Janet Jerve’s lifetime work has been as an educator: a teacher, trainer, and writer of educational materials. She has worked with all ages: infants and parents, grade school children, and adults in public schools and various non-profit settings. The overall focus of her work was to provide learning experiences that supported and empowered all her students, with a special interest in helping underserved learners and their parents.
After taking classes at the Loft Literary Center in 1985, Janet started writing poetry and was introduced to the vibrant and engaging poetry community in Minnesota, one of the most supportive in the country. Over the years, she joined many writing groups and began to teach poetry in her classrooms. She learned that many children who struggled with reading and writing thrived writing poetry. It opened them up to the world of writing; they found their voices in their work and became better readers, too.
Her poems have appeared in literary journals, including Poetry East, Water~Stone Review, Great River Review, Lake Effect, Hurricane Alice, and Emprise Review. Her work has been included in anthologies: A Ghost at Heart’s Edge, published by North Atlantic Books; Beloved on the Earth, The Heart of All That Is, and Amethyst and Agate: Poems of Lake Superior, all anthologies published by Holy Cow! Press. Her first book of poetry, Excavation, was published in 2013 by North Star Press.
Janet loves art and knitting and enjoys a variety of outdoor activities. She teaches Nordic skiing to adults for the Loppet Ski Club at Wirth Park in Minneapolis. She lives in Bloomington with her husband Rod and dog Rosie.
Paperback: 53 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (July 8, 2022)