Jamie Olson

Jamie Olson, Ph.D., is a Professor of English at Saint Martin's University, specializing in modern poetry, exile literature, and Russian literature. He has been affiliated with the university since 2008, teaching courses in academic writing, Russian language, world literature, and interdisciplinary topics like medicine and immigration. A U.S. Marine veteran, Olson earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, where he focused on modern and contemporary poetry under scholars George Bornstein and Laurence Goldstein. His research emphasizes translation studies, particularly Russian and Ukrainian poets like Timur Kibirov and Semyon Lipkin. He has led faculty-led study tours to Russia and collaborates with institutions like Ilia State University in Georgia through Fulbright initiatives.

Olson’s publications include Poets of the Front Line: An Anthology of WWII Poems (2020) and numerous translations in journals like Translation Review and Poetry Northwest. He has received the National Endowment for the Arts Literature Translation Fellowship (2017) and the Compass Translation Award (2018). Beyond academia, Olson maintains The Flaxen Wave, a blog on poetry and translation.

Olson’s teaching roles include advising Saint Martin’s Sigma Tau Delta chapter and co-designing cross-cultural language exchange programs. His work bridges Russian and American literary traditions, emphasizing exile, migration, and the role of translation in preserving cultural narratives.