Amy Wright is an American writer and editor.

Early life and education

Wright was born in the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a Physiographic regions of the world, physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsy ...

of southwest

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. She received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in English from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

in 1997, an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in English from the

University of Colorado, Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...

, and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

. In 2007, she joined the Creative Writing faculty of Austin Peay State University.

Writing

Wright's poetry appears in the ''Southern Poetry Anthology'' series, Volume III: ''Contemporary Appalachia'', and Volume VI, ''Tennessee''. Her first chapbook, ''There Are No New Ways to Kill a Man'', was published by Apostrophe Books. Her second chapbook, ''Farm'', was published by Finishing Line Press, and her third, ''The Garden Will Give You A Fat Lip'', won the 2012 Pavement Saw Chapbook Contest. Her fourth chapbook, ''Rhinestones in the Bed, or Cracker Crumbs'', was published in 2014 by Dancing Girl Press. Her fifth chapbook, ''Wherever the Land Is'', was published by MIEL Books in 2016. Her sixth, ''Think I'll Go Eat a Worm'' was published by Iris Press in 2019. Wright’s essays supporting

entomophagy Entomophagy (, from Greek ἔντομον ', 'insect', and φαγεῖν ', 'to eat') is the practice of eating insects. An alternative term is insectivory. Terms for organisms that practice entomophagy are ''entomophage'' and ''insectivore' ...

appear in ''

Kenyon Review ''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, US, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959. ' ...

'', '' Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture'', and ''Passages North''. Other nonfiction has been published by ''Brevity'', ''Denver Quarterly'', ''DIAGRAM'', ''Quarter After Eight'', and ''Tupelo Quarterly Review''.

Editing

In 2007, Wright joined the editorial staff of ''Zone 3'' journal and Zone 3 Press as Nonfiction Editor.

Reviews

In a review of ''Rhinestones in the Bed, or Cracker Crumbs'' for ''Wilderness House Literary Review'', Tom Daley writes: "Flirting with cultural clichés about a particular class of people makes for a risky project, especially in poetry, but Wright probes the pigeonhole, plucks its feathers, and scoops its guano with a brave and unabashed delight."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Amy 1975 births American book editors 21st-century American women writers University of Virginia alumni University of Colorado Boulder alumni University of Denver alumni Austin Peay State University faculty Living people American women editors American women poets American women essayists 21st-century American poets 21st-century American essayists People from Wytheville, Virginia Poets from Virginia American women academics