Claire Van Winkle is a poet, essayist, and literary translator. She received her BA at New York University, where she studied creative writing, French language, and psychology. She completed her MFA in Poetry Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College CUNY.
Claire is the the founder of the Rockaway Writers' Workshop and currently teaches undergraduate creative writing, composition, literature, and grammar at Queens College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, and the Fashion Institute of Technology. In addition to her creative and academic pursuits, Claire also works as a Recreational Therapist (RT) at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Her clinical work and applied research focus on the development and implementation of Pedagogical Therapy, which applies linguistic theory and creative writing workshop methods to one-on-one and group therapy sessions for inpatient psychiatric patients.