Jennifer Arin
Jennifer Arin
()
Lecturer
English Language & Literature, College of Liberal and Creative Arts
Bio:
Jennifer Arin (M.F.A.) is the recipient of a 2015 Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching (from San Francisco State University), and two Excellence in Advising Awards (2019) from NACADA (The National Academic Advising Association).
She is the author of the poetry book Ways We Hold (Dos Madres Press) and the verse chapbook The Roots of Desire (Thicket Press); and her essays and poems have been published in both the U.S. and Europe, including in The AWP Writer’s Chronicle, The San Francisco Chronicle, Gastronomica, Puerto del Sol, Poet Lore, ZYZZYVA, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among many others. She has written and/or hosted poetry segments for diverse television and radio programs, and did the French-to-English translations of documents about Hergé (the Belgian artist who created the comic-strip character Tintin) for the official web site that accompanied the release of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s Hollywood film, The Adventures of Tintin (2011).
Arin’s literary awards include a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a PEN Writer's Fund grant, Poets & Writers’ Writers-On-Site residency, and funding from the Spanish Ministry of Culture for collaborative research for, and editing of, a book about Spain’s Civil War. She is currently at work on a book of essays about her sojourns in Europe.
RA Travel Grant, San Francisco State University, 2023.
College of Health and Social Sciences Travel Award, San Francisco State University, 2021.
Solas Culture and Ideas Adventure Travel Award, Travelers' Tales, 2020.
Solas Culture and Ideas Funny Travel Award, Traveler's Tales, 2020.
Extraordinary Ideas Grant, San Francisco State University, 2019.
2019 Global Awards Certificate of Merit, NACADA (The National Academic Advising Association).
2018 Region 9 (Pacific) Excellence in Advising Award, NACADA (The National Academic Advising Association).
2018 Faculty Travel Grant, San Francisco State University.
2018 California Collaborative Advising & Counseling Conference Scholarship.
Lecturer Travel Grant, English Department, San Francisco State University, 2016.
X.J. Kennedy Award for Nonfiction, Rosebud, 2015.
Distingushed Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, San Francisco State University, 2015.
Spanish Ministry of Culture Award, 2013.
Solas Culture and Ideas Award, Travelers’ Tales, 2010.
The Roots of Desire selected for the Women’s Leadership Institute Literary Salon, Mills College, 2009.
Prix Poésie de Paris Ouest, France, 2006, 2007, 2008.
Center for the Enhancement of Teaching Technology Award, San Francisco State University, 2004.
Summer Technology Institute Award, Instructional Technologies Department,
College of Education, San Francisco State University, 2003.
Say the Word National Poetry Competition Prize, Washington, D.C., 2002.
Grant to Integrate Technology into the Classroom, Instructional Technologies
Department, College of Education, San Francisco State University, 2002.
Faculty Course Development Grant, University of San Francisco, 2001.
Valedictory Speaker at Commencement, Mills College, 2000.
Ardella Mills Critical Essay Award, Mills College, 2000 and 1999.
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar, 1999.
Writers On Site Residency, Oakland Museum of California and Oakland Public Library,1999.
Mills Alumnae Scholarship, San Francisco, 1999.
Villa Montalvo Poetry Competition Award, California, 1998.
PEN Writers Fund Grant, PEN International, New York, 1997.
Prix Poésie de Paris Ouest, Paris, France, 1997
Prix Poésie de Paris Ouest, Paris, France, 1996.
"How do we stay rooted in a world of flux? 'Oh, to keep ourselves / from falling,' Jennifer Arin exclaims, and here is a poet who understands and celebrates the complexity of this impossible wish. Meditating on ancient languages and cityscapes, flow charts and romance, Arin brings an awareness of time's ineluctable passage and poetry's power to stop it, however briefly. Brilliant and resonant, one illumination following another, WAYS WE HOLD delivers on its promises because for Arin, poetry 'is one / small way we hold on.' You will want to hold onto this book, like a lost friend rediscovered." — Elisabeth Frost
"'Nothing comes without a history,' Jennifer Arin reminds us in 'A Portion,' her penultimate poem from this extraordinary collection. Deftly moving between the playful and the lyrical, the serious and the subversive, Arin parses the etymology of phrases from Aztec kings, affectionately refers to time as 'an escape artist anyway,' and fearlessly explores the tragic accident that befell a beloved mentor 'riding / the unplanned / curve.' With sparkling wit and clarity that provokes and seduces her lucky readers, Arin's poetry celebrates the quirky coincidences of our shared humanity, the tenderness that ultimately connects us in the WAYS WE HOLD."
— Mary Winegarden
"In WAYS WE HOLD, Jennifer Arin takes the long view—from prehuman history to pumpkins in the state of Delaware, from a Sumerian scribe to her own Russian-Jewish grandparents. Confronting time, death, and chaos, she finds solace in human connection, the 'way[s] we hold on, or try to.' Her thoughtfully-shaped poems, 'planting word rows / across the page,' reveal a lively curiosity, a wry sense of humor and a levelheaded understanding of the human condition."
— Chana Bloch
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
"The Missing Link in Academic Advising: The Faculty Perspective," selected for inclusion in The Future of Advising: Strategies for Student Success, Chronicle of Higher Education (2022).
"The Missing Link in Academic Advising: The Faculty Perspective," Chronicle of Higher Education (2021).
"Ten Camels and a Passport," Travelers' Tales / Adventure Travel Award (2020).
"A Weight-Watching American in Paris," Travelers' Tales / Funny Travel Award (2020).
"Tribute to Raymond Leblanc," Moulinsart (2018).
“La Vie de Château / The Château Life,” Le Journal Tintin, Fall 2016, http://fr.tintin.com/news/index/rub/0/id/4739.
"Pure Luck," "The Zigzag of Light," Realms of the Mother: Ten Years of Dos Madres Press (2016).
"Ten Camels and a Passport," "A Day without Complaint" (the latter co-authored with Eileen Ross), Rosebud (Spring/Summer 2016).
“¡ Bienvenidos and Shalom to Our Dear Jewish Friends!,” Jewish Currents (July 2016).
"Xocolatl," Dark as a Hazel Eye, Ragged Sky Press (Spring 2016).
“Adrián de Sevilla,” Rosebud (Winter 2015).
“Bastille Day Parade,” “The Eternal Dunderhead,” “Keeping Time,” “Love Poem for the
Larger Scheme of Things,” “Missing Links,” “The Myth of Love,” “Nature Studies,”
“Reasons for Being an Emperor on Horseback,” “Root,” “Ways We Hold,” “The Zigzag
of Light,” Occupation II: Talisman Press Anthology (Spring 2015).
“The Origin of Peace,” Blanket Stories (Spring 2014).
“Sevilla, No Hay Más Que Una,” Not Somewhere Else But Here: A Contemporary
Anthology of Women and Place (February 2014).
“Means of Support,” So to Speak (Summer 2013).
“Precipitation,” Construction (July 2013).
“Ways We Hold,” The Waiting Room Reader, CavanKerry Press (Spring
2013).
“The Difficult Art of Love and Flamenco,” Spicy Letter (July 2012).
Ways We Hold, Dos Madres Press (2012).
“Squash,” American Society: What Poets See (January 2012).
“In the Beginning, In the End,” “Bastille Day Parade,” Shot Glass Journal (Winter 2011)
“Olé, the Rhythms of Sevilla,” Serving House Journal (Fall 2011)
“Force of Nature,” Crow Talking Anthology (Winter 2011).
“Never Mind Samson,” Adanna, Issue 1 (Summer 2011).
“Writer’s Blocks: New York City’s Library Way,” The AWP Writer’s Chronicle
(February 2011).
“The Gold Purse,” Poetica (Fall 2010)
“The Marvel of Sevilla,” Travelers’ Tales: Editor’s Choice (May-June 2010).
“Arts & Letters Revisited,” Teaching Creative Writing to Undergraduates:
A Resource and Guide for Fountainhead Press (Spring 2010).
“A Portion,” Gastronomica (Summer 2009).
“Eustace Tilley Comes to Class,” The Chronicle of Higher Education/Chronicle Review
V. LV, No. 36 (May 15, 2009).
“Arts & Letters Revisited,” Best of the AWP Papers (Spring 2009).
“Floe Chart,” Best of ZYZZYVA (Spring 2009).
“The Myth of Love,” Tuesday: An Art Project (Fourth Issue: Fall 2008).
“Love Poem for the Larger Scheme of Things,” Sow’s Ear (Winter 2007).
“Character,” Tuesday; An Art Project (Premier Issue: Spring 2007).
“Floe Chart,” ZYZZYVA (Spring 2006).
The Roots of Desire, Thicket Press (Spring 2005).
“Self-Defense,” Cloud View Poets Anthology (Spring 2005).
“Obstructed Eavesdropping at an Outdoor Café,” Caffeine Society (November 2004).
“San Franciscans: A Unique Breed,” Virgin Atlantic Magazine (Fall 2004).
“Nature Studies,” Puerto del Sol (Spring 2004).
“Unified Theory,” San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Book Section (September 2003).
Tangle Vine, Thicket Press (Spring 2003).
“Ways We Hold,” “Flamenco Class,” “About Watching the World from the Edge.”
PoetryMagazine.com (March 2003).
“Bastille Day Parade,” Poet Lore, (Spring 2002).
“How to Play Basketball,” “The Proposal.” San Francisco Chronicle (October 2002).
“Aftermath,” “Revisiting Paris,” “Self-Defense,” “Shared Strengths,” “Sightseeing,” “Transformations.” PoetryMagazine.com (March 2002).
“An Interview with Chana Bloch.” The Writers’ Chronicle (March /April 2001).
“December in an Apartment Complex.” Bridges (Spring 2001).
“Homing In,” “Relationship.” Ignatian Literary Magazine, V. 13 (Fall 2000).
“Squash.” Oxygen (Fall 2000).
Ed., Transformations and the Art of Joan Brown, Book/Audiotape, Poets & Writers,
1999.
"End of the Line." Humanities Magazine (Fall 1999).
"What We’re Cut Out For." Coracle (Fall 1999).
"Poem as Painting as Prayer," "American Dream." Wordwrights (Spring 1999).
"Ways We Hold Life," "Rain." The Noe Valley Voice: V. XXII (October 1998).
"The Spanish Dancer's Siesta"; "A Puerto Vallarta Sunset from Seat 24E,
Aeromexico." Lucero: V. IX (Spring 1998).
“Taking Heart,” Belonging to California (1997).
"Five Paint Chips." California Poets: V. 2 (1997).
Reviews of work by Donald Hall & Marjorie Agosin. Poetry News: V. 13 (1997).
"Les Elements." Paris/Atlantic: V. XVI (Fall 1996).
"Persephone." Chain: V. 1 (Spring/Summer 1995).
"The Clementine," "La Pluie." Paris/Atlantic: V. XI (Fall 1993).
"The Importance of Watching Late Night Horror Movies with the Right Person."
Ina Coolbrith Anthology (1991).
Review of Ways We Hold
Dennis Daly @ Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene