Beth Ann Fennelly (born May 22, 1971) is an American poet and prose writer
and was the
Poet Laureate of Mississippi.
__TOC__
Biography
She was born in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
and raised in
Lake Forest, Illinois
Lake Forest is a city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 19,367. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest ...
. She attended Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart in Lake Forest, graduating in 1989. She earned a B.A. magna cum laude from the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
in 1993. After graduation, she taught English for a year in a coal mining city on the
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
/
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
border.
She later earned an MFA from the
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...
, followed by the Diane Middlebrook Fellowship at the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
. She taught poetry at
Knox College for two years. Since 2001, she's taught poetry and non-fiction at the
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment.
...
, where she has won several teaching awards, including Outstanding Liberal Arts Teacher of the Year (2011) and the University of Mississippi Humanities Teacher of the Year (2011).
Fennelly's first collection of poems, ''Open House'', won multiple awards, including the Zoo Press Poetry Prize, the 2001
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. ...
Prize, the Great Lakes Colleges Association Award, and a Book Sense Top Ten Poetry Pick. Her poems have been included in numerous anthologies, including three editions of ''
The Best American Poetry
''The Best American Poetry'' series consists of annual poetry anthologies, each containing seventy-five poems.
Background
The series, begun by poet and editor David Lehman in 1988, has a different guest editor every year. Lehman, still the general ...
''. She received a grant from the
National Endowment of the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
in 2002 and she has also won a
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 ...
. In 2009, she received a
Fulbright grant
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
to Brazil to study the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop. Her second and third books of poetry, ''Tender Hooks'' (2004) and ''Unmentionables'' (2008), were published by W. W. Norton.
Fennelly is a contributor to ''
The Oxford American
The ''Oxford American'' is a quarterly magazine that focuses on the American South.
First publication
The magazine was begun in late 1989 in Oxford, Mississippi, by Marc Smirnoff (born July 11, 1963).
The name "Oxford American" is a play on ''T ...
'', where her essays frequently feature the topics of Southern food, music, and books. Her essays have appeared in ''
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 Boston. ...
'', ''
Poets & Writers Poets & Writers, Inc. is one of the largest nonprofit literary organizations in the United States serving poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. The organization publishes a bi-monthly magazine called ''Poets & Writers Magazine'', ...
'', ''Ecotone'', and ''
The Virginia Quarterly Review
The ''Virginia Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established in 1925 by James Southall Wilson, at the request of University of Virginia president E. A. Alderman. This ''"National Journal of Literature and Discussion"'' ...
''. The Society of American Travel Writers awarded her the Lowell Prize for her work in ''
Southern Living
''Southern Living'' is a lifestyle magazine aimed at readers in the Southern United States featuring recipes, house plans, garden plans, and information about Southern culture and travel. It is published by Birmingham, Alabama–based Southern Prog ...
''. She published a book of essays, ''Great With Child: Letters to a Young Mother'', in 2006.
Fennelly and her husband,
Tom Franklin, co-authored a novel, ''The Tilted World'', set during the
1927 flood of the Mississippi River. Published in 2013 by
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
, it was named an IndieNext Great Read and a finalist for the 2014 SIBA Book Award and published in six foreign editions.
More recently, Fennelly has been writing flash nonfiction pieces in such magazines as ''
Creative Nonfiction
Creative nonfiction (also known as literary nonfiction or narrative nonfiction or literary journalism or verfabula) is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contra ...
'', ''
The Southern Review
''The Southern Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established by Robert Penn Warren in 1935 at the behest of Charles W. Pipkin and funded by Huey Long as a part of his investment in Louisiana State University. It publishes fiction ...
'',
''Five Points'', ''The Normal School'', ''
Guernica
Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the mu ...
'', and ''
The Missouri Review
''The Missouri Review'' is a literary magazine founded in 1978 by the University of Missouri. It publishes fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction quarterly. With its open submission policy, ''The Missouri Review'' receives 12,000 manuscripts ...
''. Her collection, ''Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs'', was published by
W. W. Norton in fall of 2017. The Atlanta Journal Constitution named it a “Best Southern Book of 2017” and it was awarded the 2018 Housatonic Book Award in Nonfiction.
In August 2016, Fennelly was named the new Poet Laureate of Mississippi. In 2020, she was named an
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 ...
Laureate Fellow.
She is married to novelist
Tom Franklin and they have three children. They live in
Oxford, Mississippi
Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Oxf ...
.
Selected works
* ''A Different Kind of Hunger'' (1997) Poems, Chapbook, Winner of ''The Texas Review'' Breakthrough Prize.
* ''Open House'' Poems, Zoo Press (2002) reissued by W. W. Norton (2009)
* ''Tender Hooks'' Poems, W. W. Norton (2004)
* ''Great with Child: Letters to a Young Mother'' Nonfiction, W. W. Norton (2006)
* ''Unmentionables'' Poems, W. W. Norton (2008)
* ''The Tilted World'' Novel, co-authored with
Tom Franklin (author)
Thomas Gerald Franklin (born July 7, 1963) is an American writer originally from Dickinson, Alabama, United States,.
Franklin earned a B.A. at the University of South Alabama, in Mobile, Alabama. He completed his M.F.A. at the University of A ...
Harper Collins (2013)
** Foreign Editions: UK, France, Italy, Korea, Taiwan, Japan.
** Reviewed in: ''BookList'' (starred); ''Associated Press''; ''Publishers Weekly''; ''Library Journal''; ''Kirkus''; ''Garden & Gun''; ''The Literary Review'' (UK); ''The Irish Times'', ''The Financial Times'' (UK); ''The Guardian'' (UK); ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution''; ''The Jackson Clarion-Ledger''; ''The Memphis Commercial Appeal''; ''The Wilmington Star-News''; ''Notre Dame Magazine''; ''Memphis Magazine''; ''Birmingham Magazine''; ''Virginia Quarterly Review''; ''Austin-American Statesman''; ''LA Review of Books''; ''The Chicago Examiner''; ''The Seattle Times''.
** Selected for: IndieNext Great Read for October 2013; Southern Booksellers Association Fall Okra Pick; October 2013 LibraryReads Pick; Featured Alternate Selection of The Literary Guild, Book-of the-Month Club, DoubleDay Book Club, Mystery Guild, Quality Paperback Book Club and Columbia House Book Club. Named one of San Francisco Librarian's Best Books of 2013 and Uncut Magazine's Best Books of 2013. Nominated for MS Institute of Arts and Letters and the Dabwaha Award. Finalist for 2014 SIBA Award.
* ''Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs'' Nonfiction, W. W. Norton (2017)
Selected honors and awards
* Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship, 2020
*The Univ. of Mississippi CLA Faculty Achievement Award (for “unusually significant and meritorious achievement in teaching, scholarship, and service”), 2018
*The Lamar York Prize in Creative Nonfiction, ''The Chattahoochee Review'', 2016
* Orlando Award in Nonfiction from A Room of Her Own, 2015
*The University of Notre Dame Alumni Association's Griffin Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Writing, 2015.
*The Subiaco Award for Literary Merit, 2012.
*Mississippi Arts Commission Grant, nonfiction, 2015, poetry, 2010, nonfiction, 2005
*Fulbright Scholarship, Brazil, 2009
*United States Artist Grant, 2006
*''The Black Warrior'' Review Poetry Contest, 2006
*Sewanee Writers Conference Fellowship, 2004
*National Endowment for the Arts Award, 2003
*Breadloaf Writers Conference Fellowship, 2003
*Pushcart Prize, 2001.
*State of Illinois Arts Council Grant, 2001.
*MacDowell Colony Residency, Peterborough, NH, 2000.
*The University of Arizona Poetry Center Summer Residency, 1999.
Links to work online
Essays
“What Good is Literature? Reading and the Empathetic Brain”“Refuge and Prospect: The Front Porch”“Making Much of the Moment: a Guide to the Micro-Memoir”Everything But: Creating Tension in Love Poetry
Fruits We’ll Never Taste
My Hundred
On Poetry and the Reallocation of Concentration: Learning to Forget
Poems
Eight Poemson Academy of American Poets Website
Kudzu Chronicles (Author's Audio with Text and Interpretive Video)
Micro-memoirsMicro-memoirsPoem Not to Be Read at Your Wedding
The Welcoming
Links to book reviews and interviews
*
Heating & CoolingThe Kenyon Review''
*
Heating & CoolingThe Rumpus''
*
Reading Women Interview'
*
' ''Valparaiso Poetry Review''
*
' ''Literary Mama''
*
Unmentionables' ''Smartish Pace''
*
Great With Child' ''Publishers Weekly''
*
The Tilted World' ''The Guardian''
Dueling Writers & Honing the Creative Impulse: A Conversation with Beth Ann Fennelly''Prairie Schooner''
Kind of Dancing: An Interview with Tom Franklin & Beth Ann Fennelly''Fiction Writers Review''
References
External links
BethAnnFennelly.com- Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fennelly, Beth Ann
American essayists
People from New Jersey
1971 births
Living people
University of Notre Dame alumni
University of Arkansas alumni
University of Mississippi faculty
American women poets
American women essayists
21st-century American poets
American women academics
21st-century American women writers