About

JANINE HARRISON (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of English & Media Communications at Calumet College of St. Joseph (IN) and an adjunct English instructor at American Public University; she is also a creative and commercial freelance writer, teaching artist, speaker, storyteller, poetry reviewer, and arts advocate. Janine served as a Highland (IN) Poet Laureate (2017-2018).

Janine wrote Turning 50 on El Camino de Santiago: A Solo Woman’s Travel Journey (Rivette Press, 2021),  Weight of Silence (Wordpool Press, 2019) and  If We Were Birds (Moria Books, 2017); she collaboratively wrote the co-memoir, An Irish Love Story. Her work has also appeared in Burningword Literary Journal, Leave them something, Haikus for Hikers, Veils, Halos, and Shackles: International Poetry on the Oppression and Empowerment of Women, A&U, Not Like the Rest of Us: An Anthology of Contemporary Indiana Writers, Treehouse Arts, The Broadsheet Journal, Gyroscope Review, Joyride, and other publications. Former Indiana Poet Laureate George Kalamaras included Janine in his The Wabash Watershed “Six Indiana Women Poets” feature. Her most recent scholarly texts have been included in Women Versed in Myth: Modern Women Poets and CREDO: An Anthology of Manifestos and Sourcebook for Creative Writing

Janine is a former literary not-for-profit organization, Indiana Writers’ Consortium, leader and has performed at literary events around the Midwest. She served as a poetry reader and reviewer for The Florida Review, and her most recent review can be found in North American Review.

Currently, Janine serves on the Highland Arts Council and co-leads the Tree Huggers Book Club, a sub-group of Highland Neighbors for Sustainability. Born and raised in Chicago and its south suburbs, Janine lives in Highland, Indiana, with her husband, fiction writer Michael Poore, and artist daughter, Jianna Sol. Whether with family or solo, she loves to travel far and wide, experiencing other cultures and serving when able. She was artist in residence at Fox Hollow Ranch in May 2024 and 2025. Janine is hard at work on her second full-length poetry collection, NEWtopias. 

Press:

Poets Weave podcast, NPR

Poets & Writers Directory listing

“Janine Harrison’s new book ‘a solo woman’s travel adventure'” 

“Authors to Read at Dune’s Literary Series Event” 

Radio Interview, “Art on the Air,” WVLP 103.1 FM and Lakeshore Public Radio 89.1 FM: