Julia Bouwsma

Julia is a Maine poet whose work is deeply informed by Maine's histories and landscapes, as well as by her life as an off-the-grid farmer/homesteader in the mountains of western Maine. Drawn to the intersection of place, body, identity, and narrative, Julia's work often confronts the everyday violence of farming as well as historic violences including the history of Malaga Island (the subject of her collection Midden). 

Bouwsma is Maine's sixth Poet Laureate, currently serving a term from 2021-2026 and the recipient of a 2024 Poet Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets.

She is the author of three poetry collections: the forthcoming Death Fluorescence (Sundress Publications, June 2025), Midden (Fordham University Press, 2018), and Work by Bloodlight (Cider Press Review, 2017). She is also the librettist for Ghost Apples, a a thirty-minute chamber opera written in collaboration with composer Nathan Davis and to be performed by the Halcyon Quartet in 2025. 

As a poet, small-town librarian, editor, teacher, and homesteader, Julia's life is one that balances creative labor, educational labor, community labor, and the physical labor of living with the land. 

She holds a BA from Swarthmore College and an MFA from Goddard College.