Kiki Petrosino (born 1979) is an American poet and professor of poetry. She currently teaches at the

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

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Cha ...

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 ...

Early life and education

Petrosino was born and raised in

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 ...

, Maryland. After spending two years in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

teaching Italian and English in a private school, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the

(2001), a Master of Arts in humanities degree from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

(2004), and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop (2006).

Career

Petrosino previously taught at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, Kentucky, and

Spalding University Spalding University is a private Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is affiliated with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. History Spalding University traces its origins to Nazareth Academy, one of the oldest educational instituti ...

, also in Louisville. Her collection of poetry ''Witch Wife'' was cited by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as one of the best works of poetry of 2017. Her work has earned her fellowships such as the Al Smith Fellowship from the

Kentucky Arts Council The Kentucky Arts Council, established in 1966, is the Kentucky state arts agency, and is responsible for developing and promoting support for the arts in Kentucky. Part of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, the Kentucky Arts Council ...

and the 2019 Fellowship in Creative Writing from the

National Endowment for 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 ...

. Her prose has appeared in publications including ''

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. ...

'', ''Poetry Magazine'', ''

Iowa Review ''The Iowa Review'' is an American literary magazine that publishes fiction, poetry, essays, and reviews. History and profile Founded in 1970, ''Iowa Review'' is issued three times a year, during the months of April, August, and December. Origin ...

'', and more. Reviewers have praised Petrosino's use of repetition and unconventional hyphenation in conjunction with traditional poetic forms such as the

sestina A sestina (, from ''sesto'', sixth; Old Occitan: ''cledisat'' ; also known as ''sestine'', ''sextine'', ''sextain'') is a fixed verse, fixed verse form consisting of six stanzas of six lines each, normally followed by a three-line envoi. The wor ...

. Petrosino has cited her familiarity with the Italian language and its comparative inflexibility as inspiration for her play with English.

Honors and awards

Rilke PrizeUniversity of North Texas
2021
Creative Writing Fellowship

, 2019
Al Smith Individual Artist FellowshipKentucky Arts Council
2019
Virginia Humanities Fellowship
Fall 2016
Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society Faculty Fellowship

, 2016–17

Works

Petrosino has published four collections through

Sarabande Books Sarabande Books is an American not-for-profit literary press founded in 1994. It is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, with an office in New York City. Sarabande publishes contemporary poetry and nonfiction. Sarabande is a literary press whos ...

, with ''Black Genealogy'' being published by Brian Mill Press. * ''Fort Red Border (2009)'' * ''Hymn for the Black Terrific'' (2013) * ''Witch Wife'' (2017) * ''Black Genealogy'' (illustrations by Lauren Haldeman) (2017) * ''White Blood: A Lyric of Virginia'' (2020) Petrosino's poems have appeared in ''

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 ...

'' and ''

Tin House ''Tin House'' is an American book publisher based in Portland, Oregon, and New York City. Portland publisher Win McCormack originally conceived the idea for a literary magazine called ''Tin House'' in the summer of 1998. He enlisted Holly MacArt ...

''.

References

External links

Kiki Petrosino's personal site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrosino, Kiki 1979 births Living people 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women African-American poets American women academics American women poets Appalachian writers Poets from Maryland University of Virginia alumni University of Virginia faculty