Wendy DeGroat

Wendy DeGroat’s poetry has appeared in U.S. and U.K. publications, including Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Cider Press Review, Commonplace: The Journal of Early American Life, Mslexia, Raleigh Review, and Rust + Moth, and has won honors from the Poetry Society of Virginia.

Wendy grew up in the Appalachian foothills of northern New Jersey and western Virginia, and now lives in Richmond, where she works as a librarian, contributes to Richmond's poetry community, teaches workshops about poetry and using archival material as sparks for creative expression, and is an active member of James River Writers.

Her book What Doesn't Burn: Imagining Richmond's Grace Arents in Poems is forthcoming from WordsWomen Press (estimated publication: December 2026). This documentary poetry manuscript illuminates the life of Grace Evelyn Arents, a Progressive Era educator and philanthropist who made a lasting impact on Richmond, Virginia, and provides glimpses into Grace's relationship with Mary Garland Smith, her companion in her later years.