Janelle Fine is a poet and artist from Los Angeles. She found her love for being creative as early as preschool, where she began to draw and then started writing poetry in the third grade. She has had a love of words ever since she can remember. It has grown considerably since then and she self-published her first poetry anthology titled Wildfibers at the age of 18.
Janelle received an undergraduate degree from The Evergreen State College and is currently pursuing an MFA in poetry from The Jack Kerouac School at Naropa University. She is greatly inspired by Gertrude Stein and is interested in where the artist intersects the writer, painting with words. She brings visual imagery and the techniques of painting into her written work as much as possible.
Janelle is interested in combining the visual arts and poetics by creating handmade artist books. She is currently the founder and editor of an artist- and collaborative-based small press called Matchbook, with the goal in mind of bringing poetry and art to people’s pockets. The idea behind the press is that matchboxes filled with poetry and art can transport creativity everywhere.