Keetje Kuipers

Keetje Kuipers was born and raised west of the Rocky Mountains. She received her BA from Swarthmore College and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Oregon.

Kuipers is the author of four poetry collections: Lonely Women Make Good Lovers (BOA Editions, 2025), winner of the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award; All Its Charms (BOA Editions, 2019), a finalist for the Washington State Book Award in Poetry; The Keys to the Jail (BOA Editions, 2014); and Beautiful in the Mouth (BOA Editions, 2010), winner of the A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize selected by Thomas Lux.

Of her work, Tracy K. Smith has said, “Keetje Kuipers’ poems are daring, formally beautiful, and driven by rich imagery and startling ideas.”

Kuipers is also a recipient of the Pushcart Prize, as well as fellowships from the Wallace Stegner program at Stanford University, the Lucas Artist Residency, and the Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency, among others.
 
Kuipers is the editor of Poetry Northwest, where she founded the James Welch Prize for Indigenous Poets. She teaches in MFA programs and at writers’ conferences around the world, including the annual Under the Volcano literary residency in Mexico each January. She also serves on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She lives in Missoula, Montana.