Your poet bio is the first thing a host reads before deciding whether to open your email, put you on a lineup, or introduce you from the stage. Most poets treat it as an afterthought — a list of every reading they've ever done, written in the third person, with no clear through-line. A good bio does the opposite: it tells a host exactly who you are, what you write about, and why you're worth a slot, in fewer words than you'd expect.
Write two versions, not one
You need at least two bios at all times. A short bio of 50–80 words for email pitches, social media, and program notes. A long bio of 120–180 words for festival applications, press releases, and your website. Both should be in third person — "Jordan Reyes is a poet based in Oakland" — even if it feels slightly awkward. Third person is the convention hosts and editors expect, and it signals that you take the work seriously enough to have a public-facing version of yourself.
Keep both in a single document and update them every time you add a credit. A bio that's six months out of date is worse than no bio at all, because a host who checks your website and finds a mismatch will quietly move on.
What to include in the short bio
A short bio has four parts, in roughly this order: who you are and where you're based, what you write about (one or two themes, not a genre list), your strongest two or three credits, and one optional line about a publication, award, or current project.
Example: "Jordan Reyes is a poet based in Oakland, California. Their work explores labor, family, and the East Bay's shifting neighborhoods. They have featured at the Bay Area Book Festival, Diesel Books, and several university reading series. Their chapbook Shift Work is forthcoming from Small Harbor Press."
That's 52 words. It tells a host everything they need to decide whether to keep reading. Notice what's not in it: no childhood story, no MFA unless it's genuinely relevant, no list of every open mic attended, no adjectives about how "passionate" or "award-winning" you are without naming the award.
What to include in the long bio
The long bio expands each section of the short bio with one additional layer. Add a sentence about your background or how you came to poetry if it's genuinely interesting and relevant. Expand your credits to four or five, ordered from strongest to most recent. Mention any teaching, editing, or community work that positions you as someone who contributes to the scene, not just someone who takes slots.
Include a line about what you're working on now — a manuscript, a tour, a collaboration. Hosts and festival programmers like to book poets who are visibly active, and "currently finishing a second collection" signals momentum even if the book isn't out yet.
How to choose which credits to lead with
Not all credits are equal. Lead with the name a host in your city will recognize: a local bookstore series, a regional festival, a university with a strong reading program, a publication they might have seen. If you don't have local credits yet, lead with the most recognizable name you do have — a national journal, a well-known slam venue, a residency — and follow with local ones.
Never pad a bio with credits that aren't really credits. "Performed at open mics across the Bay Area" is not a credit. "Featured at Lamplight Reading Series" is. If your credit list is thin, keep the bio shorter and let the work speak through a link to a video or published poem instead of stretching the bio to fill space.
Common mistakes to avoid
Don't write your bio in first person unless you're using it exclusively on social media. Don't include your email address or phone number in the bio text itself — those belong in a contact section, not in the paragraph a host reads aloud from the stage. Don't use vague descriptors ("versatile," "dynamic," "passionate") that could apply to any poet. Don't mention every workshop you've attended; workshops are for you, not for bookers.
Don't copy another poet's bio structure so closely that yours reads like a template. Hosts read dozens of these. Specificity is what makes yours stick.
Your short bio should live in at least three places: a dedicated page on your website or Linktree, the footer of your pitch emails (or linked from them), and your social media profiles. Your long bio should be on your website's About page and saved as a PDF you can attach to festival applications.
Also keep a one-line version — 15 words max — for when a host asks you to send something they can read from the stage. "Jordan Reyes is an Oakland poet whose work explores labor and family." That's it. Hosts appreciate not having to edit your bio down themselves.
Set a calendar reminder to review your bio every three months. Add new credits, remove ones that no longer represent your best work, and adjust the themes line if your writing has shifted. A bio that still says "explores identity and belonging" when your recent work is all about climate and place will confuse hosts who watched your latest video.
And if the admin of keeping bios, links, and pitch emails current is the part that keeps slipping, Estelle can take that off your plate. She's an AI booking agent for poets — she keeps your profile updated, drafts outreach with the right bio version for each venue, and makes sure nothing in your pitch is six months stale when it lands in a host's inbox.