Poet, children’s writer, and naturalist Ellery Akers earned a BA at Harvard University and an MA at San Francisco State University. Her poetry collection Knocking on the Earth (1988) was chosen for the Wesleyan New Poets series. Her work has been featured in former US Poet Laureate Ted Kooser’s syndicated newspaper column, “American Life in Poetry” and in the anthology Intimate Nature: The Bond Between Women and Animals (1998). Her books for children include Sarah’s Waterfall: A Healing Story about Sexual Abuse (2009).

Plainspoken, Akers’s unflinching poems investigate grief and joy as they explore the human condition. In her essay “On Writing: Feeding the Lake,” Akers stated, “I believe the process of poetry is mysterious. Jung once said that poets carry the soul of the culture, and I think good poems do reflect a kind of psychic development that transcends craft or competence.”

Her honors include the John Masefield Award, the Paumanok Award, and Sierra magazine’s Nature Writing Award; fellowships and residencies from the MacDowell Colony, Blue Mountain Center, and Headlands Center for the Arts; and a grant from the Marin Arts Council.

Akers lives in San Francisco.