Jennifer Maier was born in Oak Harbor, Washington, and raised in the Pacific Northwest, California, and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She holds baccalaureate and Masters degrees in neuropsychology and English from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in American Literature from Tulane University.    

Maier's work has appeared widely in print, online, and broadcast media, including Poetry, Scientific American, Southern Humanities Review, Plume, American Poet, Image, New Letters, and The Writer's Almanac. Her books include Dark Alphabet (Southern Illinois UP), named one of Ten Remarkable Books of 2006 by The Academy of American Poets, as well as Now, Now ( 2013) and The Occupant (2025), both from The University of Pittsburgh Press.  A fourth collection, Partial Clearing in the Afternoon, is anticipated in 2027.

Other honors include the 2012 Emily Dickinson Award from The Poetry Society of America and three Visiting Writer residencies from The American Academy in Rome.  Until 2026, Maier worked as professor of modern poetry and poetics, Poet in Residence, and senior faculty in poetry in the MFA program at Seattle Pacific University.  From 2008-2017 she served as Associate Editor for the arts quarterly Image.