photo: Marie Warsh, courtesy of New Directions

Bernadette Mayer was born in 1945 in Brooklyn, New York. She received her B.A. from the New School for Social Research in 1967. She is the author of numerous books of poetry and prose, including: Two Haloed Mourners: Poems (Granary Books, 1998), Proper Name and Other Stories (1996), The Desires of Mothers to Please Others in Letters (1994), The Bernadette Mayer Reader (1992), Sonnets (1989), Midwinter Day (1982), The Golden Book of Words (1978), and Ceremony Latin (1964).

From 1972 to 1974, Mayer and conceptual artist Vito Acconci edited the journal 0 TO 9. With her husband, writer and publisher Lewis Warsh, she edited United Artists Press. She has taught writing workshops at The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in New York City for many years and she served as the Poetry Project's director during the 1980s. Bernadette Mayer lives in New York City.