CURRICULUM VITAE
Sharon Bryan
9 Court St. Place #2
Arlington, MA 02476
(781) 316-1569
(801) 669-2630 cell phone
EDUCATION:
1975-77 MFA in Poetry, Writers’ Workshop, University of Iowa
1966-69 MA in Anthropology, Cornell University
1961-65 BA in Philosophy, University of Utah
BOOKS:
Sharp Stars (poems), BOA Editions, 2009 (awarded the Isabella Gardner
Prize)
(ed., with William Olsen), Planet on the Table: Poets on the Reading Life,
Sarabande Books, 2003
Flying Blind (poems), Sarabande Books, 1996
(ed.) Where We Stand: Women Poets on Literary Tradition, Norton, 1993
Objects of Affection (poems), Wesleyan University Press, 1987
Salt Air (poems), Wesleyan University Press, 1983
Reviews
These books have been reviewed in a number of publications, including The New York Times Book Review, Poetry, The Boston Globe,The Southern Review, Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, The Georgia Review, The Seattle Times, The Commercial-Appeal (Memphis), Field, Tar River Poetry, The Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Small Press Review, Women’s Review of Books, Kalamazoo Gazette, and Amazon On-Line Booksellers.
TEACHING and ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS
Spring 2014 Visiting Poet, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Fall 2012-13 Adjunct faculty, Emerson College, Boston, MA
Fall 2010-present Poetry faculty, Lesley University low-residency MFA Program
Spring 2009 Poetry faculty, Fairfield University low-residency MFA Program
January 2007-
Fall 2009 Visiting Professor of Poetry, University of Connecticut at Storrs
Spring 2006 Distinguished Poet-in-Residence, Fresno State University
Fall 2005 Poetry faculty, San Diego State University
2004-2008 Core faculty, Rainier Writers’ Workshop, low-residency MFA based
at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington
2003-2004 Visiting Poet, San Diego State University
Fall 2002 Poet-in-Residence, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Spring 2001 Visiting Poet, University of Missouri at St. Louis
Distinguished-Writer-in Residence, Wichita State University
Visiting Poet, University of Missouri at St. Louis
1999-00 Visiting Poet, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
1998-99 Visiting Poet, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Michigan
1997-98 Visiting Poet, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Spring 1997 Poetry Faculty, Warren Wilson MFA Program, Warren Wilson
College, Swannanoa, North Carolina
October 1996 Poetry Workshop sponsored by Writers at Work, Salt Lake City,
Utah
Spring 1996 Visiting Professor, Department of English, University of
Houston
Fall 1995 Visiting Professor, Department of English, Dartmouth
College
Fall 1994 Visiting Professor, Department of English, Dartmouth College
1987-1995 Associate Professor of English, Memphis State University,
and Editor, River City (formerly Memphis State Review)
1988-89, Director of Creative Writing, Memphis State University
1991-92
1984-87 Acting Assistant Professor, Department of English,
University of Washington
1980-83 Acting Instructor and Lecturer, Department of English,
University of Washington
1977-78 Visiting Assistant Professor, Marlboro College
Summer Writers’ Conferences:
2004-07 Rainier Writing Workshop annual residency
1998 Third Coast Writers’ Conference, Kalamazoo, Michigan
1994 Centrum Writers’ Conference, Port Townsend, Washington
- The Frost Place Writers’ Conference, Franconia, New Hampshire
1991 SUNY-Brockport Writers’ Conference, Brockport, New York
1983 Spectrum Writers’ Conference, University of Washington
1980 Creative Writing Workshop for Gifted Students, sponsored by the Tacoma Public Schools, Fort Worden, Washington
OTHER TEACHING EXPERIENCE
I have also taught anthropology, linguistics (language as a medium), children’s literature, folktales and oral tradition, and poetic form and theory.
PRIZES AND AWARDS:
2009 The Isabella Gardner Award for Sharp Stars
2007 Fellowship in Poetry, Artist Trust, Washington State Arts Council
1996 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry
Senior Fellowship, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center
1995 Utah Arts Council Grant for film collaboration: “Eureka, Utah”
1993 Poet-in-Residence, The Frost Place, Franconia, New Hampshire
1992 Tennessee Arts Commission Fellowship in Poetry
Faculty Research Grant, Memphis State University
1990 Faculty Research Grant, Memphis State University
1987 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry
1985 Award from the Arvon Foundation in The Observer and
Ronald Duncan Foundation International Poetry Competition
Governor’s Award from the State of Washington for Salt Air
1977 Discovery Prize, awarded by The Nation
1976 Academy of American Poets first prize, University of Iowa
ADDITIONAL PUBLICATIONS:
Poems in Anthologies:
“Flying Blind,” in Air Fare, ed. Judith Taylor, Sarabande, 2004.
“Beyond Recall,” in Poetry 180, ed. Billy Collins, Random House, 2003.
“Sweater Weather,” in Good Poems, ed. Garrison Keillor, Viking, 2002.
“Sweater Weather,” in Writing Poems, ed. Robert Wallace and Michelle
Boisseau, Addison-Wesley Longman, 1999..
“Lunch with Girl Scouts,” in Real Things: An Anthology of Popular Culture in
American Poetry, ed. Jim Elledge and Susan Swartout, Indiana University
Press (forthcoming).
“Ghazal: The Nightingale,” in Ghazals by Contemporary American Poets,
- Agha Shahid Ali.
“Hollandaise,” Vital Signs: Contemporary American Poetry from the University Presses, ed. Ronald Wallace, U. of Wisconsin Press, 1989, p. 362.
“Philobiblian,” Bumbershoot Anthology, ed. Trudy Mercer, Red Sky Press (Seattle), 1989, pp. 81-84.
“Big Sheep Knocks You About,” The Ploughshares Poetry Reader, ed. Joyce Peseroff, U. of Nebraska Press, 1987, pp. 52-54.
“Abiding Love,” “Pictures of Nothing,” Arvon Foundation 1985 Poetry Competition Anthology, ed. David Pease, London, 1987, pp. 6-11, 133-35.
“Deception Pass,” Spectrum: A Reader, eds. Ostrom, Garratt, and Turnbull, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986, pp. 156-57.
“Volunteer Work,” Monitor Anthology of Magazine Verse and Yearbook of American Poetry, ed. Alan F. Pater, Monitor Book Co., 1985, p. 52.
“Lunch with Girl Scouts,” “Hollandaise,” “Big Sheep Knocks You About,” Morrow Anthology of Younger American Poets, ed. David Bottoms and Dave Smith, Morrow, 1984, pp. 107-12.
Poems in Periodicals:
Poems have appeared in the following magazines and reviews (see List of Publications for complete details):
Alaska Quarterly, American Poetry Review, The Atlantic Monthly, Crazyhorse, Denver Quarterly, Georgia Review, Gettysburg Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Iowa Review, Ironwood, Memphis State Review, Missouri Review, The Nation, Network, Ohio Review, Ploughshares, Paris Review, Poetry, Poetry East, Poetry Northwest, Pool, Quarterly West, River Styx, Seattle Review, Seneca Review, Southern Review, Tendril, Third Coast,Weber Studies, Western Humanities Review
Poems on the Air:
Writer’s Almanac: Garrison Keillor has read “Ultrasound” and “Sweater Weather” (from Flying Blind) on his daily radio show.
Prose:
“Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” in American Writers Classics, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003.
“The Sound of Poetry,” in The Breath of Parted Lips: Voices from the Frost Place, CavanKerry Press, 2001.
“Around the Corner,” in In Short: An Anthology of Short Creative Nonfiction, ed. Judith Kitchen and Mary Paumier Jones, Norton, 1996.
“Seeing in the Dark,” in Facing the Lion: Best Writers’ Conference Lectures, ed. Kurt Brown, Beacon Press, 1996.
“Hearing Voices: John Berryman’s Translation of Private Dream into Public Song,” in Recovering Berryman: Essays on a Poet (selected conference papers), U. of Michigan Press, 1993, pp. 141-50.
“Free Verse Lineation,” in The Practice of Poetry, ed. Chase Twichell and Robin Behn, Harper Collins, 1992, pp. 181-82.
“Journal Excerpts,” Taking Note: From Poets’ Notebooks, ed. Stephen Kuusisto, Deborah Tall, and David Weiss, Hobart and William Smith Colleges Press, 1991, pp. 15-22.
“On Publishing Salt Air,” Hayden’s Ferry Review, No. 6 (Summer 1990), p. 108.
“Abstraction and Realism in Contemporary Poetry,” Tar River Poetry, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Fall 1988), pp. 101-106.
Papers Presented:
“Hearing Voices: John Berryman’s Translation of Private Vision into Public Song,” presented at: John Berryman: His Life, His Work, His Thought,” Minneapolis, October 1990.
“Seeing in the Dark,” presented at The Frost Place, Franconia, New Hampshire, August 1993.
“Women Poets on Literary Tradition,” A Woman’s Place Bookstore, March 1994
“Voice and Pronoun in Contemporary Poetry,” Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, North Carolina, January 1997.
“The Minor Self: Some Thoughts on Pronoun and Point of View in Contemporary Poetry,” University of Missoula, October 1997.
“Women Poets on Literary Tradition,” Waldo Library, Western Michigan
University, December 1997.
Reviews:
of: Green-the-Witch-Hazel Wood, by Emily Hiestand (Graywolf Press, 1989), Boston Review, Vol. XIV, No. 5 (Oct. 1989), pp. 24-26.
of: The Book of Mercy, by Kathy Cambor (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996),
Inkslinger, (King’s English Bookstore, Salt Lake City, Utah), Fall 1996.
of: Riffs and Reciprocities, by Stephen Dunn, Fourth Coast, Michigan State University, Fall 1999.
READINGS:
I have given readings at numerous locations, including: Blacksmith House, Cornell University, The Getty Museum (Los Angeles Poetry Society), The Poetry Society of America, the 92nd Street Y, SUNY-Brockport, St. Bonaventure College, Sweet Briar College, University of Washington, Seattle Community College, Elliott Bay Bookstore, and Bookfest (Seattle), University of Montana, University of Utah, Dartmouth College, Boston University, Boston College, Books Inc. and Brazos Bookstore (Houston), Memphis State University, Murray State University, Indiana University, Marlboro College, Peninsula College (Port Angeles, Washington), Valparaiso University (Indiana), Missouri Arts Council (St. Louis), Davis-Kidd Bookstore, WEVL Radio, and Rhodes College (Memphis), The Frost Place (Franconia, New Hampshire), Centrum Writers’ Conference (Port Townsend, Washington), Westminster College, A Woman’s Place Bookstore (Salt Lake City), King’s English Bookstore (Salt Lake City), In the Company of Friends bookstore (Logan, Utah), Weber State University (Ogden, Utah), and King’s English bookstore (Salt Lake City), Warren Wilson College, Borders Bookstore (Towson, MD), Intermountain Independent Booksellers Annual Meeting (Salt Lake City), Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo College, John Rollins Bookstore (Kalamazoo), Stockton State College (New Jersey), Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University, Ohio University, Waynesburg College (PA), the University of Tulsa, Houston Community College, Adelphi College, University of Missouri (St. Louis), Oakland University (Michigan).
INTERVIEWS GIVEN:
I have been interviewed at a number of schools and poetry conferences and other events. They include the following: Ohio Public Radio (Athens), New Hampshire Public Radio, newspapers in Franconia and Concord, WEVL Radio (Memphis), KRAB Radio (Seattle), Elliott Bay Bookstore Newsletter, University of Montana student newspaper, the Salt Lake Tribune, the Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Inkslinger (Salt Lake City), the Commercial-Appeal (Memphis), Valparaiso University student newspaper, Dartmouth College newspaper, radio station KUSU (Ogden, Utah), KCPW (Park City, Utah), station WKMU, the Kalamazoo Gazette, and others.
INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED:
with: Katharine Coles, in Inkslinger (King’s English Bookstore, Salt Lake City), August 1995.
with: Katharine Coles, in Catalyst (Salt Lake City), August 1995.
with: Pattiann Rogers, River City, Vol. X, No. 1 (Fall 1989), pp. 88-112.
with: Charles Altieri, River City, Vol. IX, No. 1 (Spring 1989), pp. 108-26.
with: Marvin Bell, River City, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Spring 1988), pp. 67-75.
PANELS CHAIRED:
“Planet on the Table: Poets on the Reading Life, AWP, spring 2003
“Women Poets on Literary Tradition,” Poets House, NYC, NY, March 1994
“Women Poets on Literary Tradition,” Associated Writing Programs Annual Conference, Tempe, Arizona, April 1994
“Women Poets on Literary Tradition,” Elliott Bay Bookstore, Seattle, Washington, August 1994
JUDGING:
I have served as an Academy of American Poets Prize judge at the University of Utah, the University of Washington, the University of Montana, and Valparaiso University. I served as a poetry judge for the Missouri Arts Council Biennial Competition in 1992, and for the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Richard Stockton College Poetry Contest in 1998, the Michigan State writing awards in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, and the Ohio University (Sphere), awards in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.
WORK IN PROGRESS:
I am working on two books, a new collection of poems tentatively titled “Flesh and Bone,” and on a nonfiction book, “Searching for Andras.” This book is based on my mother’s high school correspondence with a young man in Budapest, Hungary, from 1936-1941, and on extensive research I did to learn what became of Andras and his family during and after the war.