Born in Asbestos, Quebec in 1952, Jan Conn received her Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Toronto. She has lived in Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, Guatemala, Caracas (Venezuela), Gainesville (Florida), and Burlington (Vermont). Since 2002 she has been living in western Massachusetts, conducting research on insects that transmit pathogens as a Research Scientist at the Wadsworth Center, Division of Infectious Diseases, New York State Department of Health in Albany NY. She is also Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the School of Public Health, SUNY-Albany.
Conn has written six books of poetry, including Jaguar Rain: the Margaret Mee poems, inspired by the diaries and botanical art of Margaret Mee. She has won numerous awards and major travel grants related to poetry. Her book South of the Tudo Bem Cafe, 1990, was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award.
Her poetry has been featured in many anthologies and journals, and broadly reviewed across Canada. In May 1995, her poem Love As A Moving Object, referencing Kate Bush, was published in the newspaper Toronto Star.
She is a member of both the Writers’ Union of Canada and the League of Canadian Poets.
