Jennifer Grotz was born in Canyon, Texas and attended the same junior high and high school as Buddy Holly in Lubbock,Texas. She then attended Tulane University and the Université de Paris IV for undergraduate, Indiana University and University of Houston for graduate studies. She grew up wanting to be either a country and western singer or a priest, which is probably why she ended up becoming a poet instead. Also a translator from French and Polish, she serves as the director of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conferences and also teaches at the University of Rochester.