Jen Hofer

Born in San Francisco in 1971, Jen Hofer is a poet and translator.

Hofer’s translations include: Style (Kenning Editions, 2016), a translation of Estilo by Dolores Dorantes; Ivory Black, a bilingual edition of Negro marfil by Myriam Moscona (Les Figues Press, 2011); sexoPUROsexoVELOZ and Septiembre, a translation from Dolores Dorantes by Dolores Dorantes (Counterpath Press and Kenning Editions, 2008); lip wolf, a translation of lobo de labio by Laura Solórzano (Action Books, 2007); and Sin puertas visibles: A Bilingual Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by Mexican Women (Ediciones Sin Nombre and University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003).

Hofer’s own books include a series of anti-war manifesto poems titled one (Palm Press, 2009); The Route (Atelos, 2008), a collaboration with Patrick Durgin; and slide rule (Subpress, 2002). Recent handmade chapbooks include: Conditions/Conditioning (NewLights Press, 2014), cowritten with TC Tolbert; En las maravillas/In Wonder (Libros Antena/Antena Books, 2012); un operativo (artist’s edition, 2012); Lead & Tether (Dusie Kollektiv, 2011); and Trouble (Dusie Kollektiv, 2010). 

Hofer is also a teacher, bookmaker, knitter, and public letter writer. Her installation, Uncovering: A Quilted Poem Made from Donated and Foraged Materials from Wendover, Utah, was on view at the Center for Land Use Interpretation in Utah through 2013. She works nationally and locally as a social justice interpreter through Antena Aire (formerly, Antena), a language justice collaborative.

Hofer lives and works in the Cypress Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, where she moved from Mexico City in 2002, and teaches in the MFA writing program at the California Institute of the Arts, in the BFA writing program at Goddard College, and in the graduate writing program at Otis College.