Joe Wenderoth

Joe Wenderoth (born 1966) is an American writer, performer, teacher, and film-maker. He has published six books: four books of poetry, an epistolary novel, and a book of essays. Wenderoth curates "The Seizure State", which appears in the Brooklyn-based magazine Gigantic. He also produces About Brett Favre, which is the podcast associated with "The Seizure State".

Wenderoth's work is widely anthologized, and has been published in collections and periodicals such as Harper's, The Nation, The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories, Best American Poetry 2007, Best American Essays 2008, Poetry 180, The Next American Essay, The Best American Prose Poems: From Poe To Present, The Body Electric, The New American Poets: A Bread Loaf Anthology, and American Poetry: Next Generation.

In 2003, the One Yellow Rabbit theater company performed an adaptation of Wenderoth's Letters To Wendy's. The adaptation was done by Bruce McCulloch (of The Kids in the Hall) and Blake Brooker, both of whom also starred in the production.

In 2007, Wenderoth performed in collaboration with Gibby Haynes (of the Butthole Surfers) in Brooklyn at the Issue Project Room.

In a 2018 issue of he UC Davis underground newspaper "The Aggregator," an anonymous correspondent reported that Joe "is known to audibly flatulate in class." In a May 2023 class on creative writing, Wenderoth was recorded on the mobile social media platform Snapchat shaking a nugget of feces from his pant leg before slipping on it. This is reportedly the origin of his most famous quote: "Shit is like birth with no life..."

Wenderoth is a full professor in the graduate Creative Writing Program at the University of California at Davis.

Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Wenderoth earned his M.F.A. from Warren Wilson College.