She teaches Creative Writing at Eastern Michigan University and serves on the MFA faculty of the Milton Avery School of the Arts at Bard College.
Born in Orange, California, Harryman studied at the University of California, Santa Barbara and San Francisco State University.
In 1979, she co-founded the San Francisco Poets Theater, which staged experimental plays, including her Third Man and other plays.
[1] Harryman co-edited a book devoted to the work of Kathy Acker.
[2][3] Harryman is married to the poet Barrett Watten.