Jennifer Mary Bornholdt (born 1 November 1960) is a New Zealand poet and anthologist. She was New Zealand's Poet Laureate in 2005-2007.

Early life

Born in Lower Hutt, Bornholdt received a bachelor's degree in English Literature and a Diploma in Journalism. She studied poetry with Bill Manhire at Victoria University of Wellington in 1984.

Career

She is co-editor of My Heart Goes Swimming: New Zealand Love Poems and the Oxford Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English, which won the Montana New Zealand Book Award for Poetry in 1997. In addition, Bornholdt won the 2002 Meridian Energy Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship, was a recipient of one of the 2003 Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Awards, and was named the fifth Te Mata Estate New Zealand Poet Laureate in 2005. Her poems were selected for the Best New Zealand Poems series in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. In the 2014 New Year Honours, Bornholdt was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services as a poet. In 2023 Te Herenga Waka University Press published A Garden is a Long Time by Bornholdt and Annemarie Hope-Cross.

Personal life

She lives in Wellington, and is married to poet Gregory O'Brien.

Books

Poetry

Bornholdt's poetry has been published in a number of volumes:

Children's books

Editor