Jolene Paternoster currently lives in West Virginia, where she enjoys work as a freelance editor and publishing assistant. She majored in English and French at Skidmore College, and a portion of her senior project in poetry received a college-level Academy of American Poets award. Her work has appeared in Skidmore’s magazines Folio and Palimpsest, in the online literary magazine Vox Poetica, and in print in Barron’s Magazine and West Virginia’s Dominion Post.
As Jolene grew more serious about poetry, she began to realize she most often draws inspiration from those closest to her—particularly her family. She is especially interested in the idea of heritage, and she intends to use poetry to explore her belief that each person is a product of what came before him and what is happening around him. She is very grateful to her loved ones for their continued support and willingness to see versions of themselves appear in her work.