Cortney Lance Bledsoe (born May 14, 1976) is an American writer, poet, and book reviewer. He has published eight books and hundreds of short stories, poems, essays, short plays, and reviews in many literary journals and

anthologies In book publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed work ...

. Bledsoe has been nominated for the

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 ...

ten times, Best of the Net twice, and won the ''Blue Collar Review''’s Working People’s Poetry Contest in 2004. He currently lives outside

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 ...

Background

Bledsoe was born in

Wynne, Arkansas Wynne is the county seat and largest city of Cross County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 8,367 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 Census. Nestled between the Arkansas Delta and Crowley's Ridge, Wynne is the closest city to the sec ...

and grew up on a working rice farm. In addition to rice,

soybeans The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and ...

, milo, and other crops, his family raised and sold cattle,

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

, and buffalo fish. His mother suffered from

Huntington's disease Huntington's disease (HD), also known as Huntington's chorea, is a neurodegenerative disease that is mostly inherited. The earliest symptoms are often subtle problems with mood or mental abilities. A general lack of coordination and an unst ...

. Bledsoe’s experiences on his family’s farm and his mother’s illness greatly influenced his writing, especially his early poetry, much of which has been collected in Riceland. In high school, Bledsoe co-founded a punk rock band, alternately called Maria Static, and later Shizknit. They performed sporadically around Arkansas before breaking up in 2001. Bledsoe received a Bachelor’s in Arts with a focus in Creative Writing 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 ...

in 2005. While there, he worked as an editor for ''Exposure: the University of Arkansas’ Literary and Visual Arts Journal'' (now defunct). He received a Master’s of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Hollins University in 2008 and worked as an assistant poetry editor, and later assistant editor, for the ''Hollins Critic''. While at Hollins, he cofounded ''Ghoti Magazine'' and was head editor until the journal ceased publication in 2010.

List of works

Poetry

* ''Anthem'' (Cervena Barva Press 2009) * ''_____(Want/Need)'' (Plan B Press, 2009) * ''Leap Year'' (Red Ceilings Press, 2011) * ''Riceland'' (Unbound Content, 2013)

Fiction

* ''Naming the Animals, collected stories'' (Mary Celeste Press, 2011) * ''Last Stand in Zombietown'' (Damnation Press, 2013) * ''Sunlight'' (Etopia Press, 2012) * ''Necro-Files: $7.50/hr + Curses'' (Etopia Press, 2013) * ''Necro-Files: Bloody Sexy'' (Etopia Press, 2014) * ''Necro-Files: Tall, Dark, & Hairy'' (Etopia Press, 2015) * ''Sorting the Dead'' (Damnation Press, 2015) * ''Man of Clay'' (Main Street Rag Press, 2015)

Reception

In a review in ''Neon'', Christopher Frost called _____ (Want/Need) “complex and elegant”. In a recent review in the ''Arkansas Review'', Monica Hooper called ''Anthem'' “a brilliant, but humble, collection of poetry that reflects a long-awaited shift in Southern Poetry” (40,3). “Leaving the Garden” from ''Naming the Animals'' was selected as a Notable Story of 2008 by Story South's Million Readers Award. His story "The Scream" was selected as a Notable Story of 2010 by Story South's Million Readers Award.

References

Poets from Arkansas 1976 births Living people 21st-century American poets {{US-poet-1970s-stub