Amy King (born August 4, 1974) is an American poet, essayist, and activist.

Early life and education

Born in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, Maryland, King grew up in

Stone Mountain Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome Inselberg, monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the small city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state o ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and received her B.S. in English and women's studies from

Towson University Towson University (TU or Towson) is a public university in Towson, Maryland. Founded in 1866 as Maryland's first training school for teachers, Towson University is a part of the University System of Maryland. Since its founding, the university h ...

. She received her M.A. in

American studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, history, society, and culture. It traditionally incorporates literary criticism, historiography and critical theory. Sch ...

(poetics concentration) at

State University of New York Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

, and an M.F.A. from

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 ...

in creative writing.

Career

Since 2003, King has taught English and creative writing at SUNY Nassau Community College. King received the 2015 WNBA Award (

Women's National Book Association The Women's National Book Association (WNBA) was established in 1917, as an organization to promote the role of women in the community of the book.The Women's National Book Association Walker, Belle M. The Bookman; a Review of Books and Life (1895� ...

). She also received

The Feminist Press The Feminist Press (officially The Feminist Press at CUNY) is an American independent nonprofit literary publisher that promotes freedom of expression and social justice. It publishes writing by people who share an activist spirit and a belief in ...

's "40 Under 40: The Future of Feminism" award in 2010 and the 2012 SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities. In 2016, Adam Fitzgerald named King "One of the 30 Poets You Should Be Reading", and she was listed as one of "13 New York Poets Changing the Lit Scene" by Civil Coping Mechanisms in March 2017. She moderates the Women's Poetry Listserv ( WOMPO) and the

Goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and read ...

Poetry! Group, which includes more than 20,000 members and features the monthly "Goodreads Newsletter Poetry Contest". She also serves on ''The Offing Magazine's'' Advisory Board. King has published five full-length poetry collections, including ''Antidotes for an Alibi (''

BlazeVOX Books BlazeVOX Books, often stylized as BlazeVOX ooks'', is an independent publisher founded by Geoffrey Gatza and based in Buffalo, New York. Since 2000, it has published more than 350 books of poetry and prose, most of which fall within the sphere ...

, 2005), ''I’m the Man Who Loves You'' (BlazeVOX Books, 2007, ''Slaves to do These Things'' (BlazeVOX Books, 2009), ''I Want to Make You Safe'' (Litmus Press 2011) and ''The Missing Museum'' (

Tarpaulin Sky Press Tarpaulin Sky Press is a small press publisher of hybrid texts as well as poetry and prose. Founded by Christian Peet in 2006 and based in Grafton, Vermont, the company produces full-length books, chapbooks, trade paperbacks, hand-bound books, and ...

2016). She is co-editor of the anthology series ''Bettering American Poetry'' (Bettering Books) and, with Heidi Lynn Staples, the anthology, ''Big Energy Poets: Ecopoetry Thinks Climate Change'' (Blazevox Books 2017). From 2010 – 2014, she co-edited the online response to the

BP Gulf Oil Spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considered ...

, ''Poets for Living Waters','' with Heidi Lynn Staples and co-edited the

PEN America PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of litera ...

Poetry Series with Ana Bozicevic in 2010. King founded and curated, from 2006, the Brooklyn-based reading series, ''The Stain of Poetry'', until 2010.

Activism

A founding member (2009) of the literary arts activist organization, Vida: Women in Literary Arts, King currently serves on the Executive Board and is the press officer and Editor-in-Chief of the ''VIDA Review''. Known for its annual report on the rates of publication between male and female authors, in 2014, the VIDA Count expanded to include race, sexual orientation and writers with disabilities. In March 2015, King publicly critiqued in her essay, "Why Are People So Invested in Kenneth Goldsmith?"

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

's adjunct lecturer

Kenneth Goldsmith Kenneth Goldsmith (born 1961) is an American poetry, poet and critic. He is the founding editor of UbuWeb and since 2020 is the ongoing artist-in-residence at the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing (CPCW) at the University of Pennsylvani ...

's controversial performance at RISD of his poem "The Body of Michael Brown". In August 2015, King curated and contributed to a forum for

Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is an American literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthropist Rut ...

that raised the question, "What Is Literary Activism?", which resulted in online debate about the merits of literary activism. In 2016, she spoke out about the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy ( sv, Svenska Akademien), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III of Sweden, Gustav III, is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish lang ...

's decision to award

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

Awards

* 2000: MacArthur Scholarship for Poetry * 2001: Pavement Saw Press Chapbook Award Series – “The People Instruments” * 2015: THE MISSING MUSEUM – Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize

Bibliography

Collections

* ''The People Instruments''. Pavement Saw Press. 2001. . * ''The Citizen's Dilemma''. Duration Press. 2003. * ''Antidotes for an Alibi''.

. 2005. . * ''I’m the Man Who Loves You''. BlazeVOX Books. 2007. . * ''Slaves to do These Things''. BlazeVOX Books. 2009. . * ''I Want to Make You Safe''. Litmus Press. 2011. . * ''The Missing Museum''.

. 2016. .

Editor

* Amy King, Vanessa Angelica Villarreal, Nikki Wallschlaeger, Sarah Clark, Airea D Matthews, Kenzie Allen, Eunsong Kim, Jason Koo, David Tomas Martinez, Hector Ramirez, Metta Sama, eds (2017). ''Bettering American Poetry 2015''. Bettering Books. . * Heidi Lynn Staples, Amy King, ed. (2017). ''Big Energy Poets: Ecopoetry Thinks Climate Change''. Blazevox Books. .

Poems

* "String Theory". ''

Boston Review ''Boston Review'' is an American quarterly political and literary magazine. It publishes political, social, and historical analysis, literary and cultural criticism, book reviews, fiction, and poetry, both online and in print. Its signature form ...

''. April 2013. * "Understanding the Poem". Connotation Press. December 2013. * "Wings of Desire". ''

Poetry Magazine ''Poetry'' (founded as ''Poetry: A Magazine of Verse'') has been published in Chicago since 1912. It is one of the leading monthly poetry journals in the English-speaking world. Founded by Harriet Monroe, it is now published by the Poetry Foundat ...

''. January 2014. * "FAME IS NOT SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED". ''

Hyperallergic ''Hyperallergic'' is an online arts magazine, based in Brooklyn, New York. Founded by the art critic Hrag Vartanian and his husband Veken Gueyikian in October 2009, the site describes itself as a "forum for serious, playful, and radical thinking ...

''. February 2014. * "WAKE BEFORE DAWN & SALT THE SEA". Dia: Readings in Contemporary Poetry. December 2015. * "Two If By Land, I Do". Brooklyn Poets. June 2015. * "Poem-A-Day – 'You Make the Culture. ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

''. August 2015. * "Perspective".

. September 2016.
“From Ellis Island” and “Imprison, Deport, Repeat"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Summer 2017. * "Ancient Sunlight".

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreac ...

. August 2017.
“All Sex All the Time” and “Feel Up the Light"

Diagram A diagram is a symbolic representation of information using visualization techniques. Diagrams have been used since prehistoric times on walls of caves, but became more prevalent during the Enlightenment. Sometimes, the technique uses a three- ...

. May 2020.

Essays

* "The What Else of Queer Poetry". ''Free Verse: A Journal of Contemporary Poetry & Politics.'' 2010. * "On Alice Walker's 'The Color Purple'".

. October 2012. * "BEAUTY AND THE BEASTLY PO-BIZ".''

The Rumpus ''The Rumpus'' is an online literary magazine launched on January 20, 2009. The site features interviews, book reviews, essays, comics, and critiques of creative culture as well as original fiction and poetry. The site runs two subscription-base ...

. July 2013.'' * "Poetry: This Death Is Incomplete". ''

. July 2013.'' * "Poets’ Roundtable on Person and Persona". Amy King and

Cate Marvin Cate Marvin is an American poet. Life She graduated from Marlboro College, University of Houston, University of Iowa, and University of Cincinnati with a Ph.D. She has taught at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York and Columbi ...

. ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...

.'' October 2013. * "Whacked Out: A Case for the Advocacy of the Unlisted". ''

''. January 2014. * "Threat Level: Poetry". ''Boston Review.'' February 2014. * "WHY ARE PEOPLE SO INVESTED IN KENNETH GOLDSMITH? OR, IS COLONIALIST POETRY EASY?". ''VIDA Review''. March 2015. * "Call and Response: The Gifts of Women Poets". ''

''. August 2015. * "Young Poets Bare All: What Is a Culture?". ''Poetry Foundation''. August 2015. * "What Is Literary Activism?". ''Poetry Foundation.'' August 2015. * "And the Occasion Changed: A Tribute to John Ashbery". ''Poetry Foundation.'' September 2017.

References

External links

"Amy King", Academy of American Poets

"Amy King"
Poetry Foundation
"Amy King"
AWP – Association of Writers and Writing Programs
Author website

"Amy King"
PennSound: Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Amy 1971 births Living people 21st-century American essayists 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers American activists American non-fiction writers American women academics American women essayists American women poets Brooklyn College alumni Writers from Baltimore Activists from Baltimore People from Stone Mountain, Georgia State University of New York faculty Towson University alumni University at Buffalo alumni Writers from Maryland Writers from New York City