Amy Dryansky’s (she/her) third book, Ambergris was published in June 2026. She has two prior collections; Grass Whistle (Salmon Poetry) and How I Got Lost So Close to Home (Alice James Books). Her work is included in several anthologies and individual poems appear in Adroit, Harvard Review, New England Review, MER, Orion, The Sun, Tin House, Waxwing and other journals. She’s received honors from the Poetry Society of America, Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and is a former Poet Laureate of Northampton, MA. She works as a grant writer for a land conservation nonprofit and occasionally teaches creative writing, most recently as the James Merrill Visiting Poet at Amherst College.
While at MacDowell, Dryansky began work on her fourth collection of poems, in part based on her recent experience as a caregiver for her late partner. She also further developed the concept for a pilot program for community-based creative writing groups for caregivers and grievers.
