Having been raised in a tight-knit Dutch community just outside of Chicago, Laura Van Prooyen now lives in San Antonio, TX. She has more than 15 years experience teaching poetry and writing in a variety of academic settings including: Dominican University, Chicago Public Schools, Del Valle High School, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Presently, she teaches creative writing at Henry Ford Academy: The Alameda School for Art + Design. The author of Inkblot and Altar (Pecan Grove Press 2006), Van Prooyen's recent work appears in The American Poetry Review, Boston Review, and The Southern Review, among others. She is a recipient of grants from the American Association of University Women and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and also has been awarded a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg prize for her creative work. Van Prooyen earned a B.A. at Purdue University, an M.A. at The University of Illinois at Chicago, and an M.F.A. in Poetry at Warren Wilson College. Her second collection of poems, Our House Was on Fire, nominated by Philip Levine, was awarded the McGovern Prize from Ashland Poetry Press.