Maya Jewell Zeller is a multi-genre author of several poetry collections and collaborations, most recently out takes/ glove box, selected by Eduardo Corral as winner of the 2022 New American Poetry Prize; and the co-authored textbook (with Kathryn Nuernberger) Advanced Poetry: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury, 2024). Maya’s prose appears widely, and her essay, “Scavenger Panorama,” was honored by Vivian Gornick as a Notable in Best American Essays 2023.

Maya is Professor of English for Central Washington University, and Affiliate Faculty of Poetry and Nature Writing for Western Colorado University’s low-residency MFA program. Maya lives in the Inland Northwest with her children. Her memoir, Raised by Ferns, was released in March 2026 from Porphyry Press, and her book on fungi phenomena, The Wonder of Mushrooms, in Fall 2025 from AdventureKEEN.