Jennifer Lagier (Oakdale, California) is an American writer, poet, community activist and college librarian/instructor. Her scholarly essays on digital resources and online education have been published in peer-reviewed journals; her poetry has appeared in many literary magazines and blogs. She is the author of thirteen books of poetry and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her poetry primarily includes themes of her Italian ancestry, social justice and nature. She has been recognized for her extensive social justice, environmental activism and support for education in community colleges. She has been a Systems Technology Librarian and instructor at Hartnell College for over fifteen years and served as Dean of Distance Learning, Weekend, Evening Programs & Adjunct Faculty Support for two years. She is currently working as an online instructional librarian at Monterey Peninsula College and co-edits the Homestead Review of Hartnell College.
Life, career and community activism
Lagier was born in Oakdale, California and grew up on an Escalon peach ranch in the Central Valley of California. Throughout her life, she has been an activist working for social justice and environmental education and preservation. She was chair of the Peace Coalition of Monterey County and served thirteen years as an elected official and three terms as President of the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District Board. She also served on the City of Marina Planning Commission and Tree Committee. She was an active member of the defunct Regional Alliance for Progressive Policy and served as secretary for the Salinas League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). She was also active with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Lagier served as treasurer for the nonprofit, Pro Democracy Education Fund and worked with artist Kira Carillo Corser as part of the Art is the Next Peace project, promoting nonviolence between communities.
She received a Bachelor of Arts in English from California State University, Stanislaus in 1983; a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1984; a Master of Arts in English from California State University, Stanislaus in 1984; and a Ph.D in Computing Technology in Education from Nova Southeastern University in 2002. She has taught creative writing, composition, web authoring, internet literacy, information competency and instructional design courses at Modesto Junior College, Hartnell College, California State University, Monterey Bay and Monterey Peninsula College.
Camille Abroad. FutureCycle Press. 2016. ISBN 978-1-942-37119-9.
Harbingers. Blue Light Press. 2016. ISBN 978-1-421-83759-8.
Scene of the Crime. Evening Street Press. 2016. ISBN 978-1-937-34731-4.
Where We Grew Up. FutureCycle Press. 2015. ISBN 978-1938853920.
Camille Vérité. FutureCycle Press. 2014. ISBN 1938853733.
Penetrating the Mist. Green Fuse Poetic Arts. 2013. ISBN 978-0-9897417-5-0.
Hookup With Chinaski. Paisano Press. 2013. ISBN 978-0967648729.
Agent Provocateur. Paisano Press. 2012. ISBN 978-0-578-11744-7.
Fishing for Portents. Pudding House Publications. 2008. ISBN 1-58998-295-9.
Mangia Syndrome. Pudding House Publications. 2004. ISBN 1-58998-295-9.
Second-Class Citizen. Bordigheria, Inc. 2000. ISBN 1-884419-29-1.
Where We Grew Up. Paisano Press. 1992. ISBN 0-9676487-0-X.
"Chewing Off Our Own Paws," Paterson Literary Review, Issue 35, (2006).
"Accepting the Habit," Italian Americana, Vol. 18, No. 2, (Summer 2000).
"Witch Hunt," "Breaking the Fast," "If the Shoe Fits," Paterson Literary Review, Issue No. 27, (1998).
"Library Service," Slipstream, No. 12 (1992).
"Breaking Silence, Broken Faith: the Vietnam Wall," Slipstream, No. 10, (1990).
"Autumn Cadaver, Backyard Mausoleum, Central Valley November," College English, Vol. 50, No. 1, (Jan 1988).
"Black and White Window into the Past," College English, Vol. 48, No. 8, (Dec 1986).
"Circling the Drain," "Mistaken Identity," and "Questioning Authority," Voices in Italian Americana, Vol. 19, No. 1. (2008)
"Food for Thought" and "Shame," Voices in Italian Americana, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Fall 2006).
Measuring Usage and Usability of Full Text Databases: An Evaluation of Three Electronic Resources at Hartnell College. Issues in Higher Education. Nova Science Publishers, 2005.
"Cynics' Network News" and "Passionate About the Passion," Voices in Italian Americana, Vol. 15, Number 2 (Fall 2004).
Distance Learning and the Minority Student: Special Needs and Opportunities. The Internet and Higher Education: Pergamon Press, Vol 6, No. 2 (2003).
File Types. Internet Encyclopedia, John Wiley and Sons. (January 2004).
"Matter of Conscience," "Guest of Honor," "Above Lake Maggiore," Voices in Italian Americana, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Fall 1996).
“Sleuth" in Melanie Villines, ed. Nancy Drew Anthology: Writing & Art Featuring Everybody's Favorite Female Sleuth. Silver Birch Press, 2016. ISBN 978-0997797213. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
“Camille at the Medicare Workshop,” “Muse,” “Camille Morphs to Crone,” in Ashley Parker Owens, ed. Getting Old. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015. ISBN 978-1514819470. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
"Last Supper" in Edvige Guinta and Louise DeSalvo, eds. The Milk of Almonds: Italian American Women Writers on Food and Culture. Feminist Press, 2002. ISBN 1558614532. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
"1958 Fruit Cutting Shed" in Pamela Gemin and Paula Sergi, eds. Boomer Girls: Poems by Women from the Baby Boom Generation. University of Iowa Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0-87745-687-2. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
"Gifts for the Dead" in Abby Bogomolny, ed. New to North America: Writings by U.S. Immigrants, Their Children and Grandchildren. Burning Bush Publications, 1998. ISBN 978-0965066563. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
"Immigration, Legacy, Mute Muse Delivers, Wordweaver, Matriarchal Momento, Falling Down on the Gauntlet, Reversion to Rootstock" in Rose Romano, ed. La Bella Figura: A Choice. malafemmina press, 1993. ISBN 9781883112004. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
"Tending the Flock" in Sandra Martz, ed. When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple. Papier Mache Press, 1987. ISBN 9780918949837. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link) Winner of the 1991 American Booksellers Association Book of the Year Honors Award and two Independent Book Publishers Association Benjamin Franklin Awards for design and content, literature (1988) and for excellence and innovation in marketing, literature (1992).
"second class citizen" in Helen Barolini, ed. The Dream Book: An Anthology of Writings by Italian-American Women. Schocken Books, 1985. ISBN 978-0815606628. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link) Winner of the American Book Award of the Before Columbus Foundation. Republished in Maria Mazziotti Gillan and Jennifer Gillan, eds. Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry. Penguin Books, 1994. ISBN 978-0140237788. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
"Restoration," Nature Writing, October 15, 2016.
"If I Listened to Mom," Silver Birch Press, If I Series, October 3, 2016.
"Soberanes Fire, 2016," The New Verse Review, August 19, 2016. ,
"The Heart of the Matter," "Watteau Fog," "Scorcher," Dead Snakes, April 28, 2014
"Valley Fever," Centrifugal Eye, Winter/Spring 2014.
"Erased," Nerve Cowboy, No. 36, Winter 2014.
"Dr. Nazi's Poetry Workshop," Subterranean Quarterly, April 2014.
"Insanity," "Succubus Soulmates," & "Tarnished Grail," Wilderness House Literary Review, No. 9/1, 2014.
"Lost" & "Return of the Native," The Potomac, Winter 2013.
"Camille's Half-full Glass," Word Riot, Jan. 15, 2013.
Honors and awards
Honorable Mention, Reuben Rose Competition, for "Fifties Flashback," 2013.
PoetryMagazine.com Editor's Choice, Winter 2010, "Fifties Flashback."
Outstanding Performance Award, Hartnell College, 2004, 2001, 1999.
California State Assembly Certificate of Recognition, 2002.
Gleason Faculty Award, Hartnell College, 2002.
President's Team Leadership Award, Hartnell College, 1998, 2000.
City of Marina, California, Honorary Mayor, and Key to the City, October 1995.
City of Marina Certificate of Recognition, September 1995.
City of Marina Certificate of Appreciation, September 1994.
