Background

Linda Foster was born on the 29th of May, 1950 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, the daughter of John and Helen (Kumor) Nemec.

Education

Foster moved to Michigan to attend Aquinas College in 1968, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science degree (magnum cum laude) in 1972. In 1977 Foster was accepted into the Master of Fine Arts program at Goddard College in Vermont. There, Foster studied under such noted poets and writers as Lisel Mueller, Stephen Dobyns, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Heather McHugh, Donald Hall, Raymond Carver, Tobias Wolff, John Irving, Louise Gluck, and Robert Hass. She graduated in 1979 with the Board of Directors’ highest commendation and received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree.

Career

Linda Foster began her career as a social demographer at Center for Environmental Study, Grand Rapids in 1971-74. Soon after that, she served as a clerk at Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., Detroit until 1977.

From 1980-2002, she taught poetry workshops throughout the state of Michigan for the Creative-Writers-in-Schools Program which was coordinated by the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs. She has also taught poetry and writing classes as a lecturer in art at Ferris State University in 1984 and as a professor of English at Aquinas College in 1999.

In addition, Foster has given readings and been a guest lecturer in poetry at numerous colleges and universities such as the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, Hope College, Calvin College, Loyola University (Chicago), Lake County Community College (Illinois), University of Missouri-Kansas City (where she was interviewed on the NPR program New Letters on the Air), and Grand Rapids Community College.

Linda Foster served as a member of the board of directors at Mecosta County Council for the Humanities in 1982-85 and a member of the board of directors at Urban Institute for the Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids in 1989-95. She also was a director of its literature programming from 1989 to 1996.

Foster began writing poetry in 1974 while living and working in Detroit. She is the author of eleven collections of poetry such as “A History of the Body” that was published in 1987, “A Modern Fairy Tale: The Baba Yaga Poems” in 1992, “Trying to Balance the Heart” in 1993, “Living in the Fire Nest” in 1996, “Contemplating the Heavens” in 2001, “Amber Necklace from Gdansk” in 2001, “Listen to the Landscape” in 2006, “Ten Songs from Bulgaria” in 2008, “Talking Diamonds” in 2009, “The Elusive Heroine: My Daughter Lost in Magritte” in 2018 and “The Lake Michigan Mermaid” in 2018.

Linda is the contributor of poetry to numerous periodicals, including Georgia Review, Nimrod, Quarterly West, Indiana Review, International Poetry Review, DoubleTake, and Mid-American Review. Translator, with Beata Kane, of works by Polish poet Ewa Parma for Artful Dodge, International Poetry Review, and Mr. Cognito and contributor of poems to anthologies.

Achievements

• Over 350 of Foster's poems have appeared in various magazines and journals such as The Georgia Review, Nimrod, North American Review, New American Writing, Quarterly West, Indiana Review, DoubleTake, Mid-American Review, Connecticut Review, America, Passages North, Paterson Literary Review, South Florida Poetry Journal, I-70 Review, and The MacGuffin. Her work has also been published in major anthologies in the U.S. and Great Britain, been exhibited in museums and galleries, translated in Europe, and produced for the stage.
  
  Foster's chapbook “Contemplating the Heavens” was the inspiration for jazz musician Steve Talaga’s original composition and CD that was nominated for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Music. In 2013 her collaboration with Hungarian musician Laszlo Slomovits was released on a CD, “Cry of Freedom”. The project was inspired by Foster’s poems from the chapbook, Ten Songs from Bulgaria, which Slomovits rendered into original music compositions and songs. From 2003-2005 she served as the first poet laureate of Grand Rapids.
  
  Foster has won numerous honors for her poetry including the International Creative Arts Award from the Polish American Historical Association, two grants from the Michigan Council for the Arts in 1984 and 1990, fellowships from the Arts Foundation of Michigan and ArtServe Michigan in 2001, a teaching fellowship from the National Writers’ Voice Project in 1999, a book award nomination from the Academy of American Poets, and numerous nominations for the Pushcart Prize from poets, writers, and editors. Foster won the first prize at the National Women's Poetry Competition, Oakland Community College in 1995 and 1997. She was also a finalist for the Michigan Governor’s Artist Award.
  
  Foster’s “Living in the Fire Nest” was a finalist for the Poet’s Prize; “Amber Necklace from Gdansk” was a finalist for the Ohio Book Award in Poetry in 2003; “Listen to the Landscape” was short-listed for the Michigan Notable Book Award in 2006; “Talking Diamonds” was a finalist for ForeWord Magazine’s 2010 Book of the Year in Poetry; “The Lake Michigan Mermaid” was honored as a 2019 Michigan Notable Book.
  
  In 1997 Linda founded (along with her husband, Tony) the Contemporary Writers Series at Aquinas College. One of the most successful reading series in the country, the CWS has featured such acclaimed poets and writers as Seamus Heaney, Michael Ondaatje, Pete Carey, Maxine Kumin, Lisel Mueller, Joy Harjo, Li-Young Lee, Linda Pastan, Clarence Major, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Thomas Lynch, Linda Hogan, Scott Turow, Luis Rodriguez, Robin Hemley, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Jaimy Gordon, Sarah Kay, Luis Alberto Urrea, Steve Almond, Karen Russell, Elena Passarello, Thomas Lux, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Maria Mazziotti Gillan.
  
  

Works

More photos

• book

  • Song of the Owashtanong Grand Rapids Poetry in the 21st Century

    (This is a historic collection, the first of its kind for ...)

    2013
  • Amber Necklace from Gdansk

    (Divided into four parts and employing an impressive varie...)

    2001
  • Listen to the Landscape

    (Mirroring the human response to the natural world, this b...)

    2006
  • The Lake Michigan Mermaid

    (This is a gripping tale in poems of a young girl's desper...)

    2018
  • A History of the Body 1987
  • Talking Diamonds 2009
  • Living in the Fire Nest 1996
  • A Modern Fairy Tale: The Baba Yaga Poems 1992
  • Trying to Balance the Heart 1993

Membership

Linda Foster is a member of the Academy of American Poets, Poetry Society of America, National Writers' Union, National Writers' Voice (Metro Detroit), Detroit Women Writers, and Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts.

Interests

• Hiking, camping, boating, traveling

Connections

Linda is married to Anthony Jesse Foster. They have two children - Brian Jesse and Ellen Kathleen.

Father:

John Nemec

Mother:

Helen (Kumor) Nemec

child:

Brian Jesse Foster

child:

Ellen Kathleen Foster

husband:

Anthony Jesse Foster