Tina Cane

Tina Cane was born in New York City. She received a BA from the University of Vermont and an MA in French literature from Middlebury College. 

Cane is the author of Year of the Murder Hornet (Veliz Books, 2022); Once More with Feeling (Veliz Books, 2017); the chapbook Dear Elena: Letters for Elena Ferrante (Skillman Avenue Press, 2016); and The Fifth Thought (Other Painters Press, 2008), a book-length poem. She has written two novels-in-verse for young readers: Are You Nobody Too? (Penguin Random House, 2024) and Alma Presses Play (Penguin Random House, 2021). She is also the editor of the anthology Poetry is Bread (Nirala Publications, 2025).

The recipient of a Fellowship Merit Award from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, Cane is the founder and director of Writers-in-the-Schools, Rhode Island, for which she works as a visiting poet. She has taught French, English, and creative writing in public and private schools throughout New York City and Rhode Island. She served as the sixth poet laureate of Rhode Island from 2016 to 2024. Cane is also the creator and curator of the distance reading series, Poetry is Bread. She lives in Providence. 

Read about Tine Cane’s 2020 Poets Laureate Fellowship project.