Debra Marquart is an

American poet The poets listed below were either born in the United States or else published much of their poetry while living in that country. A B C D E F G H I–J K L M N O P Q *George Quasha (born 1942 in poetry, 1942) R ...

and musician from the small town of

Napoleon, North Dakota Napoleon is a city in Logan County, North Dakota, Logan County, North Dakota, United States. It is the county seat of Logan County. The population was 749 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Napoleon was founded in 1886 and na ...

. Since 1992 she has been performing as singer-songwriter with the band The Bone People. After graduating with master's degrees from

Moorhead State University Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) is a public university in Moorhead, Minnesota. The school has an enrollment of 7,534 students in 2019 and 266 full-time faculty members. MSUM is a part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities s ...

and

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

(ISU), she became an English professor at ISU, directing an MFA program in "

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

and environment". In 2014, she taught writers' workshops in Bakken oil field communities most affected by

hydraulic fracking Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "frac ...

, where "many people ... are despairing – feeling that they have been declared an energy

sacrifice zone A sacrifice zone or sacrifice area (often termed a national sacrifice zone or national sacrifice area) is a geographic area that has been permanently impaired by heavy environmental alterations or economic disinvestment, often through locally unwant ...

." She is the Poet Laureate of Iowa since 2019. In 2021 she received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.

Early life

Marquart grew up on a farm originally purchased by her great-grandfather in the small town of

. She was the youngest of five children. Though her father relocated the family to Bismarck at one point, none of his brothers was willing to run the farm, so they returned. Marquart loathed the place, the hard physical labor, and the limited prospects for women, and was eager to leave.

Career

After finishing high school, she toured with rock and heavy metal bands throughout the 1980s. At the end of the decade she studied at

, Minnesota, graduating with a Master of Liberal Arts in 1990. In 1991 she moved to Iowa, enrolling at

(ISU) in

Ames Ames may refer to: Places United States * Ames, Arkansas, a place in Arkansas * Ames, Colorado * Ames, Illinois * Ames, Indiana * Ames, Iowa, the most populous city bearing this name * Ames, Kansas * Ames, Nebraska * Ames, New York * Ames, Ok ...

and earned a Master of Arts in

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

in 1993 with a thesis entitled "The Horizontal Life: Poems, Stories, Essays". She became an English professor at ISU and has been directing the MFA program in 'creative writing and environment'. In November 2013, the North Dakota Humanities Council invited her to a "traveling residency to gather cultural and environmental impact stories in the North Dakota Oil Patch". She taught writers' workshops in Bakken communities most affected by

. She has developed concerns about the

environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing The environmental impact of fracking is related to land use and water consumption, air emissions, including methane emissions, brine and fracturing fluid leakage, water contamination, noise pollution, and health. Water and air pollution are the bi ...

, the 3900

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...

s in North Dakota since the oil boom, and water quality. She is also concerned about the ICBMs still planted in the fracking zone. In a 2016

Iowa Public Radio Iowa Public Radio is a state network in the U.S. state of Iowa that combines the operations of the National Public Radio member stations run by Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and University of Northern Iowa. They broadcast programs ...

interview, she read the poem "Lament" from "Small buried things". She has said:

There are some good things about the oil boom, but we must realize that many people in the state are despairing – feeling that they have been declared an energy sacrifice zone and the rest of the country doesn't care what their land and water will be like. I love the place, so I must speak up for it.

Work

She has published six books, which includes three

poetry collection A poetry collection is often a compilation of several Poetry, poems by one poet to be published in a single Volume (bibliography), volume or chapbook. A collection can include any number of poems, ranging from a few (e.g. the four long poems in ...

s, a book of short stories, and a memoir. * * * * * She has edited several other books including the 2016 anthology ''Nothing to Declare: A Guide to the Flash Sequence. She is a singer-songwriter with the band The Bone People, a jazz-poetry rhythm & blues project with Anthony Stevens and Peter Manesis, and released the CDs ''Orange Parade'' (acoustic rock) and ''A Regular Dervish'' (jazz-poetry).

Awards

She has received the following awards: * John Guyon Nonfiction Award * 2001

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 ...

* 2003

Mid-American Review ''Mid-American Review'' (''MAR'') is an international literary journal dedicated to publishing contemporary fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and translations. Founded in 1981, ''MAR'' is a publication of the Department of English and the College of Ar ...

Nonfiction Award * The Headwater's Prize * 2003

Shelby Foote Shelby Dade Foote Jr. (November 17, 1916 – June 27, 2005) was an American writer, historian and journalist. Although he primarily viewed himself as a novelist, he is now best known for his authorship of '' The Civil War: A Narrative'', a three ...

Prize for the Essay from the Faulkner Society * 2007

PEN Center USA PEN Center USA was a branch of PEN, an international literary and human rights organization. It was one of two PEN International Centers in the United States, the other being the PEN America in New York City. On March 1, 2018, PEN Center USA unifi ...

Creative Nonfiction Award * 2008 NEA Creative Writing Prose Fellowship * 2014

Paumanok Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...

Poetry Award from the Visiting Writers Program,

Farmingdale State College The State University of New York at Farmingdale (Farmingdale State College or SUNY Farmingdale) is a public college in East Farmingdale, New York. It is part of the State University of New York. The college was chartered in 1912 as a school of ap ...

, New York.

References

External links

*
Marquart Directory Page
ISU College of liberal arts, 2016

Read North Dakota
Firefly nights
song by The Bone People featuring Debra Marquart, YouTube, 3:03min, September 23, 2007
Deb Marquart on "Why rural communities need artists"
interview by Rural Learning Center, 2010 Midwest Rural Assembly, YouTube, 4:39min. {{DEFAULTSORT:Marquart, Debra Living people American women poets People from Logan County, North Dakota Poets from North Dakota Iowa State University faculty Environmentalism in the United States Jazz poetry 1956 births American women academics 21st-century American women Singer-songwriters from North Dakota Poets Laureate of Iowa