April Anne Bernard (born 1956) is an American writer,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, and novelist.

Early life and education

Bernard was born and raised in

Williamstown, Massachusetts Williamstown is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. Located in Berkshire County, the town is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts metropolitan statis ...

. Her father, Walter Bernard, held a BA from the University of New Hampshire and a PhD from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

. For many years he was a research scientist at

Sprague Electric Sprague Electric Company was an electronic component maker founded by Robert C. Sprague in 1926. Sprague was best known for making a large line of capacitors used in a wide variety of electrical and electronic in commercial, industrial and militar ...

. Her mother, Claire, was a teacher, writer and librarian who taught 5th and 6th grade at the local elementary school. Bernard graduated from Mt. Greylock Regional High School in 1974. She attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, earning a BA magna cum laude in History and Literature in 1978. At Harvard, Bernard was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was the recipient of several awards, including the Sonier Thesis Prize in History and Literature, the Untermeyer Poetry Prize, and the Roger Conant Hatch Prize for Lyric Poetry. She earned a master's degree from Yale University in 1981.

Career

Writing

She has worked as a senior editor at '' Vanity Fair'', ''

Premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

'', and ''Manhattan, inc''. Her work has appeared in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', the ''

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 ...

'', ''

AGNI Agni ( ) is the Deva (Hinduism), Hindu god of fire. As the Guardians of the directions#Aṣṭa-Dikpāla ("Guardians of Eight Directions"), guardian deity of the southeast direction, he is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. ...

'', ''

Ploughshares ''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Bost ...

'', ''

Parnassus Mount Parnassus (; , ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is, and historically has been, especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers scenic views of the c ...

'', and ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...

''. In 2017, Bernard was deputy editor of US Magazine.

Academia

In the early 1990s, Bernard taught at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

. She later taught at writing at as part of the MFA program at Bennington College from 1999 to 2009. In Fall 2003, Bernard was the

Sidney Harman Sidney Mortimer Harman (August 4, 1918 – April 12, 2011) was a Canadian-born American engineer, businessman, manager and philanthropist active in electronics, education, government, industry, and publishing. Harman made “high-fidelity ...

Writer-in-Residence at

Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City, United States. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the colle ...

. She is a professor of English and director of creative writing at

Skidmore College Skidmore College is a Private school, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,700 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Scien ...

in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Personal life

In 1981, Bernard married Peter Craig Freeman, the director of the Blum-Heiman Gallery in New York. Bernard later was married to writer Marc Robinson. She has a son, Henry Robinson.

Honors and awards

* 2003

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

* 2006 Stover Memorial Prize in Poetry

Published works

Full-length poetry collections

* * * * * *

Novels

* *

Anthology publications

* *

References

External links

"Interview: April Bernard", Reb Livingston, ''Post Road Magazine'', Issue 7
* Audio
April Bernard reads "Beagle or Something"
from ''Romanticism: Poems'' (2009) * Audio
April Bernard reads "Heimatlos"
from ''Romanticism: Poems'' (2009) *

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard, April 1956 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists Poets from Vermont American women poets American women novelists Amherst College faculty Baruch College faculty Bennington College faculty Harvard Advocate alumni People from Bennington, Vermont The New Yorker people Novelists from Vermont 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American poets 21st-century American poets Novelists from Massachusetts Novelists from New York (state) American women academics