Linda Nemec Foster

Poet

Grand Rapids, MI

Michigan US

Email:

mfapwgrr9@aol.com

Website:

www.lindanemecfoster.com

Author's Bio

Linda Nemec Foster is the author of twelve collections of poetry including Amber Necklace from Gdansk (LSU Press), Talking Diamonds (New Issues Press), The Lake Michigan Mermaid (Wayne State University Press) which was a 2019 Michigan Notable Book, and The Blue Divide (New Issues Press). A new book, Bone Country (Cornerstone Press), is her first full-length collection of prose poems. 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 Europe, 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, the Academy of American Poets, the Best Small Fictions Anthology (2022), and the Fish Anthology in Ireland. 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. In the fall of 2019, she was a guest lecturer in contemporary American poetry at the University of Bielsko-Biala in Poland. Foster is the founder of the Contemporary Writers Series at Aquinas College.

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:

Contemporary Surrealist and Magical Realist Poetry: An International Anthology (Lamar University Literary Press, 2023)

Best Small Fictions (Sonder Press, 2022)

Fish Anthology (Fish Publishing, 2022)

RESPECT: The Poetry of Detroit Music (Michigan State University Press, 2020)

The Art of Survival (Kings Estate Press, 2014)

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 Heart of All That Is: Reflections on Home (Holy Cow! Press, 2013)

Fast Break to Line Break: Poets on the Art of Basketball (Michigan State University Press, 2012)

Amazing Women of West Michigan (Eerdmans Publishing, 2006)

Fresh Water: Women Writing on the Great Lakes (Michigan State University Press, 2006)

Modern Poems of Ohio (University of Akron Press, 2002)

Abandon Automobile: Detroit City Poetry (Wayne State University Press, 2001)

New Poems From the Third Coast (Wayne State University Press, 2000)

Contemporary Michigan Poetry (Wayne State University Press, 1988)

Books:

Bone Country (Cornerstone Press, 2023)

The Blue Divide (New Issues Press, 2021)

The Lake Michigan Mermaid (Wayne State University Press, 2018)

Talking Diamonds (New Issues Press, 2009)

Listen to the Landscape (Eerdmans Publishing, 2006)

Amber Necklace From Gdansk (Louisiana State University Press, 2001)

Living in the Fire Nest (Ridgeway Press, 1996)

Chapbooks:

The Elusive Heroine: My Daughter Lost in Magritte (Cervena Barva Press, 2018)

Ten Songs from Bulgaria (Cervena Barva Press, 2008)

Contemplating the Heavens (Ridgeway Press, 2001)

Trying to Balance the Heart (Sun Dog Press, 1993)

A Modern Fairy Tale: The Baba Yaga Poems (Ridgeway Press, 1992)

A History of the Body (Coffee House Press, 1987)

Journals:

America

Another Chicago Magazine

Apalachee Review

Artful Dodge

Atlanta Review

Basalt

Big Scream

Bloodroot Literary Magazine

Cheap Pop

Coal Hill Review

Connecticut Review

Connecticut River Review

Cresset

Crosswinds Poetry Journal

Driftwood Review

Eclipse

Fogged Clarity

Free Lunch

Georgia Review

I-70 Review

inch

Indiana Review

Invisible City

KYSO Flash

MacGuffin

MacQueen’s Quinterly

Mid-American Review

New American Writing

New Millennium Writings

Nimrod

North American Review

North of Oxford

Passages North

Paterson Literary Review

Poet Lore

PRESA

Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry

Quarterly West

Reformed Journal

River Styx

Sensations Magazine

South Florida Poetry Journal

Sou'wester

Streetlight Magazine

Taj Mahal Review

The Fox Chase Review

Two Review

Vox Populi

Windhover

Witness

Prizes won:

Finalist, Off the Grid Poetry Prize (2022); Semi-Finalist, Tomaz Salamun Prize (2022); Award Selection, Best Small Fictions (2022); Second Prize, Fish Anthology's Flash Fiction Competition (2022); Honorable Mention, Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest, Paterson Literary Review (2022, 2020); Finalist, Deanna Tulley Media Contest (2021); Finalist, River Styx Microfiction Contest (2020); Michigan Notable Book Award (2019); Honorable Mention, Flash Fiction Award, New Millennium Writings (2019), Winner, Editor’s Choice Award, Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest, Paterson Literary Review (2019, 2018); Finalist, New Millennium Writings Poetry Prize (2016); Lifetime Achievement Award in Poetry, Dyer-Ives Foundation (2015); Pushcart Prize Nominations (1982-2018); 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).

More Information

Gives readings:

Yes

Travels for readings:

Yes

Identifies as:

Polish American

Prefers to work with:

Any

Born in:

Cleveland

Raised in:

Cleveland

Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.

Last update: May 17, 2023