Amy Gerstler
Illustration — Gerstler reading in 2025 Amy Gerstler (born 1956) is an American poet living in Los Angeles, California. She has won a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Amy Gerstler

Bea Phi · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Born
- 1956 · United States.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- poet · writer
- Education
- Bennington College · Pitzer College
- Honours
- Guggenheim Fellowship · National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — Gerstler reading in 2025 Amy Gerstler (born 1956) is an American poet living in Los Angeles, California. She has won a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Amy Gerstler. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q4749206 · wikipedia · Amy Gerstler
In this article
Biography
Biography
Amy Gerstler was born in 1956. She is a graduate of Pitzer College and holds an M.F.A. from Bennington College. Gerstler is now a professor in the at the University of California, Irvine. Previously, she taught in the Bennington Writing Seminars program, at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California and the University of Southern California's Master of Professional Writing Program. She was editor of the 2010 edition of the anthology Best American Poetry. She is also the author of art reviews, book reviews, fiction, and occasional journalistic essays. She has collaborated with visual artists, including Alexis Smith, and her writing has been published in numerous exhibition catalogs. Her books of poetry include Medicine (finalist for the Phi Beta Kappa Poetry Award) and Bitter Angel (1990) (winner of the 1990 National Book Critics Circle Award). Described by the Los Angeles Times as "one of the best poets in the nation," her 2009 book, Dearest Creature, was named one of the notable books of the year by the New York Times. Scattered at Sea, her 2015 collection, was longlisted for the National Book Award. She is married to artist and author Benjamin Weissman.
Works
Works
• Index of Women New York: Penguin Books, 2021. • Scattered at Sea, New York: Penguin Books, 2015. 014312689X, OCLC 892458622 • Dearest Creature, New York: Penguin Books, 2009., • Ghost Girl New York: Penguin Books, 2004., • Medicine New York: Penguin, 2000., • Crown of Weeds New York: Penguin Books, 1997., • Nerve Storm New York: Penguin Books, 1993., • Bitter Angel Pittsburgh, Pa. Carnegie Mellon University Press 1997., • The True Bride Santa Monica: Lapis Press, 1986., • White marriage; & Recovery, Los Angeles, Calif.: Illuminati, 1984.,
Identity
Identity
Amy Gerstler is recorded with the occupation writer. Recorded with the occupation poet. Recorded as having received Guggenheim Fellowship and National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry.

Amy Gerstler, poet, at the Los Angeles Festival of Books in Los Angeles, California in April 2025.
Bea Phi

Amy Gerstler, poet, at the Los Angeles Festival of Books in Los Angeles, California in April 2025.
Bea Phi
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1956
Amy Gerstler was born on 1 January 1956.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Amy Gerstler”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q4749206: Amy Gerstler
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/amy-gerstler Poetry Foundation page on Amy Gerstler
- 2.Amy Gerstler. gf'org.
- 3.National Book Critics Circle: awards. bookcritics.org.
- 4.Amy Gerstler. Poetry Foundation. 2018-12-13.
- 5.https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/amy-gerstler Poetry Foundation page on Amy Gerstler
- 6.https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/amy-gerstler Poetry Foundation page on Amy Gerstler
- 7.Gerstler, Amy. In the Key That Our Souls Were Singing. Los Angeles Review of Books. 27 August 2017.
- 8.Amy Gerstler's message: Be not afraid. 27 September 2009.
- 9.Kirby, David. Book Review - 'Dearest Creature,' by Amy Gerstler. The New York Times. 5 November 2009.
- 10.Gerstler, Amy. Scattered at sea. 2015. 9780143126898.
- 11.Kirby, David. Book Review 'Dearest Creature,' by Amy Gerstler. The New York Times. 2009-11-05. 0362-4331.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Studied at
1- Pitzer CollegeOrganisation
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 19 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,750 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Amulya BaruaAuthor
- Amund HellandAuthor
- Amvrosy MetlinskyAuthor
- Amy ChuaAuthor
- Amy HempelAuthor
- Amy Jacques GarveyAuthor
- Amy KlobucharAuthor
- Amy Lawrence LowellAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Amy Gerstler?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.