Born in Toronto, J. Mae Barizo is the author of The Cumulus Effect and Tender Machines (2023). A prize-winning poet, critic and performer, recent work appears in Poetry, Esquire, Ploughshares, AGNI, Bookforum, Boston Review, Hyperallergic and Los Angeles Review of Books. She is the recipient of fellowships and awards from OPERA AMERICA, Bennington College, the New School, the Jerome Foundation and Poets House. Phillip Lopate wrote that Barizo's "exquisite poems display throughout a mastery of poetic form and a thoroughly professional command of surface and tone. It is clear we are in the hands of a highly cultivated, intelligent writer." A classically-trained musician and a champion of cross-disciplinary work, J. Mae has performed collaborations with musicians from The National, Bon Iver, and the American String Quartet. As a musician she has performed with Mark Morris Dance Group, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Kanye West and Pharrell, among others. She is the inaugural recipient of OPERA AMERICA's IDEA residency, given to composers and librettists who have the potential to shape the future of opera. She teaches poetics and writing across media at Parsons School of Design and Pratt School of Architecture