Spring Visiting Writer Rachel Zucker Joins Us On Campus

By Elaine Ge ’25

The Ethel Walker School had the privilege of hosting poet, educator, and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Rachel Zucker from April 8 to April 11, 2025. During her visit, she met with the Visiting Writer Seminar and other classes, guided students through a range of poetry exercises, and encouraged them to see poetry as a space where they can express themselves freely without limitations. 

Zucker’s visit centered around the idea that poetry is not only a literary art form but also a form of political and personal expression. In her moving all-school address, she explored how poetry is a space for her to speak truth and resistance. She shared that as a young person, “Poetry [was] my path to liberation. Poetry is where I [could] scream my feelings onto the page, towards a world full of adults that [did] not hear, see or understand me.” Through four intimate stories, she invited us into her world, from being questioned whether her writing was “even poetry” to becoming the accomplished writer she is today. During Thursday’s reading in Ferg Theater, she read from her past works and shared reflections on writing as a mother and a feminist. Her presence deeply resonated with the Walker’s community and offered a glimpse into the vulnerability and courage embedded in her work. 

Born in New York City and growing up in Greenwich Village, Rachel Zucker often traveled with her parents on trips to collect folktales. She studied psychology with a focus on child development at Yale University while also diving into literature and writing. Later, she earned her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and she now teaches at NYU. She is the author of over ten books, including Museum of Accidents, The Pedestrians, The Poetics of Wrongness, and SoundMachine, which blends poetry and lyric essay. She is also the founder and host of the podcast Commonplace, where she interviews other poets and artists about craft and the poetics of everyday life. Her work challenges the conventional literary forms and has been widely praised for its emotional transparency and formal innovation. Whether writing about motherhood, politics, or grief, Zucker invites readers into a space that is intimate and restless. 

Rachel Zucker reminded the Walker’s community that poetry can hold both joy and discomfort, clarity and chaos. Her words continue to remind the students and encourage them to create not just for perfection, but for expression. “Even today,” she said, “no one quite knows what to do with my work or with me, no one knows whether what I write is ‘even poetry.’” In embracing this complexity, she gave us permission to write boldly, not to be defined by others, and to freely feel.