David Robert Books, 2020)

2020 Tiferet Writing Contest for Poetry

2018 Split Rock Review Chapbook Competition

2017 Hart Crane Memorial Poetry Contest

2016 Romeo Lemay Poetry Prize

2015 Anna Davidson Rosenberg Prize

2014 featured juried poet at Houston Poetry Fest

2012 The “Piccolo in Your Pocket” Contest from the Alaska Flute Studies Center

2010 Named one of 33 "Emerging Creative Minds" by SOFI Magazine

2008 Portlandia Chapbook Prize

2008 and 2005 Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Awards

Six Pushcart Prize nominations

Five Best of the Net nominations

Placed in the following: Finalist for Sweet: Lit Poetry Prize; Honorable Mention for 2023 and Finalist for 2021 and 2020 Joy Harjo Poetry Prize from Cutthroat; Finalist for 2019 Patricia Cleary Miller Award for Poetry from New Letters; Finalist for 2019 Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Poetry Contest from Tinderbox Poetry Journal; Finalist for 2019 Construction Literary Magazine Poetry Contest; Honroable Mention for 2019 Passager Journal Poetry Contest; Runner-up for 2019 Jacar Press Full-Length Manuscript Competition; Finalist for 2019 Gold Wake Press Open Reading Period; 2019 Jacar Press Chapbook Competition; 2018 Headway Quarterly’s Inaugural Writing Contest; Finalist for 2017 Virginia Society of Poetry Book Prize (for The Treasures That Prevail); Long-listed for 2017 Julie Suk Book Award (for American Sentencing); Long-listed for 2017 Lascaux Book Prize (for American Sentencing); 2017 New Millennium Competition #44; 2017 Locked Horn Press Poetry Prize; 2017 Palm Beach Poetry Festival Competition; 2017 Brittany Noakes and Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry prizes; 2017 Crab Creek Review Poetry Prize; 2016 Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Prize; 2015 Atlantis Award from The Poet's Billow; 2010 Knight poetry prize; 2009 Patricia Dobler, Consequence Magazine and Earth Vision prizes; 1998 River Styx Poetry Prize.

For food and travel writing, first place in the Green Eyeshade/Society of Professional Journalists, Association of Food Journalists and North American Travel Journalists Association, and second place in the Les Dames d'Escoffier MFK Fisher Awards for Culinary Writing in the Cookbook category for Mango. From the Tip of My Tongue won "Best Woman Cookbook in the USA" from the World Gourmand Awards and came in third for Best in the World.

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
Jewish
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Livingston, NJ
New Jersey
Raised in: 
Livingston, NJ
New Jersey
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Feb 12, 2024