Rebecca Hazelton Stafford (born 1978) 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 writte ...

and editor.

Early life

Rebecca Hazelton was born in 1978 in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. She graduated from

Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan� ...

in 2000, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in English;

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

, where she got her Master of Fine Arts in Poetry; and

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

where she received her Ph.D. in English and Poetry.

Career

A former editor at ''

The Southeast Review Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

'' and '' Devil's Lake'', Hazelton presently reviews contemporary poetry for ''

Southern Indiana Review ''Southern Indiana Review'' is a literary magazine produced at the University of Southern Indiana since 1994. The journal is known for its Mary C. Mohr Awards in fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Work that has appeared in the journal has been hono ...

''. She was also a member of the English faculty of

Beloit College Beloit College is a private liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin. Founded in 1846, when Wisconsin was still a territory, it is the state's oldest continuously operated college. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and has ...

from 2011 to 2012. She was then on the creative writing faculty of

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. Her poetry has been published in various journals such as ''FIELD'', ''Pleiades'', and ''The Sycamore Review''. She serves as assistant professor of English at

North Central College North Central College is a private college in Naperville, Illinois. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and has nearly 70 areas of study in undergraduate majors, minors, and programs through 19 academic departments organized in thre ...

. Her poem "Letter to the Editor" was published in ''

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 ...

'' in May 2016. With her former Davidson professor Alan Michael Parker, Hazelton is editor of the Manifesto Project. Hazelton is the author of four collections of poetry: ''Fair Copy'' (2012, for which she won the Ohio State University Press/''The Journal'' Award in Poetry), ''Vow'' (2013), ''No Girls No Telephones'' (written with Brittany Cavallaro and published in 2013), and ''Bad Star'' (2013). In ''Fair Copy'', Hazelton engages with the poetry of

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...

, using the first lines of Dickinson poems as

acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the Fre ...

s from which Hazelton wrote her own poems. (Begun on Hazelton's 29th birthday, the project used the first line of every 29th poem from ''The Complete Works of Emily Dickinson''.) Reviewing the collection in ''

The Emily Dickinson Journal ''The Emily Dickinson Journal'' (''EDJ'') is a biannual academic journal founded by Suzanne Juhasz (University of Colorado) in 1991, and it is the official publication of the Emily Dickinson International Society. The journal provides an ongoing ex ...

'', Christina Pugh said Hazelton's "handling of line is often astonishingly virtuosic, and ermaterial is only 'personal' in the coyest and most mercurial of ways," noting that these qualities echo Dickinson's own body of work. A ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' review of ''Vow'' said that "real bodies and adult relationships mingle and complement one another in this clear, witty second effort from Hazelton," noting "her elegantly colloquial" style. Hazelton's work has been anthologized in the ''

Best New Poets The ''Best New Poets'' series consists of annual poetry anthologies, each containing fifty poems from poets without a previously published collection. The first edition of the series appeared in 2005, and was published, as all later editions hav ...

'' series in 2011 and ''

The Best American Poetry ''The Best American Poetry'' series consists of annual poetry anthologies, each containing seventy-five poems. Background The series, begun by poet and editor David Lehman in 1988, has a different guest editor every year. Lehman, still the general ...

'' series in 2013 ("Book of Forget") and 2015 ("My Husband").

Awards

* 2012, Cleveland State Poetry Center Open Competition Prize * 2012, Vinyl 45 Chapbook Prize, YesYesBooks * 2012, "Discovery"/Joan Leiman Jacobson Prize * 2011, Charles B. Wheeler Prize * 2011, ''

'' selection (ed.

D. A. Powell Douglas A. Powell (born May 16, 1963 Albany, Georgia) is an American poet. Life and career Powell lived in various places growing up, then graduated high school from Lindhurst High School in Olivehurst, California. He then worked in a number of ...

) * 2010, Jay C. and Ruth Hall Poetry Fellowship,

University of Wisconsin-Madison 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, the ...

Works

Books

*''Gloss'' (

University of Wisconsin Press The University of Wisconsin Press (sometimes abbreviated as UW Press) is a non-profit university press publishing peer-reviewed books and journals. It publishes work by scholars from the global academic community; works of fiction, memoir and po ...

, 2019) *''Vow'' ( Cleveland State University Press, 2013) *''Bad Star'' (YesYes Books, 2013) *''No Girls No Telephones'' with Brittany Cavallaro (

Black Lawrence Press Black Lawrence Press is an independent publishing company founded in upstate New York by Colleen Ryor. It was an imprint of Dzanc Books from 2008 to 2013. It hosts the Big Moose Prize for the novel, the Hudson Prize and the St. Lawrence Book Awa ...

, 2013) *''Fair Copy'' (

Ohio State University Press The Ohio State University Press is the university press of Ohio State University. It was founded in 1957. The OSU Press has published approximately 1700 books since its inception. The current director is Tony Sanfilippo, who had previously work ...

, 2012)

Early life

Career

Awards

Works

Books

References

Further reading