Lia Purpura (born February 22, 1964,

Mineola, New York Mineola is a village in and the county seat of Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from an Algonquin Chief, Miniolagamika, which means "pleasant village". ...

) is an American

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 ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, writer and educator. She is the author of four collections of poems (''King Baby'', ''Stone Sky Lifting'', ''The Brighter the Veil'', ''It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful''), four collections of essays (''Increase'', ''On Looking'', ''Rough Likeness'', and ''All the Fierce Tethers'') and one collection of translations (''Poems of Grzegorz Musial: Berliner Tagebuch and Taste of Ash''). Her poems and essays appear in ''AGNI'', ''The Antioch Review'', ''DoubleTake'', ''FIELD'', ''The Georgia Review'', ''The Iowa Review'', ''Orion Magazine'', ''The New Republic'', ''The New Yorker'', ''The Paris Review'', ''Parnassus: Poetry in Review'', ''Ploughshares''. ''Southern Review'', and many other magazines.

Life

A graduate of Oberlin College and the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative W ...

where she was a Teaching/Writing Fellow in Poetry, Lia Purpura is currently Writer-in-Residence at

University of Maryland, Baltimore County The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...

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. She is also on the faculty of the Rainier Writing Workshop Low-Residency MFA Program in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

. Recent visiting appointments include visiting faculty at the

Bread Loaf Writers' Conference The Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is an author's conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1926, it has been called by ''The New Yorker'' "the oldest and most ...

, the Bedell Visiting Writer at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

's MFA Program in Nonfiction; Coal Royalty Visiting Professor at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

's MFA Program; Reader/Lecturer at the Bennington Writing Program, and Visiting Writer at the Warren and Patricia Benson Forum on Creativity at

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music ...

. She lives in Baltimore with her husband, conductor Jed Gaylin, and their son.

Awards

In 2012, Lia Purpura was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. ''King Baby'' (poems,

Alice James Books Alice James Books is an American non-profit poetry press located in Farmington, Maine and affiliated with the University of Maine at Farmington. History and mission "Alice James Books was founded as a co-operative press in Cambridge, MA in 19 ...

, 2008) won the Beatrice Hawley Award and was a finalist for the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award and the Maine Literary Award. ''On Looking'' (essays, Sarabande Books, 2006) was a finalist for the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Towson University Towson University (TU or Towson) is a public university in Towson, Maryland. Founded in 1866 as Maryland's first training school for teachers, Towson University is a part of the University System of Maryland. Since its founding, the university h ...

Prize in Literature. ''Increase'' (essays, University of Georgia Press, 2000) won the Associated Writing Programs Award in Creative Nonfiction. ''Stone Sky Lifting'' (poems, Ohio State University Press, 2000) won the OSU Press/''The Journal'' Award. ''The Brighter the Veil'' (poems, Orchises Press, 1996) won the Towson University Prize in Literature. Her recent essays "On Coming Back as a Buzzard", "''Glaciology''" and "''The Lustres''" were awarded Pushcart Prizes in 2011, 2009 and 2007, and other essays were named "Notable Essays" in Best American Essays, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009. Lia Purpura is also the recipient of a

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 ...

Fellowship, a

Fulbright Award 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 ...

Fellowship (translation, Warsaw, Poland), multiple residences at the

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowel ...

, and a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council.

Discography

Collaborations

* '' The Poulenc Trio: Creation, featuring Lia Purpura, poet'',
Delos/Naxos, 2016

Bibliography

Essays

* * * *

Poetry

Collections

* ''King Baby'' (Poems) Alice James Books, 2008, * ''Stone Sky Lifting'' (Poems) Ohio State University Press, 2000, * ''The Brighter the Veil'' (Poems) Orchises Press, 1996, * ''It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful'' (Poems) Penguin Press, 2015,

Translations

* (Translation)

List of poems

Awards and honors

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

: Guggenheim Fellowship in General Nonfiction * 2009: Towson University Prize in Literature * 2007: Beatrice Hawley Award * 2004: NEA Literature Fellowship in Prose *

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

: Associated Writing Programs Award in Creative Nonfiction *

: Ohio State University Press/The Journal AwardThe Ohio State University Press > Ohio State University Press/The Journal Award

References

Sources

External links

NEA Writer's Corner: Lia Purpura

Audio: Wired for Books > Lia Purpura

Interviews > Smartish Pace > ''An Interview with Lia Purpura'' > by Laura KlebanowGuggenheim FellowshipBookslut: Interview by Noah CharneyThe Journal: Ohio State University InterviewWYPR Maryland Morning. Interview with Tom HallWYPR Maryland Morning : Rough LikenessSarabande Books: "Author Speaks"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Purpura, Lia 1964 births Living people Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Loyola University Maryland faculty Oberlin College alumni The New Yorker people American women poets 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American translators 21st-century American translators American women essayists University of Maryland, Baltimore County faculty University of Iowa faculty University of Alabama faculty Eastman School of Music faculty People from Mineola, New York Poets from New York (state) 20th-century American essayists 21st-century American essayists Women music educators American women academics