Marie Hoffman (정지연) was born in Seoul, South Korea to her U.S. Army father and Korean-native mother. She spent much of her life moving between the East Coast U.S., South Korea, and Japan, though most of her childhood was spent in Asia.

Hoffman graduated from Eastern Washington University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in English with a Creative Writing option and minor in Music, and in 2014 with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing with an emphasis in poetry. She is, first and foremost, a poet. She strives to publish her first book of poetry.

During her MFA degree, Hoffman interned with Willow Springs Books (formerly Willow Springs Editions), EWU’s publishing house through the MFA program. She contributed to the publication of You Are Not Alone by Sherril Jaffe, You Won’t Need That by Robert Gregory, The Empty House by Nathan Oates, Drunk on Salt by James Nolan, and All the Wrong Places by Molly Giles. She hopes one day to return to publishing books of fiction and poetry.

Hoffman’s interest in photography started when she was young, as she often loved to capture the moments she spent with her favorite people. Captured moments are precious. By college, Hoffman purchased a Nikon D60, her first DSLR camera, to work on her photo abilities. She pushed herself to learn how to create an unforgettable image without reliance on Photoshop. As part of Hoffman’s MFA degree to push her creative writing theory and development, she enrolled in a photography class to really hone in on the idea of imagery, and specifically the image in photography. Hoffman learned the rules of photography and pushed her D60 to its limits, quite literally, and upgraded to a Nikon D7000. She specializes in senior portraits, model portraits, professional headshots, family portraits, engagements, and weddings.

Examples of her photography work can be found in her Portrait Gallery and on Instagram at @mariehoffmanphotography.

She teaches Foundations of College Writing, English Composition I, English Composition II, American Literature Survey, and Children & Adolescent Literature for Northwest University located in Kirkland, Washington.

PUBLICATIONS

Hoffman, M. “Water Memory.” Poetry. Ignition Literary Magazine, 2026 Spring Issue. Web.

Hoffman, M. "Like Kerosene." Poetry. The Helix Magazine, 2021 Issue. Print.

Hoffman, M. "After Fighting with My Husband." Poetry. Sheepshead Review, Summer 2021 Issue. Web.

Hoffman, M. "Leap Year 2004." Poetry. The Menteur, June 2019 Issue. Print.

Hoffman, M. "Seal Man." Poetry. Tilde, Thirty West Publishing House, September 2018 Issue. Print.

Hoffman, M. "Erasure." Poetry. Sierra Nevada Review, May 2016 Issue. Print.

Hoffman, M. "Juggling." Poetry. Avalon Literary Review, Winter 2015 Issue. Print.

Hoffman, M. "Omen Moon." Poetry. Up the Staircase Quarterly, February 2014. Web.