Sheryl St. Germain (born 1954 in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

) 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 ...

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

, and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

. She is of Cajun and Creole descent. Her father was Jules St. Francois St. Germain and her mother Myrl Marie Frank. Born and raised in south Louisiana, much of her work deals with the culture and environment of Louisiana. Currently, she directs the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program at

Chatham University Chatham University is a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally founded as a women's college, it began enrolling men in undergraduate programs in 2015. It enrolls about 2,110 students, including 1,002 undergraduate students an ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. She has also taught at the

University of Louisiana, Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the se ...

, 1991–94; Knox College, 1994–98; and

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 ...

, 1998-2005. She studied at

Southeastern Louisiana University Southeastern Louisiana University (Southeastern) is a public university in Hammond, Louisiana. It was founded in 1925 by Linus A. Sims as Hammond Junior College. Sims succeeded in getting the campus moved to north Hammond in 1928, when it becam ...

(

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

) and

University of Texas at Dallas The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD or UT Dallas) is a public research university in Richardson, Texas. It is one of the largest public universities in the Dallas area and the northernmost institution of the University of Texas system. It w ...

, (

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

). St. German's father, brother, and son died of substance abuse, and St. Germain has written both essays and poems that address substance abuse. She co-founded Words Without Walls, Words, a creative partnership between the Chatham MFA Creative Writing Program,

Allegheny County Jail The old Allegheny County Jail in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is part of a complex (along with the Allegheny County Courthouse) designed by H. H. Richardson. The buildings are considered among the finest examples of the Romanesque Revival s ...

(ACJ), and Sojourner House, a residential drug and alcohol treatment facility for mothers and their children.

Books

* ''Words Without Walls: Writers on Addiction, Violence and Incarceration'', co-editor with Sarah Shotland (San Antonio: Trinity University Press), 2015 * ''Navigating Disaster: Sixteen Poems of Love and a Song of Despair'' (Lafayette: Louisiana Literature Press), 2012 * ''Between Song and Story: Essays for the Twenty-first Century'', co-editor with Margaret Whitford, essays (Pittsburgh: Autumn House Press, 2011) * ''Let It Be a Dark Roux: New and Selected Poems'', poetry (Pittsburgh: Autumn House Press, 2007) * ''Swamp Songs: The Making of an Unruly Woman'', essays (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2003) * ''The Journals of Scheherazade'', poetry (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1996) * ''How Heavy the Breath of God'', poetry (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1994) * ''Making Bread at Midnight'', poetry (Austin: Slough, 1992) * ''Going Home'', poetry (Van Nuys: Perivale, 1989) * ''The Mask of Medusa'', poetry (New York: Cross Cultural Press, 1987)

Sources

* ''Contemporary Authors Online''. The Gale Group, 2006. PEN (Permanent Entry Number): 0000135971. * Author website: http://sheryl-stgermain.com/ * Poetry Foundation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/sheryl-st-germain * Words Without Walls: http://www.wordswithoutwalls.com/

External links

Times Picayune: The Bard of Kenner
{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Germain, Sheryl 1954 births Living people 20th-century American poets Chatham University faculty Writers from Pittsburgh University of Texas at Dallas alumni Southeastern Louisiana University alumni University of Louisiana at Lafayette faculty Iowa State University faculty Writers from New Orleans American women poets 21st-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers American women academics