B. 1974

Poet Sasha Steensen grew up in rural Ohio and Las Vegas. She earned a BA and an MFA at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a PhD in poetics at SUNY Buffalo. She is the author of several collections of poetry, including Gatherest (2017), House of Deer (2014), The Method (2008), and A Magic Book (2004), which won the Alberta DuPont Bonsal Prize, as well as several chapbooks, including the collaboration Correspondence: For La Paz (2004) with Gordon Hadfield. 

Steensen frequently makes use of both research and personal history. Reviewing The Method, which takes its impetus from an ancient, evolving manuscript originally written by Archimedes, a reviewer for Publishers Weekly noted that “Steensen guides us through the long journey of this ancient manuscript and artfully demonstrates how a book is a record of power dynamics in this multifaceted exploration of the complicated relationship between an author and her creation, which speaks both for and against its author.” 

Steensen serves as a poetry editor for the Colorado Review. She lives in Fort Collins, where she is a professor at Colorado State University.