Josephine Jacobsen has published seven books of poetry, two of criticism, and three collections of short fiction. Her many awards include a 1994 Academy of the Arts citation; a 1995 nomination as a National Book Award finalist; the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize; a fellowship from the Academy of American Poets for service to poetry; and the selection of On the Island: Short Stories as one of the five nominees for the PEN-Faulkner fiction award. Other honors include a recent award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and eight inclusions of her stories in the O. Henry Prize Stories.

The collected poems of a greatly gifted poet may not offer the suspense of a well-plotted novel, but there is still a certain drama in seeing the art of a life's work fitted between the covers of one book... The recent poems that make up the last section are some of Jacobsen's very best. New Criterion