Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner

Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner is a poet and from the Marshall Islands. 
Education.
Jetn̄il-Kijiner was born in the Marshall Islands. She was raised in Hawaii. She received her B.A. from Mills College in California. She got her MA degree in Pacific Island Studies from the .
Poetry.
Jetn̄il-Kijiner's poetry highlights issues around the environment and climate change. She also explores social injustice. It includes colonialism, migration, and racism.
Her first collections of poetry was entitled "Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter". It was published in 2017 by the University of Arizona Press. It is considered the first published book of poetry written by someone from the Marshall Islands.
Career.
She is a cofounder of the environmental nonprofit organization Jo-Jikum ("Jodrikdrik in Jipan ene eo e Kutok Maroro"). It aims to support Marshallese youth in taking action on climate change and environmental issues. The issues affect the Marshall Islands.
Jetn̄il-Kijiner taught at the College of the Marshall Islands as the Pacific Studies faculty instructor.
She is currently doing a Ph.D. in Gender, Media and Cultural Studies at the Australian National University.
Selected poetry by Jetn̄il-Kijiner was included in "UPU". It is a curation of Pacific Island writers’ work. It was first presented at the Silo Theatre as part of the Auckland Arts Festival in March 2020. "UPU" was remounted as part of the Kia Mau Festival in Wellington in June 2021.
Accomplishments.
In 2012 she represented the Marshall Islands at the Poetry Parnassus Festival in London. In 2014, Jetn̄il-Kijiner addressed the . She performed the piece, 'Dear Matafele Peinem', at the opening ceremony in New York. In 2015, she spoke at in Paris. Also in 2015, she was selected by as one of 13 Climate Warriors. In 2017, she was named Impact Hero of the Year by Earth Company. 
Her work was included in the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT9) in 2018 at Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. Her work refered to the weaving process and gender roles. These were in the forms of an installation and performance. In 2019, Jetn̄il-Kijiner was selected as an Obama Asia Pacific Leader Fellow and MIT Director’s Media Lab Fellow.
Notable works.
"Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter" (2017).
In 2017, Jetn̄il-Kijiner was the first Marshallese author to publish a book. Her book was a collection of poems entitled "Iep Jaltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter." Her book was associated with themes of the human, socioeconomic, and environmental crisis that the Marshall Islands encountered. The crisis were due to the United States military occupation. Her poems outline the daily lives of the . These people follow their customs and traditions while experiencing environmental problems as a result of nuclear testings, colonialism, and climate change.
"Rise: From One Island to Another" (2018).
In 2018, Jetn̄il-Kijiner collaborated with Aka Niviâna, a climate change activist poet from Greenland. They wrote a poem about their stories of climate change. The poem, "Rise: From One Island to Another," explains the destruction of two opposite homelands and the reality of melting icecaps and rising sea levels. In an interview with "", Jetn̄il-Kijiner said that "when she found herself face-to-face with a physical body that threatens to submerge her ancestral homeland, she felt reverence, not anger."