Annie Finch
Annie Finch (born 1956, New Rochelle, New York) is an American poet, writer, performer, playwright, and entrepreneur. Dictionary of Literary Biography names her "one of the central figures in contemporary American poetry". In the title essay of her book, The Body of Poetry, Finch connects her poetry's frequent thematic focus on nature and the body, and its attention to pattern and sound, with her spiritual path as a witch and pagan. Finch's prose articles and columns in The Huffington Post and elsewhere, center on the divine feminine. In the preface of her selected poems, Finch writes that she considers her own poems and verse plays to be "spells" that heal and raise consciousness through the magic of poetic language, especially form, meter, and rhythm.
Early life
Finch's essay, "Desks," claims her mother's poetry and her father's extensive library of literature, philosophy, and religion as influences on her work. She began writing poetry early on in her life and has called her mother her "first and best teacher of poetry." An interview in American Poetry Review describes the dramatic effect of a year Finch spent camping in Europe and the Middle East with her family at the age of six. After earning her B.A. in English Literature at Yale University, Finch lived in the East Village of New York while composing, performing, and self-publishing her first book of poetry
