College of Arts and Sciences

Education:

• BA, Comparative Literature, Northwestern University, 1975
• MFA, Writing/Poetry, Vermont College, 2000

Bio:

I am a poet, writer, and translator.

I have published four collections of poems, one craft-of-poetry textbook, and one work of literary translation.

My individual poems have appeared in a wide range of journals including Ploughshares, Boulevard, Washington Square Review, Artful Dodge, Southwest Review, Cimarron Review, 5 A.M., Hunger Mountain, Lilith, and Kerem. My poems have also been featured on Verse Daily, E-Verse Radio, and Garrison Keillor’s radio show The Writer’s Almanac.

My essays have appeared in Southwest Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Contemporary Poetry Review, Alimentum, The Smart Set, and MoreIntelligentLife.com. My fiction has been published in Cleaver, Press 1, New Purlieu Review, and The Rag.

I have received two grants from the Leeway Foundation and funding from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council for my community-based teaching. Several of my books have been named finalists for book awards. Prior to teaching, I had a career in publishing and advertising. I was born in St. Louis, Missouri.

Favorite Poets: B. H. Fairchild and Pablo Neruda

Favorite TV Show: Mad Men

One reason I like my job is: I like learning along with the students.

Selected Publications:

• Birds on the Kiswar Tree (2Leaf Press, 2014), bilingual edition, a translation from the Spanish of a collection of poems by the Peruvian Andean poet Odi Gonzales
• Miss Plastique (Ragged Sky Press, 2013), a 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in poetry
• Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets (by Valerie Fox and Lynn Levin) (Texture Press, 2013), a 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in education/academic books
• Fair Creatures of an Hour (Loonfeather Press, 2009), a 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in poetry
• Imaginarium (Loonfeather Press, 2005), a finalist for ForeWord Magazine’s 2005 Book of the Year Award
• A Few Questions about Paradise (Loonfeather Press, 2000)