Michele Martinez was born in London, England, and raised in California's San Joaquin Valley. She holds an A.B. from Stanford University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University. She has taught in the English departments of Trinity College (Hartford) and Harvard University and in the History and Literature program at Harvard. She is currently a Preceptor in the Harvard College Writing Program. Her publications and current research interests focus on intersections between nineteenth-century poetry, criticism, and the visual arts.