Erin Belieu was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, and received degrees in poetry and literature from The Ohio State University and Boston University. She is the author of Infanta, winner of the National Poetry Series; One Above & One Below, which received the Midland Authors Prize; Black Box, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; and Slant Six, which received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. All of her poetry collections have been published by Copper Canyon Press. Her poems have appeared in places such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Ploughshares, Slate, Tin House, The Rumpus, Willow Springs, and The New York Times, and have been selected for multiple appearances in The Best American Poetry series. Belieu is a well known political activist, and is the co founder of VIDA: Women In Literary Arts, internationally recognized for the VIDA Count which examines the disparity between rates of publication for male and female authors. Belieu was for many years the poetry editor at AGNI magazine, and was the founding editor of Hotel Amerika. She is presently the artistic director for the Port Townsend Writers Conference in Washington, and permanent faculty for the Chamonix summer writers conference in Chamonix, France. Belieu teaches in the writing program at Florida State University, as well as the low residency MFA program at Lesley University in Cambridge. Belieu lives with her partner, her son, and two Catahoula Leopard Hounds in Tallahassee, Florida.