Neal Bowers (born Larry Neal Bowers, August 3, 1948 in Clarksville,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

) 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 ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

, memoirist, and

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researc ...

. He received the B.A. (1970) and M.A. (1971) from Austin Peay State University and the Ph.D. in English and American Literature from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

(1976). He taught for thirty-one years at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

, earning the highest academic rank awarded by the university,

Distinguished Professor Distinguished Professor is an academic title given to some top tenured professors in a university, school, or department. Some distinguished professors may have endowed chairs. In the United States Often specific to one institution, titles such ...

. His regular courses included creative writing and modern and contemporary poetry. He retired from teaching in 2008. In addition to his poetry, Bowers is best known for his defense of poetry in ''Words for the Taking: The Hunt for a Plagiarist'' (

W.W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton An ...

, 1997). As the victim of a bizarre and relentless literary thief, Bowers made a stand for intellectual property and the deeply personal nature of the creative process at a time when fewer and fewer scholars and writers believed in either. After publishing several articles expressing his dismay, most notably ''University Poetry, Inc.'' (Poetry, July 2002), Bowers stopped writing poetry for more than a decade. Prior to that hiatus, he published hundreds of poems in such journals as ''

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

Sewanee Review ''The Sewanee Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1892. It is the oldest continuously published quarterly in the United States. It publishes original fiction and poetry, essays, reviews, and literary criticism. History ''Th ...

'', ''

Hudson Review ''The Hudson Review'' is a quarterly journal of literature and the arts. History It was founded in 1947 in New York, by William Arrowsmith, Joseph Deericks Bennett, and George Frederick Morgan. The first issue was introduced in the spring of ...

'', '' Shenandoah'', and ''

Virginia Quarterly Review The ''Virginia Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established in 1925 by James Southall Wilson, at the request of University of Virginia president E. A. Alderman. This ''"National Journal of Literature and Discussion" ...

'', and his work was represented in over three dozen anthologies.

Books

*''Theodore Roethke: The Journey from I to Otherwise'' (biographical criticism
Univ. of Missouri Press
1982. *''The Golf Ball Diver'' (poetry)

New Rivers Press New Rivers Press is an American non-profit publishing press located in Moorhead, Minnesota and affiliated with Minnesota State University Moorhead. As of 2020 they had published more than 400 books. History and mission New Rivers Press was found ...

, 1983. *''James Dickey: The Poet as Pitchman'' (criticism) Univ. of Missouri Press, 1985. *''Lost in the Heartland'' (poetry) Cedar Creek Press, 1990. *''Night Vision'' (poetry) BkMk Press, 1992. *''Words for the Taking: The Hunt for a Plagiarist'' (nonfiction)

, 1997; reprint & update Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 2007. *''Loose Ends'' (novel)

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, 2001. *''Out of the South'' (poetry) LSU Press, 2002. *''Cats Rule: The Bookstore Cat's Guide to the Care and Training of Humans'' (whimsy) BookSurge, 2009.

Awards

*Poetry Prize (

Society of Midland Authors The Society of Midland Authors is an association of published authors from twelve American states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. According to its constit ...

): Best book of poetry in 2002 for ''Out of the South''. * Union League Civic and Arts Poetry Prize (from ''Poetry''), 1996. * Frederick Bock Prize (from ''Poetry''), 1991. *

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 in Poetry, 1989.

Personal life

Neal Bowers and his wife, Nancy, have lived in the same house in

Ames Ames may refer to: Places United States * Ames, Arkansas, a place in Arkansas * Ames, Colorado * Ames, Illinois * Ames, Indiana * Ames, Iowa, the most populous city bearing this name * Ames, Kansas * Ames, Nebraska * Ames, New York * Ames, Ok ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

, for thirty years. In younger days, they traveled extensively but are now content to pursue their various writing projects with the assistance of six special-needs cats.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowers, Neal Iowa State University faculty 1948 births Living people