Dr. Jane Zwart

Biography

Jane Zwart graduated from Calvin in 2000 with majors in both English and art history and returned as an assistant professor in 2005. She did her graduate work at Boston University, where she earned her PhD, writing her dissertation on 20th-century retellings of The Scarlet Letter–specifically those that also forefront specific letters of the alphabet.

In addition to teaching literature courses, most frequently in contemporary world literature, Professor Zwart teaches in the English department’s writing concentration. In addition, each summer she offers an honors course at Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan, through the Calvin Prison Initiative. She is currently serving as the associate director of the de Vries Institute and is also one of the faculty fellows at the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing. Indeed, she has a long history with the Festival of Faith & Writing, having worked as its student director in both 1998 and 2000.

Her first collection of poems, Oddest & Oldest & Saddest & Best, came out with Orison Books in February 2026. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, North American Review, and The Nation, as well as in other journals and anthologies. She also co-edits book reviews for Plume Poetry. You can find links to more of her creative writing on her author website: janezwart.com.

All that said, her smartest move to date was marrying her husband, Andrew, and she’s most proud of their sons, Wendell and Amby (Ambrose, really, but that’s the kind of name you age into).