Heather Derr-Smith was born in Dallas, Texas. She spent most of her childhood in Virginia. She earned her undergraduate degree in Art History at University of Virginia. She went on to earn her MFA in poetry at The Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She has two books of poetry, Each End of the World (Main Street Rag Press, 2005) and The Bride Minaret (University of Akron Press, 2008). Her poems have also appeared in Fence, Margie, TriQuarterly, and Pleiades. She is currently the Visiting Poet at Iowa State University. www.heatherderr-smith.com