Mary Biddinger (born May 14, 1974, in Fremont,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

) is an American poet, editor, and academic.

Biography

Mary Biddinger received an Honors B.A. in English with a Creative Writing Subconcentration from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. She also holds an MFA in Poetry from

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

, and a Ph.D. in English with Creative Dissertation from the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...

. Biddinger is the author of the poetry collections ''Prairie Fever'' (Steel Toe Books, 2007), ''Saint Monica'' (Black Lawrence Press, 2011), ''O Holy Insurgency'' (Black Lawrence Press, 2013), and ''A Sunny Place with Adequate Water'' (Black Lawrence Press, 2014). Her poems have appeared in numerous literary magazines, including ''Copper Nickel'', '' Crazyhorse'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coast, coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The list of U.S. states and territories by coastline, coastal states that have a shor ...

'', '' The Iowa Review'', '' 32 poems'', ''

Ninth Letter ''Ninth Letter'' is a literary magazine that publishes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. It is an interdisciplinary collaboration between thSchool of Art + Designand the Creative Writing Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaig ...

'', ''

North American Review The ''North American Review'' (NAR) was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which it was inactive until revived a ...

'', ''

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 Bos ...

'', and ''

Third Coast Third Coast is an American colloquialism used to describe coastal regions distinct from the East Coast and the West Coast of the United States. Generally, the term "Third Coast" refers to either the Great Lakes region or in some circles the G ...

''. Biddinger is the recipient of a 2015 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship in poetry. She is a professor in the Department of English at the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classified ...

, and was Director of the NEOMFA: Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program from 2009 to 2012. Biddinger teaches courses in poetry writing, craft and theory of poetry, and literature. Biddinger is the editor of the Akron Series in Poetry, which sponsors the annual

Akron Poetry Prize The Akron Poetry Prize is an annual contest held by The University of Akron Press. The competition is open to all poets writing in English. The winning poet receives an honorarium of $1,000 and publication of his or her book in the Akron Series in ...

and publishes three poetry collections every year. Biddinger also serves as co-editor, with John Gallaher, of the Akron Series in Contemporary Poetics at the

University of Akron Press The University of Akron Press is a nonprofit university press that is a part of The University of Akron. Founded in 1988, the Press is currently directed by Jon Miller and is a member of Association of University Presses. The University of Akro ...

. The first volume, titled
The Monkey and the Wrench: Essays into Contemporary Poetics
', was published in January, 2011. In 2007, Biddinger founded '' Barn Owl Review'', an independent literary magazine published in

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Awards

* National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship in Poetry (2014) * Two Ohio Arts Council Individual Creativity Excellence Awards * Illinois Arts Council Literary Award (2005) * Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences Service Award (2008)

Works

* ''Prairie Fever'', 2007, Steel Toe Books * ''Saint Monica'', 2011, Black Lawrence Press * ''O Holy Insurgency'', 2013, Black Lawrence Press * ''A Sunny Place with Adequate Water'', 2014, Black Lawrence Press *''Small Enterprise,'' 2015, Black Lawrence Press *''The Czar (''with Jay Robinson), 2016, Black Lawrence Press *''Partial Genius,'' 2019, Black Lawrence Press *''Department of Elegy'', 2022, Black Lawrence Press

References

External links

* Mary Biddinger's poe
"Risk Management Memo: Small Enterprise" in ''Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts'' (25.1)

Mary Biddinger's Website

Biddinger's profile on the University of Akron Website

Biddinger's profile at Poets & Writers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biddinger, Mary 1974 births Living people Poets from California Bowling Green State University alumni Cleveland State University people University of Akron faculty University of Illinois Chicago alumni University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni American women poets 21st-century American poets American women academics 21st-century American women writers American magazine founders