Matthew Nienow

Poet

Port Townsend, WA

Washington US

Website:

Author's Bio

Matthew Nienow’s recently released collection, If Nothing (Alice James Books, 2025), received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and has been recommended by the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post Book Club, and Poetry Northwest. He is also the author of House of Water (Alice James Books, 2016) and three earlier chapbooks. His poems and essays have appeared in Gulf Coast, Lit Hub, New England Review, Ploughshares, and Poetry, and have been recognized with fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Artist Trust. He lives in Port Townsend, Washington, with his wife and sons, where he works as a mental health counselor.

Writers Retreats:

Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:

Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry (Mountaineers Books, 2023)

A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poems (University of Akron Press, 2012)

Best New Poets 2012 (University of Virginia Press, 2012)

The Best of Toadlily Press (Toadlily Press, 2011)

Best New Poets 2007 (Samovar Press, 2007)

Books:

If Nothing (Alice James Books, 2025)

House of Water (Alice James Books, 2016)

Chapbooks:

The End of the Folded Map (Codhill Press, 2011)

The Smallest Working Pieces (Toadlily Press, 2009)

Two Sides of the Same Thing (Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2007)

Journals:

32 Poems

AGNI Online

Alaska Quarterly Review

Beloit Poetry Journal

North American Review

Poetry Daily

Southern Humanities Review

Verse Daily

Prizes won:

Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Fellowship (2025); Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship (2013); Artist Trust Fellowship (2012); Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (2011); Grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation (2011); Individual Artist Award from 4Culture (2009; 2010); Loren D. Milliman Fellowship (2009-10); Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize (2009 winner; 2010 honorable mention; 2011 honorable mention); Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Work-Study Scholarship (2010; 2011; 2012)

More Information

Gives readings:

Yes

Travels for readings:

Yes

Prefers to work with:

Any

Fluent in:

English, Spanish

Born in:

Los Angeles, CA

California

Raised in:

Seattle, WA

Washington

Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.

Last update: Jun 04, 2025