Madelyn Camrud has lived all but nine months of her life in North Dakota. She received degrees in visual arts and creative writing from The University of North Dakota. She taught in the English department before taking a position at the North Dakota Museum of Art, where she served as director of Audience Development. Camrud's poems have appeared in numerous journals, including Kalliope, Painted Bride Quarterly, Descant, and others. Two of her poems were chosen to air on Garrison Keillor's "Writers Almanac." In the spring of 2005, North Dakota Poet Laureate Larry Woiwode named Camrud an Associate Poet Laureate of North Dakota. She has published two books of poetry with New Rivers Press, “This House is Full of Cracks” and “Oddly Beautiful”, and “Songs of Horses and Lovers,” from the NDSU Press.