TO THE WREN collects a generous selection of new poems as well as five poetry books and a chapbook, books which have themselves been finalists for the Griffin Prize for Excellence in Poetry and the L.A. Times Book Award, and longlisted for the National Book Award. Mead was the recipient of a Whiting Writer’s Award, a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and a Completion Grant from the Lannan Foundation. She taught at numerous universities, including Colby College, Wake Forest University, Washington University in Saint Louis, and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She lived and worked in northern California until she passed away in September of 2019.

Previous Praise: "Mead propels readers forward, using plain language that’s elegant in its simplicity yet compelling and heartbreaking. Even as she confronts grief and loss, the poet highlights the overriding theme of courage.”
—Library Journal

"I remember her calm voice, her kindness, the incisive clarity of her comments. And now, on the desk beside me, lies To the Wren: Collected and New Poems: 1991-2019 (2019), and although more work may well emerge from other files or rescued papers, no new Jane Mead poems will ever be written. Our imperfect compensation is the current volume, a beautifully designed compendium of finely crafted poems whose world is mortal, suffering, yet vividly alive."
—Ned Balbo for Literary Matters

"The natural world, in its bounty and brutality, is a grounding force for Mead, a reminder of a time scale beyond the human span"
—Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"Mead’s versatility, scholarship, and curiosity contribute to the strength of her craft. . . . Her oeuvre is so spacious that it constantly invites journeys down imagined avenues."
—The Rumpus