Laura Kasischke

Laura Kasischke was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She received an MFA from the University of Michigan in 1987.

In 1991, Kasischke published her first collection of poetry, Wild Brides (New York University Press). She is also the author of I Was Bonnie and Clyde (Copper Canyon Press, 2026); Where Now: New and Selected Poems (Copper Canyon Press, 2017), which was long-listed for the National Book Award; The Infinitesimals (Copper Canyon Press, 2014); Space, In Chains (Copper Canyon Press, 2011); Lillies Without (Copper Canyon Press, 2007); Gardening in the Dark (Ausable Press, 2004); Dance and Disappear (University of Massachusetts Press, 2002); What It Wasn’t (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2002); Fire and Flower (Alice James Books, 1998); and Housekeeping In A Dream (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1995).

Kasischke is the author of the short story collection If A Stranger Approaches You (Sarabande Books, 2013). She has also published ten novels, of which three have been made into feature films.

Kasischke has received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as several Pushcart Prizes and numerous other poetry awards. She teaches at the University of Michigan, where she is Theodore Roethke Distinguished University Professor, and lives in Chelsea, Michigan.