Photo by Liza St. James
ABOUT
Jennifer Bartlett was born in the San Francisco Bay Area and educated at the University of New Mexico, Vermont College and Brooklyn College.
She is the author of Derivative of the Moving Image, (a) lullaby without any music, Autobiography/Anti-Autobiography, and Hindrances of a Householder. She also co-edited Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability with Sheila Black and Michael Northen. Her latest book is Sustaining Air: The Life of Larry Eigner.
Bartlett was an advisor for The New York Times Disability column, where she published two opinion pieces and curated the NYT's first selection of poetry.
As a disability justice activist, she co-founded the Elevator Action Group—which advocates for accessibility on New York City subways and buses—with Sasha Blair-Goldensohn and Jessica Murray. From 2019-2021, she worked in the Office of the President for NYC Transit (under Andy Byford) in the Systemwide Accessibility Office.
Bartlett has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Fund for Poetry, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Gloucester Writing Center and the Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut.
She has given lectures on poetry and disability at Hamilton College, Brown University, Hunter College and School of Visual Arts.
Bartlett currently lives in Laugarvatn, Iceland, where she studies Icelandic as a Second Language.