Claressinka Anderson is a Los Angeles–based poet and writer. Her poems and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Oxford Poetry, Los Angeles Review of Books, Best New Poets, North American Review, Boulevard, Pleiades, Bear Review, Chiron Review, Autre Magazine, Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles (Carla), and elsewhere, as well as in the anthology Choice Words: Writers on Abortion (Haymarket Books, 2020). Anderson is the winner of the 2022 Michelle Boisseau Poetry Prize selected by Traci Brimhall. A finalist for the 2024 Oxford Poetry Prize, she is also a Pushcart Prize and The Best of the Net nominee.
Anderson is the librettist for the opera Sentinel which is currently in development. Through her ongoing collaborations with artists, her work engages the interstitial spaces of contemporary art, literature, and music.
Born to a Czech mother and American father, Anderson was raised in London, England. She has worked as an art dealer, advisor and curator, and was the founder of the gallery and art salon, Marine Projects (2009-2017). Her curatorial projects have been reviewed in numerous publications, including Art Forum, The Los Angeles Times, Vogue, Elle, and Modern Painters. Anderson has served on the boards and committees of several arts-related institutions and organizations, including The Vincent Price Art Museum, The Santa Monica Museum of Art, The Venice Family Clinic, Arttable, and Sexy Beast for Planned Parenthood.
Anderson is a poetry editor at Bear Review. She holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College.