If there is a required job history for a poet, it is quite likely that Texan-born Jonah Winter can meet it, having worked as a llama rancher (among other stints) before embarking on his career as a writer of poetry. Winter was initially drawn to writing children's books because his mother, Jeanette, is an illustrator, and the two collaborated on a number of award-winning books. Winter also illustrated two of his own books.
Winter's first volume of poetry was published in 2002, his second volume, titled Amnesia, winning the Field Prize for Poetry. The poems are observations about the everyday, and the way in which Winter interprets the world around him. Because of this it is hard to pinpoint a theme, or a series of themes, that weave through each collection, although faith and belief recurs as a theme quite consistently, whether in the poem Psalm, which is about actual religious faith and belief, or whether it be in the verses of This Is True, which deals with conspiracy theories and the way in which those who espouse them have difficulty believing in anything that they are told because they constantly believe that they are being lied to.
Winter enjoys meeting the readers of his books, whether they be the adults for whom his poems are constructed, or the children who read his beautifully illustrated stories and biographies. He is known for going into schools to participate directly in lessons, and this commitment to the interpersonal may explain his deep dislike of the internet, which he attributes with his reluctance to build himself a website for many years.
