Martha Silano

Martha Silano was raised in central New Jersey. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington.

Silano’s eight poetry collections include Last Train to Paradise: New and Selected Poems (Saturnalia Books, 2025); Terminal Surreal (Acre Books, 2025); and This One We Call Ours (Lynx House Press, 2024), winner of the 2023 Blue Lynx Prize. Her work has also appeared in numerous anthologies. 

Silano’s other awards include the PEN Northwest/Margery Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency, North American Review’s James Hearst Poetry Prize, and The Cincinnati Review’s Robert and Adele Schiff Awards. 

Silano died on May 5, 2025.