Hi. I’m Valerie Wetlaufer. I’m a writer, editor, educator, and all around curious creative.
From a young age, creativity has been a vital part of my identity. I chose Bennington College as my undergraduate institution because of their creative approach to higher education, inviting students into the process of designing their own education, and I quickly gravitated to the (sadly now-defunct) Center for Creative Teaching, eventually earning a BA and MA in Teaching and becoming, for a short while, a HS English Teacher. I also studied French literature, and spent my junior year in Paris at the Sorbonne, and translated a novel for my senior thesis, as well as pursuing creative writing.
While the Bennington revealed my love of teaching, I also knew I wanted to pursue my poetry, so I moved to Tallahassee where I spent three years earning an MFA in Creative Writing from Florida State University, focusing on poetry, and teaching first year composition.
Following my MFA, I moved to Salt Lake City and the University of Utah. I wrote the manuscripts that ended up becoming my first two books, and studied disability poetics, as well as continuing to teach a variety of undergrad English classes. In 2013, I earned my PhD in Literature and Creative Writing.
When not writing, teaching, and studying, I enjoyed camping in regional National Parks, and also became a birth doula and worked as poetry editor for a variety of literary journals.
Upon graduation from Utah, I moved back to my home state of Iowa, to teach at local universities.
In 2014, my first poetry collection, Mysterious Acts by My People by Sibling Rivalry Press, going on to win the Lambda Literary Award. SRP also published my second collection, Call Me by My Other Name in 2016.
I'm currently at work on my third poetry manuscript, writing a F/F romance novel, and publishing a weekly newsletter. I'm available for manuscript consultations, writing mentorships, and small group craft classes. You can see all my offerings here.
Photo by Zach Ostendorf.