HER STORY IS supports artistic conversations, exchanges, and creation among female US and Iraqi artists. In December 2017, several women poets, playwrights, painters, and film-makers from America and from Iraq gathered in Dubai as part of the HER STORY IS project in order to collaborate, share ideas, and form lasting friendships across cultural borders.  Peabody-based poet Jennifer Jean, will share her experiences as a 2017 HER STORY IS Fellow, and will present and discuss creative works which resulted from the amazing time she spent with her Iraqi colleagues.

Jennifer Jean is a poet, educator, activist, and consummate “literary citizen.” Her debut poetry collection is The Fool (Big Table); her poetry chapbooks include: The Archivist, and In the War. Jennifer’s newest manuscript, titled Object, was a finalist for the 2016 Green Mountains Review Book Prize. Other honors include: a 2018 Disquiet FLAD Fellowship; a 2017 Her Story Is residency, where she worked with Iraqi women artists in Dubai; a 2016 Good Bones Prize; and, a 2013 Ambassador for Peace Award for her activism in the arts. As well, her poetry has appeared, or is forthcoming, in: Poetry Magazine, Waxwing Journal, Rattle Magazine, Crab Creek Review, Denver Quarterly, Mud City Journal, Solstice, Pangyrus, and more. She is Managing Editor of Talking Writing Magazine, and Co-director of Morning Garden Artists Retreats. Jennifer teaches Free2Write poetry workshops to trauma survivors, and she teaches writing at Boston-area universities.