Jason Shinder (1955–2008) was an American poet who authored three books and founded the YMCA National Writer's Voice.^[1] His last book, Stupid Hope (Graywolf Press, 2009), was released posthumously.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1955 and graduated from Skidmore College in 1978.^[2] He published his first literary work in 1993, with the release of Every Room We Ever Slept In, which became a New York Public Library Notable Book.^[3] He went on to author Among Women and Uncertain Hours. He also edited numerous anthologies, including The Poem That Changed America: "Howl" Fifty Years Later and The Poem I Turn To: Actors and Directors Present Poetry That Inspires Them.^[3] In addition to founding and directing the National Writer's Voice, Shinder also served as director of the Sundance Institute Writing Program, as a teacher in the graduate writing program at Bennington College, and as a graduate teacher at New School University. He was also a Poet Laureate of Provincetown.^[2][3] Shinder also earned a Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2007.^[3][4]

Shinder died in April 2008. He had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and leukemia. "Cancer is a tremendous opportunity," he said, philosophically, "to have your face pressed right up against the glass of your mortality." In his brief poem "Company," he writes:

I've been avoiding my illness

because I'm afraid

I will die and when I do,

I'll end up alone again.^[5]

Published works

Full-length Poetry Collections

• Stupid Hope (Graywolf Press, 2009)
• Among Women (Graywolf Press, 2001)
• Every Room We Ever Slept In(Sheep Meadow Press, 1993)

Chapbooks

• Uncertain Hours (Arrowsmith Press, 2006)