Alice Friman (born October 20, 1933) is an American
poet. She has taught at a number of universities and helped to found the Indiana Writers' Center. She is Professor Emerita at the
University of Indianapolis, and was poet-in-residence at
Georgia College & State University. She also used to host a poetry podcast, "Ask Alice".
Biography
Friman was born and raised in New York City. She married Elmer Friman in 1955, followed his job to
Dayton, Ohio, in 1956, and in 1960 moved to
Indianapolis, Indiana. Their children are H. Richard Friman, Paul Lawrence Friman, and Lillian Elaine Wilson. They divorced in 1975 and she married Marshall Bruce Gentry in 1989.
Career
Friman is a graduate of
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
(1954), holds a master's degree from
Butler University (1971), and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Indianapolis (2002). She started writing poetry seriously in her forties and is one of the founders of the Indiana Writers' Center. Friman taught English and creative writing at the
University of Indianapolis from 1971 to 1993 and has been Professor Emerita of English and Creative Writing since 1993. She was named "Teacher of the Year" at U of I in 1993. She also taught at
Randolph College,
Ball State University
Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers, Indiana, Fishers and Indianapolis.
On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, indust ...
,
Indiana State University,
IUPUI, and
Curtin University
Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...
in Perth, Australia. In 2003 she moved to
Milledgeville, Georgia
Milledgeville is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is northeast of Macon and bordered on the east by the Oconee River. The rapid current of the river here made this an attractive location to buil ...
, where she was poet-in-residence in the MFA program at
Georgia College & State University. Friman used to host a poetry podcast titled Ask Alice, which was sponsored by the Georgia College MFA program and some episodes can be seen on YouTube.
Publications
Friman has published seven full-length collections of poetry: ''Blood Weather'' (LSU Press, 2019), ''The View from Saturn'' (LSU Press, 2014), ''Vinculum'' (LSU Press, 2011), ''The Book of the Rotten Daughter'' (BkMk Press, 2006), ''Zoo'' (University of Arkansas Press, 1999), ''Inverted Fire'' (BkMk Press, 1997), and ''Reporting from Corinth'' (The Barnwood Press, 1984). She has also authored several chapbooks of poetry: ''Driving for Jimmy Wonderland'' (Barnwood Press, 1992), ''Insomniac Heart'' (Years Press, 1990, 2nd printing 1991), ''Song to My Sister'' (Writers' Center Press, 1979), and ''A Question of Innocence'' (Raintree Press, Bloomington, IN, 1978). Her poetry has been included in numerous anthologies, including ''Pushcart Prize XXXVI'' and ''The Best American Poetry 2009.'' Essays by Friman include “Truth: The Road or the Rug”
ssay on Carson McCullers(published in ''The Georgia Review'', 2012); “Letting Go” (published in ''The Movable Nest'', Helicon Nine, Kansas City, MO, 2007); “The Office” (published in ''Arts & Letters Journal of Contemporary Culture'', 2004); “Inking In the Myth” (published in ''Hopewell Review'', 1996–97, and expanded in anthology ''Sleeping with One Eye Open: Women Writers and the Art of Survival'', University of Georgia Press, 1999).
Awards and honors
Friman's many awards include two
Pushcart Prize
The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...
(2021) (2012); Ekphrasis Prize for Poetry (2012); the Georgia Writers' Association's Georgia Author of the Year Award for Poetry (2012); James Boatwright III Prize for Poetry, ''Shenandoah'' (2001); Creative Renewal Fellowship, Arts Council of Indianapolis (1999-2000); Individual Artist Fellowship, Indiana Arts Commission (1996–97);
Poetry Society of America's
Lucille Medwick Memorial Award (1993),
Cecil Hemley Memorial Award (1990), and Consuelo Ford Award (1988); New England Poetry Club's Gretchen Warren Award (2011) and Erika Mumford Prize (1990, 2008); and Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature's Midwest Poetry Award (1990). She has been a Fellow at numerous literary colonies and centers including
MacDowell,
Yaddo,
Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, VCCA, Millay, Leighton, Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians, and Georgia Review/Bowers House Literary Center.
Critical opinion
Reviewers have expressed appreciation of Friman's poetry in publications including Poetry Daily,
Image Journal,
KCUR
KCUR-FM (89.3 MHz) is a public, listener-supported radio station in Kansas City, Missouri, broadcasting over the Kansas City metropolitan area and parts of Missouri and Kansas. It is a service of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, which als ...
, Hollins Critic, and The
Prairie Schooner.
[Kallet, Marilyn. "Alice Friman. The Book of the Rotten Daughter. (Book review)." Prairie Schooner. University of Nebraska Press. 2008. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-180692628.html ]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friman, Alice
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
Brooklyn College alumni
Butler University alumni
American women poets
1933 births
21st-century American women