A first-generation Ukrainian American, Olena Kalytiak Davis grew up in Detroit and was educated at Wayne State University, the University of Michigan Law School, and Vermont College. Davis’s poetry collections include And Her Soul Out of Nothing (1997), selected by Rita Dove for the Brittingham Prize in Poetry, Shattered Sonnets, Love Cards, and Other Off and Back Handed Importunities (2003), On the Kitchen Table from Which Everything Has Been Hastily Removed (2009), and The Poem She Didn’t Write and Other Poems (2014). Her approach to motherhood, intimacy, and small moments in life through sonnets and free verse captivates audiences and draws emotions with simple yet personal usage of words and language. Critic Dan Chiasson referred to Davis as “the rare poet who has made underproduction an aspect of her glamour.”
