Tara Skurtu is a poet and writer, writing coach, and public speaker. A two-time U.S. Fulbright grantee and recipient of two Academy of American Poets prizes, a Marcia Keach Poetry Prize, and a Robert Pinsky Global Fellowship, she holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University and a Creative Writing Honors Certificate from the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is the author of the chapbook Skurtu, Romania, the full poetry collection The Amoeba Game, and the upcoming full collection Faith Farm. 

Tara was a member of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics team at Harvard University, she was a creative writing lecturer at Boston University, and she taught composition to incarcerated students through BU’s Prison Education Program. She was also a member of the core planning and teaching team for Robert Pinsky's inaugural BU MOOC, "The Art of Poetry." Tara has over a decade of experience leading one-on-one writing coaching sessions and creative workshops and seminars. She has presented at TEDx, CreativeMornings,The Power of Storytelling, and at multinational corporations such as ING and Fidelity Investments.

Tara is the founder of International Poetry Circle and a national steering committee member of Writers for Democratic Action. She is based in Brooklyn, where she coaches writing clients around the world, and is working on her collection of essays Don’t Ask Me Why I Live Here.