Paul Janeczko

Biography

Paul Bryan Janeczko was born on July 27, 1945 in Passaic, New Jersey. He is the son of Frank John and Verna (Smolak) Janeczko. Janeczko was not much of a student when he was young. In fact, he didn’t like school at all. It wasn’t until he was a student at St. Francis College in Maine that he realized what he had missed out on. To quote Janeczko, “That’s when it dawned on me that it was time for me to start learning.”

Upon graduating college, Janeczko attended graduate school at John Carroll University in Ohio and then began teaching. He taught high school English for 22 years in Ohio, Massachusetts, and Maine. In 1990, Janeczko decided to leave the classroom in order to focus on two things: poetry and his newborn daughter, Emma.

Currently, Janeczko lives in western Maine with his wife and daughter. He visits schools in the United States and Europe, providing workshops for both teachers and students. When he is not traveling, he continues to write books. In fact, he had a new poetry anthology published in 2015, The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects.

Janeczko is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English, Educators for Social Responsibility, New England Association of Teachers of English, and Maine Teachers of Language Arts. He has also received several awards, including the American Library Association Books for Young Adults, American Library Association Notable Books, New York Public Library Best Books, and School Library Journal Best Young Adult Books of the Year, among others.

Poetry

Novels

Nonfiction and Professional Books

Loads of Codes and Secret Ciphers (1988)
Favorite Poetry Lessons [with Judy Lynch] (1998)
Teaching 10 Fabulous Forms of Poetry [with Judy Lynch] (2000)
How to Write Poetry (2001)
Writing Funny Bone Poems (2001)
Seeing the Blue Between: Advice and Inspiration for Young Poets (2002)
Good for a Laugh: A Guide to Writing Amusing, Clever, and Downright Funny Poems (2003)
Writing Winning Reports and Essays (2003)
Opening a Door: Reading Poetry in the Middle School Classroom (2003)
Top Secret: A Handbook of Codes, Ciphers, and Secret Writing (2004)
How to Write Haiku and Other Short Poems (2004)
Rhyming Dictionary [with Sun Young] (2006)

Anthologies Edited by Janeczko

The Crystal Image (1977)
Postcard Poems: A Collection of Poetry for Sharing (1979)
Don't Forget to Fly: A Cycle of Modern Poems (1981)
Poetspeak: In Their Work, About Their Work, A Special Kind of Poetry Anthology (1983)
Strings: A Gathering of Family Poems (1984)
Pocket Poems: Poems Selected for a Journey (1985)
This Delicious Day: 65 Poems (1987)
Going Over to Your Place: Poems for Each Other (1987)
The Music of What Happens: Poems That Tell Stories (1988)
The Place My Words Are Looking For: What Poets Say About and Through Their Work (1990)
Preposterous: Poems of Youth (1991)
Looking for Your Name: A Collection of Contemporary Poems (1993)
Poetry from A to Z: A Guide for Young Writers (1994)
Wherever Home Begins: 100 Contemporary Poems (1995)
I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You: A Book of Her Poems & His Poems Presented in Pairs [with Naomi Shihab Nye] (1996)
Home on the Range: Cowboy Poetry (1997)
Very Best (Almost) Friends: Poems of Friendship (1999)
Stone Bench In An Empty Park (2000)
A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems (2001)
Dirty Laundry Pile: Poems in Different Voices (2001)
Blushing: Expressions of Love in Poems and Letters (2004)
A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms (2005)
Hey, You! Poems to Skyscrapers, Mosquitoes, and Other Fun Things (2007)
The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects (2015)