Born in Chicago, poet Jaswinder Bolina earned a BA in philosophy from Loyola University in Chicago, an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in English with a creative writing concentration from Ohio University. He is the author of the poetry collection Carrier Wave (2007), winner of the 2006 Colorado Prize for Poetry.

Compared to poets as diverse as John Ashbery, James Tate, and Dean Young, Bolina investigates language, experience, and innovative writing. Poet Ravi Shankar, writing on The Best American Poetry blog, noted that Bolina “breaks new perceptual and sonic ground,” adding “he encapsulates the American South Asian immigrant experience, at least as I’ve experienced it.”

Bolina was the 2010–2011 Elma Stuckey Liberal Arts & Sciences Emerging Poet-in-Residence at Columbia College in Chicago. His work was included in Best American Poetry (2011, and he has written about teaching in Poets on Teaching: A Sourcebook (2010).