POET • TEACHER • EDITOR 

Jami Macarty gratefully recognizes Native Nations of the West—especially the Coast Salish and O’odham—as the traditional and rightful owners of lands where she has the great privilege to live and learn—as a teacher at Simon Fraser University, as an independent editor, and as a writer of essays, reviews, and poetry.

Jami is the author of the ecofeminist poetry collection The Minuses, a Mountain West Poetry Series title published by the Center for Literary Publishing at Colorado State University (March 2020) and the winner of the 2020 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award – Poetry Arizona.

Jami’s three chapbooks of poetry include: Instinctive Acts (Nomados Literary Publishers, 2018), which contemplates immigration, identity, and place in Vancouver, British Columbia’s Downtown Eastside; Mind of Spring (No. 22, Vallum Chapbook Series, 2017), a walking meditation, contemplating social, cultural, environmental, and personal mechanisms of war, accompanied by the Palo Verde, Arizona State Tree, and winner of the 2017 Vallum Chapbook Award; her first chapbook, Landscape of The Wait (Finishing Line Press, 2017), is a poetic response to her nephew William’s car accident and year-long coma.

Jami’s writing has been honored by financial support from Arizona Commission on the Arts, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, British Columbia Arts Council, Community of Writers, and other arts entities, and by editors at American, Australian, British, and Canadian literary magazines, including Arc Poetry Magazine, Beloit Poetry Journal, The Capilano Review, EVENT, The Fiddlehead, Interim: Poetry & Poetics, The Journal, Otoliths, Orbis, The Rumpus, Vallum Magazine, and Volt.

As co-founder and editor of the online poetry magazine, The Maynard (founded 2008; currently on hiatus), Jami supported and promoted  international poets by selecting, editing, and publishing their poems. As the Executive Director of Tucson Poetry Festival (1996-2005), Jami hosted some of the most important poets, writing in any time and language—Jean Valentine, Gary Snyder, Myung Mi Kim, Arthur Sze, Anne Waldman, Garrett Hongo, Robert Bly, Russell Edson, Jane Hirschfield, and many more—to the week-long celebration of contemporary poetry in Tucson, Arizona during National Poetry Month. Jami’s more recent forays into literary arts administration and community service in Vancouver, include workshop instructor and event host for the Vancouver literacy organization Pandora’s Collective (2014-2019), Poetry Ambassador (2016-2018) for Vancouver’s Poet Laureate, Rachel Rose (2014-2017), and Fresh Local Poet for Vancouver Park Board (2016-2018), where Jami flew on the team to name Vancouver’s City Bird (Anna’s Hummingbird!).

Since 1989, Jami has practiced yoga and meditation, and since 1991, Jami has taught English, English literature (modern, postmodern, and contemporary), composition, critical analysis, poetry, and poetics. As well as in Canada and the United States, Jami has taught English and yoga in Ecuador, Ethiopia, Nepal, and United Arab Emirates. Jami is bolstered by a beloved community of students, readers, colleagues, and friends.