Winner of the Split Rock Review Poetry Chapbook Contest for her 18th book, The Crossing Over (May 2019), Jen Karetnick is the author of three full-length poetry collections: Brie Season (White Violet Press, 2014); American Sentencing (Winter Goose Publishing, May 2016), long-listed for both the 2017 Julie Suk Award and the 2017 Lascaux Prize; and The Treasures That Prevail (Whitepoint Press, September 2016), finalist for the 2017 Poetry Society of Virginia Book Prize. She is also the author of four poetry chapbooks: Prayer of Confession (Finishing Line Press, 2014); Landscaping for Wildlife (Big Wonderful Press, 2012); Bud Break at Mango House, winner of the 2008 Portlandia Prize; and Necessary Salt (Pudding House Publications, 2007). In addition, Jen is the editor of two anthologies of Florida poets and writers.
The winner of the 2017 Hart Crane Memorial Poetry Contest, the 2016 Romeo Lemay Poetry Prize and the 2015 Anna Davidson Rosenberg Prize, she was also awarded the 2011 “Piccolo in Your Pocket” Poetry Prize from the Alaska Flute Studies Center and received two Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg awards in 2008 and 2005. She has placed in multiple competitions, including Headway Quarterly’s Inaugural Writing Contest; the 44th New Millennium Awards; Laurel Review Midwest Chapbook Competition; Jacar Press Chapbook Competition; The Atlantis Poetry Award; Bermuda Triangle Prize; Brittany Noakes Poetry Prize; Center for Book Arts Letter Press Chapbook Award; Crab Creek Review Poetry Prize; Palm Beach Poetry Festival “Fish Tales” Competition; River Styx International Poetry Prize; Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Prize; and Sunken Garden Chapbook Competition. Her poems have been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and two Best of the Net awards.
Jen earned an MFA in poetry from University of California, Irvine and an MFA in fiction from University of Miami. Her poetry, prose, playwriting and interviews have appeared recently or are forthcoming in Amuse-Bouche/Lunch Ticket, Crab Orchard Review, Cutthroat, Guernica, Measure, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Missouri Review, Negative Capability, New Millennium Writings, One, Painted Bride Quarterly, Prairie Schooner, Prime Number Magazine, Spillway, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Verse Daily, and Waxwing, among others. Named a juried poet in 2014 for Houston Poetry Fest, she has performed in an episode of Literary Death Match and read at multiple book fairs, bookstores and literary conferences internationally. Her creative and educational work has been supported by grants from Artists in Residence in the Everglades, the Maryland Transit Administrations’ Purple Line Writers’ Program, Target, and others.
She is co-founder/co-curator of the not-for-profit organization, SWWIM (Supporting Women Writers in Miami), and co-editor of the daily online literary journal, SWWIM Every Day. A former adjunct lecturer at Barry University and University of Miami, she was the founding Creative Writing Director for grades 6-12 at Miami Arts Charter School from 2009-2018, where she coached students who achieved the following awards and honors, among others: National Student Poet for the Southeast; National Gold Medal Portfolio from Scholastic Art & Writing; National YoungArts Foundation Finalist, Honorable Mention, and Merit winners in fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry; Poetry Society of America Louise Louis/Emily F. Bourne Student Poetry Award; Princeton University 10-Minute Play Award; Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth/Creative Minds for creative non-fiction; The Kennedy Center Playwriting Award; Sierra Nevada College Creative Writing Competition for poetry; and Columbia College of Chicago for poetry and creative non-fiction. She currently accepts private students of all ages for creative writing tutoring.
Jen works as the dining critic for MIAMI Magazine and as a freelance food-travel-lifestyle journalist. Her work has appeared in many publications throughout the years including TheAtlantic.com, Culture Cheese Magazine, ForbesTraveler.com, FSR Magazine, Miami Herald, TheMuse.com, Southern Living, TalesoftheCocktail.com, USA Today, Vinepair.com and WestJet Magzine. Her online portfolio is located at kavetchnik.contently.com. She is also the author/co-author of several trade books, including the cookbook Mango (University Press of Florida, 2014), which won second place in the Les Dames d’Escoffier International M.F.K. Fisher Award for Excellence in Culinary Writing. Her 16th book, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Miami (Luster), was published November, 2017. Her 17th book, Ice Cube Tray Recipes: 75 Easy and Creative Kitchen Hacks for Freezing, Cooking, and Baking with Ice Cube Trays (Skyhorse Publishing), is forthcoming May 2019.
As a journalist and critic, she has received multiple first-place awards from such institutions as Association of Food Journalists, Gourmand Cookbook Awards, North American Travel Journalists, and Society of Professional Journalists, and has placed in the Green Eyeshade Award, Greenbrier Scholarship Competition, and Missouri School of Journalism Awards.
Jen lives in Miami on the remaining acre of a historic mango plantation with her husband, two teenagers, two dogs, three cats, and fourteen mango trees. Contact her at kavetchnik@gmail.com.
