Melissa Studdard was born in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

and is an American author, poet, talk show host, and professor. Her most recent book is the poetry collection ''I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast.'' The title poem from this collection was produced as a short film and featured as an official selection at the

Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival The Trinidad and Tobago film festival (ttff) is a film festival in the Anglophone Caribbean. It takes place annually in Trinidad and Tobago in the latter half of September, and runs for approximately two weeks. The festival screens feature-length n ...

and the

Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Film Festival The Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Film Festival is a springtime film festival in the U.S. state of Minnesota that has been held since 1981. It began as the Rivertown Film Festival in Stillwater by Al Milgrom of Pine City and eventu ...

. Her middle-grade novel, ''Six Weeks to Yehidah'' won a Forward National Literature Award and Pinnacle Book Achievement Award. The accompanying journal, ''My Yehidah'', was released in December 2011 and was adopted by art and play therapists for clinical use in adolescent therapy sessions. Studdard is a full-time college professor at Lone Star College–Tomball. She hosts and produces VIDA ''Voices & Views'' for Vida: Women in Literary Arts. In her podcast work she has interviewed such figures as

Jane Hirshfield Jane Hirshfield (born February 24, 1953) is an American poet, essayist, and translator, known as 'one of American poetry's central spokespersons for the biosphere' and recognized as 'among the modern masters,' 'writing some of the most important ...

, Rita Dove,

Julia Cameron Julia B. Cameron (born March 4, 1948Floor Sample, by Julia Cameron, (Tarcher, 2006; ), a memoir) is an American teacher, author, artist, poet, playwright, novelist, filmmaker, pigeon fancier, composer, and journalist. She is best known for her ...

, Robert Pinsky, Patricia Smith, Cheryl Strayed,

Joy Harjo Joy Harjo ( ; born May 9, 1951) is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetr ...

, and

Krista Tippett Krista Tippett ( née Weedman; born November 9, 1960) is an American journalist, author, and entrepreneur. She created and hosts the public radio program and podcast ''On Being''. In 2014, Tippett was awarded the National Humanities Medal by U.S. ...

. Studdard is also a past president of the Women's Caucus and moderated their annual meeting at the

Association of Writers & Writing Programs The Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) is a nonprofit literary organization that provides support, advocacy, resources, and community to nearly 50,000 writers, 500 college and university creative writing programs, and 125 writers' c ...

conference. She is also an honorary Professor at the International Art Academy in Volos, Greece.

Early life

Melissa Studdard was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States, and was raised in Texas. She received her B.A. (1991) and M.A. (1995) from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

, and her M.F.A. (1997) from

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...

. While at the University of Houston, Studdard worked on the college's literary journal, ''Gulf Coast'', as a production editor, curated the ''Gulf Coast Reading Series'', and taught college courses for the

Houston Community College Houston Community College (HCC), also known as Houston Community College System (HCCS) is a public community college system that operates community colleges in Houston, Missouri City, Greater Katy, and Stafford in Texas. It is notable for active ...

System. While at

, she worked as an assistant editor at

Chelsea (magazine) ''Chelsea'' was a small biannual literary magazine based in New York City. Edited for many years by Sonia Raiziss and Alfredo de Palchi, it published poetry, prose, book reviews, and translations with an emphasis on translations, art, and cross-c ...

and taught for

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...

at Baruch College,

John Jay College The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts co ...

, and

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

. She then briefly taught at

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

and the University of Houston–Downtown, prior to accepting a full-time teaching position with

Lone Star College Lone Star College (LSC) is a public community college system serving the northern portions of the Greater Houston, Texas, area. In 2017 it enrolled about 95,000 students. The headquarters of the Lone Star College System are located in The Wood ...

in 2001..

Works

*''Like a Bird with a Thousand Wings'', with Christopher Theofanidis (2020) *''I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast'' (2014) *''The Tiferet Talk Interviews'' (2013) *''My Yehidah'' (2011) *''Six Weeks to Yehidah'' (2011)

Selected short works

Studdard's work has been published in multiple journals, magazines, newspapers, blogs sites, and anthologies, including ''

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 ...

'', Poetry (magazine),''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''The Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day'', '' Southern Humanities Review'', '' Kenyon Review'', '' Harvard Review'', ''Verse Daily'', and ''

Psychology Today ''Psychology Today'' is an American media organization with a focus on psychology and human behavior. It began as a bimonthly magazine, which first appeared in 1967. The ''Psychology Today'' website features therapy and health professionals direct ...

''.

Awards and honors

* 2020: Winner: Lucille Medwick Memorial Award for poem on a humanitarian theme for
Migration Patterns
. Poetry Society of America. * 2020: Longlist: The Emerging Poet Award. Palette Poetry. * 2020: Runner Up: The Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Prize for "In the house, I built another house" and "When my lover says hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia".

Munster Literature Centre The Munster Literature Centre is a non-profit arts organisation based in Cork city, Ireland. It was founded in 1993 to support the promotion and development of literature in the Munster region. Amongst its activities, the Munster Literature Centre ...

. * 2019: Winner: The Penn Review Poetry Prize for "The Pain is so resplendent it has babies". The Penn Review. * 2019: Winner: Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest for
Migration Patterns
. Winning Writers. * 2019: Runner Up: Jeffrey E. Smith Editors' Prize'. The Missouri Review. * 2019: Winner: REELpoetry Audience Choice Award 2019 for ''I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast''. REELpoetry International Film Festival. * 2019: Shortlist: Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2019 for "Fascinating the Parts of Us". Aesthetica Magazine. * 2019: Poet-in-Residence: Hermitage Artist Retreat. * 2019: Semifinalist: Jack Grapes Poetry Prize 2019. Cultural Weekly. * 2018: Winner: Kathak Literary Award 2018/19. Dhaka International Poets Summit. * 2015: Inclusion: ''Bettering American Poetry'' for "Respect" * 2015: Finalist: Readers’ Favorite Bronze Award for ''I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast'' * 2013: Winner: International Book Award for 2013 ''Six Weeks to Yehidah'' * 2013: Winner: Readers Favorite Award for ''The Tiferet Talk Interviews'' * 2013: Winner: The Pinnacle Book Achievement Award for ''The Tiferet Talk Interviews'' * 2012: Finalist: Readers Favorite Award for ''Six Weeks to Yehidah'' * 2012: Finalist: The National Indie Excellence Award for ''Six Weeks to Yehidah'' * 2012: Winner: The Pinnacle Book Achievement Award for ''Six Weeks to Yehidah'' * 2011: Winner: The Forward National Literature Award for ''Six Weeks to Yehidah''The Forward National Literature Award Winner -- 2011
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References

External links

Author Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Studdard, Melissa Living people 21st-century American novelists American women novelists American women poets Writers from Tuscaloosa, Alabama University of Houston alumni Novelists from Alabama 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American poets Year of birth missing (living people)