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 Thank you for visiting my Artist Info page! This page features a (very) brief biography, followed by a chronology of important projects. This chronology includes various publications, performances/readings, exhibitions and workshops from 2007 to the present. It is meant to offer an informal overview of my recent career activities, rather than a formal resumé. This page will be updated to reflect new projects, so check back often! For information concerning older publications or other activities, feel free to use the form on the CONTACT page.
BIOGRAPHY Jen
Besemer was born in upstate New York. She earned a BA in creative
writing from Antioch College in 1992 and a MA in creative writing
from Antioch University in 1994. Between 1995 and 2000 she studied in
Washington, D.C. under artists Steve Cushner, William Christenberry
and Joyce McCarten. A Chicago resident since 2000, Jen taught college English from late 2003 through early 2011, while pursuing solo and collaborative
projects in poetry, translation, performance, criticism, visual art
and combinations thereof. In 2000, Jen's first chapbook project was published, titled What
Is Born (Lilliput
Review Modest Proposal Chapbook Series). Later, Jen's prose poem “Naked” was nominated for a
2003 Pushcart Prize. Jen's cross-media work has been featured in
solo and group shows in Chicago and Washington, D.C., and new work
continues to appear in many print and Web-based publications.
CHRONOLOGY
2012: The Earth Is What Happens(with Tim Armentrout; Livestock Editions) forthcoming early 2012 Four prose poems in BlazeVOX11's winter edition Jan. 2012
2011
"Preface" reading series w/ARTIFICE, Chicago Book Expo, Nov. 17.
Reading/screening at the ARTIFICE #4 release party, Elegant Mr. Gallery, Nov. 12
Veneer eight-piece visual poetry series in Otoliths #23 October 23.
 6th Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival, October 8 (with Tim Armentrout).
 Half-Truths exhibition, Logan Square Art Festival, July 28-31.
Two "Word Weave" visual poems in REM Magazine Volume 2, July. Two more Word Weaves also appear on the REM Magazine blog in June.
 Red Rover Series # 43: "Restrictive Andragogies & Ex-Citation," Outer Space Studio, Chicago, Feb. 19.
Review of Lynda Barry's Picture This: The Near-Sighted Monkey Book in Rain Taxi Review of Books, Vol. 15 issue 4, Jan.
2010
Fifth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival, Zhou B. Art Center, Chicago, Oct. 10.
Review of Michel Sanouillet's DADA in Paris, Rain Taxi Review of Books online edition, Spring 2010 issue.
2009  Four chapters translated from French to English in Michael Löwy's book, Morning Star: Surrealism, Marxism, Anarchism, Situationism, Utopia. University of Texas Press.
Feature article, "Franklin Rosemont: The Revolutionary Autodidact at Play," in Rain Taxi Review of Books Volume 14, issue 4, Winter 2009-10.
Review of bell hooks' Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom, in Rain Taxi Review of Books online edition, Winter 2009-10.
2008
 "Hello Tiresias" in Information Booth: Duet for Caller and Oracle. Anthology edited by Vincent Dermody.
 "Local Authors Night" reading, The Book Cellar, April 30.
Collage poems in Dust electronic anthology, Ignavia Press.
2007 "Geometric Abstract" poetry reading curated by Lina ramona Vitkauskas, Sept. 16. "Cabinet of Wonders" invitational exhibition curated by David London, June 1-23.
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