Diane Mehta was born in Frankfurt, grew up in Bombay and New Jersey, studied in Boston, and now makes her home in New York City.

Books include Happier Far: Essays (UGA Press, 2025), two poetry collections, Tiny Extravaganzas(Arrowsmith Press, 2023), Forest with Castanets(Four Way Books, 2019), and a poetics guide, How to Write Poetry (B&N Books, 2005).

Her work has been recognized by grants from the Café Royal Cultural Foundation, Van Cleef & Arpels, and the Peter Heinegg Literary Award, and by fellowships at Civitella Ranieri, Bogliasco, Yaddo, and VCCA. She was an editor at A Public Space, PEN America, and Guernica. She publishes in The New Yorker, NYT, Times Literary Supplement, WSJ, Harvard Review, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Kenyon Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, and A Public Space.

Mehta is poet in residence with the New Chamber Ballet in NYC. She was a judge for the 2024 Derek Walcott Prize and is a judge for the 2025-2028 Silvers-Dudley Prizes for literary criticism, arts writing, and journalism. Mehta is collaborating with the legendary cellist Frances-Marie Uitti and the composer Snežana Nešić. She is immersed in a lifelong collaborative reading of Dante’s Commedia with two artists.

Mehta is represented by Jennifer Lyons. Click here for nonfiction book editing services.