Michael McFee is a poet and essayist from

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

Career

McFee earned his B.A. (1976) and M.A. (1978) from UNC-Chapel Hill. He left graduate school to work a variety of jobs—editorial assistant, librarian, and freelance journalist among them—while he completed his first book. After it was published, he taught part-time at N.C. State University and the

University of North Carolina at Greensboro The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. UNCG, like all members of the UNC system, is a stand-al ...

. In the late 1980s, McFee was poet-in-residence at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

and also at

Lawrence University Lawrence University is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Appleton, Wisconsin. Founded in 1847, its first classes were held on November 12, 1849. Lawrence was the second college in the U.S. to be founded as a coeducation ...

. He began teaching at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

in 1990, where he is now Professor of English in the Creative Writing Program. In 2018, McFee was awarded the

North Carolina Award The North Carolina Award is the highest civilian award bestowed by the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is awarded in the four fields of science, literature, the fine arts, and public service. Sometimes referred to as the "Nobel Prize of North Carol ...

for literature, the state's highest civilian honor.

Writings

Much of McFee's work deals with his native

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

mountains. His book of poems ''Earthly'' was co-winner of the Roanoake-Chowan Award for Poetry from the North Carolina Literary and Historical Society and was an honorable mention for the Poets' Prize; his next collection, ''Shinemaster,'' won the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award from the Western North Carolina Historical Association.

Bibliography

Poetry

* ''Plain Air'', University Presses of Florida, 1983. * ''Vanishing Acts'', Gnomon Press, 1989. * ''To See'', North Carolina Wesleyan College Press, 1991. A collaboration with photographer Elizabeth Matheson. * ''Sad Girl Sitting on a Running Board'', Gnomon Press, 1991. * ''Colander'', Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1996. * ''Earthly'', Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2001. * ''Never Closer'',

Two Rivers Press Two Rivers Press is an independent publishing house, based in the English town of Reading. Two Rivers Press was founded in 1994 by Peter Hay (1951–2003), a local artist. Its name reflects his enthusiasm for the town and its two rivers, the Ken ...

, 2005. A chapbook of poems. * ''Shinemaster'', Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2006. * ''The Smallest Talk'', Bull City Press, 2007. A book of one-line poems. * ''That Was Oasis'', Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2012. * ''We Were Once Here,'' Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2017. * ''A Long Time to Be Gone,'' Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2022.

Essays

* ''The Napkin Manuscripts: Selected Essays and an Interview'', University of Tennessee Press, 2006. * ''Appointed Rounds: Essays'', Mercer University Press, 2018.

Anthologies

* Editor, ''The Language They Speak Is Things to Eat: Poems by Fifteen Contemporary North Carolina Poets'', University of North Carolina Press, 1994. * Editor, ''This Is Where We Live: Short Stories by 25 Contemporary North Carolina Writers'', University of North Carolina Press, 2000. * Editor, ''The Spectator Reader'', Spectator Publications, 1985. {{DEFAULTSORT:McFee, Michael Living people American male poets Poets from North Carolina University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni North Carolina State University faculty University of North Carolina at Greensboro faculty Cornell University faculty Lawrence University faculty University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty Writers from Asheville, North Carolina Year of birth missing (living people)