Smile Lines, Pun Lover, Sweet Tooth
Jena Schwartz holds a BA from Barnard College in Russian Studies and an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College, as well as professional training from the Coaches Training Institute and the Jewish Studio Project. She has worked as a Hillel director and career counselor, ultimately finding her professional home as an entrepreneur combining her passions for writing, coaching, teaching, language, creative and spiritual practices, and Jewish life and learning.
Jena has studied at the Rabbinic Torah Seminar at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, facilitated hundreds of writing workshops and dozens of retreats, and authored four books, most recently Fierce Encouragement: 201 Writing Prompts for Staying Grounded in Fragile Times. Her essays and poems have been widely published in both Jewish and secular publications. She writes a weekly newsletter on Substack, Dispatches from Daily Life.
Since 2020, Jena has served as Poet-in-Residence at the Jewish Community of Amherst, where she has also led workshops for b’nai mitzvah families and adult learners of Torah. A mother of two young adults and three grown stepchildren, she lives with her wife and their English bulldog in Longmeadow, MA.
Learn more about her work at www.jenaschwartz.com.