Dr. Carolyn Forché

About the Author

Dr. Carolyn Forché is a renowned American poet, translator, and human rights advocate whose work has profoundly shaped contemporary literature. Born in 1950 in Detroit, Michigan, she earned her MFA from Bowling Green State University and has since become a pivotal voice in poetry addressing social justice, war, and empathy. Her acclaimed volumes, including the landmark Gathering the Tribes and the harrowing memoir The Country Between Us, draw from her experiences in war-torn El Salvador and her commitment to witnessing global atrocities. Forché's poetry often blends personal introspection with political urgency, earning her the Edita and Ira Morris Hiroshima Foundation Award for Peace and Culture, among others. In What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump, she confronts the moral complexities of our divided era, offering verses that provoke reflection and resilience. A professor emerita at Smith College, Forché continues to inspire through her teaching and activism, reminding us of poetry's power to foster compassion amid outrage.