Mary Jo Salter

Mary Jo Salter is the author of five books of poetry: “Henry Purcell in Japan” (1985); “Unfinished Painting” (1989); “Sunday Skaters” (1994, nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award); “A Kiss in Space” (1999); and “Open Shutters” (2003, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year). She has written a children’s book, “The Moon Comes Home” (1989) and a play, “Falling Bodies,” which premiered at Mount Holyoke College in 2004. Salter is also coeditor of “The Norton Anthology of Poetry.”

Recognized as a leading figure of New Formalism, Salter teaches at Mount Holyoke College, where she is Emily Dickinson Senior Lecturer in the Humanities, a position she shares with her husband, writer Brad Leithauser. “Every poem is different, and I try to teach students to veer away from easy, monotonous self-imitation,” says Salter.

Salter was born in 1954 in Grand Rapids, Mich., and grew up in Baltimore, Md. She graduated from Harvard University and received a Master of Arts degree from Cambridge University.

Transcript: Mary Jo Salter

Mary Jo Salter reads more of her poetry in this web exclusive clip: