Hejinian was born in the San Francisco Bay Area and now lives in Berkeley, California with her husband the composer/musician Larry Ochs. She has published over a dozen books of poetry and numerous books of essays as well as two volumes of translations from the Russian poet Arkadii Dragomoshchenko. Between 1976 and 1984 she was editor of Tuumba Press, and from 1981 to 1999 she co-edited (with Barrett Watten) Poetics Journal. She is currently co-editor of Atelos, which publishes cross-genre collaborations between poets and other artists.

Hejinian has herself worked on a number of collaborative projects with painters, musicians and film makers. She teaches poetics at University of California, Berkeley, and has lectured in Russia and around Europe.She has received grants and awards from the California Arts Council, the Academy of American Poets, the Poetry Fund, the National Endowment of the Arts, Guggenheim Foundation.

She currently sponsors the Radiohead DeCal course at UC Berkeley.

• a gRReat adventure Self-published, 1972.
• A Thought is the Bride of What Thinking. Berkeley, CA: Tuumba Press, 1976.
• A Mask of Motion. Providence, RI: Burning Deck, 1977.
• Gesualdo. Berkeley, CA: Tuumba Press, 1978.
• Writing is an Aid to Memory. Great Barrington, MA: The Figures, 1978.
• My Life. Providence, RI: Burning Deck, 1980.
• The Guard. Berkeley, CA: Tuumba Press, 1984.
• Redo. Grenada, Miss.: Salt-Works Press, 1984.
• My Life. (revised and updated) LA: Sun & Moon Press, 1987.
• Individuals. (written with Kit Robinson) Tucson, AZ: Chax Press, 1988.
• Leningrad. (written with Michael Davidson, Ron Silliman, Barrett Watten) San Francisco: Mercury House, 1991.
• The Hunt. La Lasuna: Zasterle Press, 1991.
• Oxota: A Short Russian Novel. Great Barrington, MA: The Figures, 1991. ISBN 9780935724448
• The Cell. LA: Sun & Moon Press, 1992.
• Jour de Chasse. trans. Pierre Alferi. Cahiers de Royaumont, 1992.
• The Cold of Poetry. LA: Sun & Moon Press, 1994.
• Two Stein Talks. Santa Fe, NM: Weaselsleeves Press, 1996.
• Wicker. (written with Jack Collom) Boulder, CO: Rodent Press. 1996.
• The Little Book of A Thousand Eyes. Boulder, CO: Smoke-Proof Press, 1996.
• Writing is an Aid to Memory. Reprint, Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1996.
• Guide, Grammar, Watch, and The Thirty Nights. Western Australia: Folio, 1996.
• A Book from A Border Comedy. Los Angeles: Seeing Eye Books, 1997.
• The Traveler and the Hill, and the Hill. (with Emilie Clark) New York: Granary Books, 1998.
• Sight. (written with Leslie Scalapino) Washington DC: Edge Books, 1999.
• Happily. Sausalito, CA: Post-Apollo Press, 2000.
• Chartings. (written with Ray DiPalma) Tucson: Chax Press, 2000.
• Sunflower. (written with Jack Collom) Great Barrington MA: The Figures, 2000. ISBN 9781930589056
• The Language of Inquiry. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. ISBN 9780520217003
• The Beginner. New York: Spectacular Books, 2001.
• A Border Comedy. New York: Granary Books, 2001.
• My Life. Reprints Sun & Moon edition; Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2002.
• Slowly. Berkeley: Tuumba Press, 2002.
• The Beginner. Berkeley: Tuumba Press, 2002.
• The Fatalist. Richmond, CA: Omnidawn Publishing, 2003. ISBN 978-1890650124
• My Life in the Nineties. New York: Shark Books, 2003. ISBN 978-0966487190
• Saga/Circus. Richmond, CA: Omnidawn Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1890650346

Translations

• Description. poems by Arkadii Dragomoshchenko. LA: Sun & Moon Press, 1990.
• Arkadii Dragomoshchenko selections in Third Wave: The New Russian Poetry, ed. Kent Johnson and Stephen Ashby. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992.
• Xenia. poems by Arkadii Dragomoshchenko. LA: Sun & Moon Press. 1994.