Ellen Bryant Voigt (born May 9, 1943) is an American poet. She served as the Poet Laureate of

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...

Biography

Voigt was born May 9, 1943, in Danville, Virginia. She grew up in

Chatham, Virginia Chatham is a town in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of Pittsylvania County. Chatham's population was 1,269 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Danville, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town w ...

, graduated from

Converse College Converse University is a private university in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It was established in 1889 by a group of Spartanburg residents and named after textile pioneer Dexter Edgar Converse. It was originally a women's college but now admits ...

, and received an M.F.A. from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 co ...

. She has taught at M.I.T. and

Goddard College Goddard College is a progressive education private liberal arts low-residency college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle, Washington. The college offers undergraduate and gra ...

where in 1976 she developed and directed the nation's first low-residency M.F.A. in Creative Writing program. Since 1981 she has taught in the

Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers Warren Wilson College (WWC) is a private liberal arts college in Swannanoa, North Carolina. It is known for its curriculum that combines academics, work, and service as every student must complete a requisite course of study, work an on-campus j ...

. She has published six collections of poetry and a collection of craft essays. Her poetry collection ''Shadow of Heaven'' (2002) was a finalist for the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

and ''Kyrie'' (1995) was a finalist for the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...

. In 2015, Voigt was awarded a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

. She was married to Francis (Fran) Voigt, an administrator at Goddard College, until his death in 2018. Their two children are Dudley and

Will Voigt William Voigt (born August 18, 1976) is an American basketball coach who last served as head coach of Zamalek of the Egyptian Basketball Super League. As the head coach, he led the Nigerian team to its first ever AfroBasket title in 2015, where ...

. She resides in

Cabot, Vermont Cabot is a New England town located in the northeast corner of Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,443 at the 2020 census. It contains the unincorporated villages of Cabot Village, Cabot Plains, South Cabot, East Ca ...

Bibliography

* * ''The Forces of Plenty'', Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1983; Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1996, * ''The Lotus Flowers: Poems'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1987. ) * ''Two Trees'' W. W. Norton, Incorporated, 1992, * ''Kyrie'', W.W. Norton, 1995, * ''Shadow of Heaven'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002) * * (essays) *

Poems

*"Owl", 2013.

Awards and honors

* MacArthur Fellowship, 2015 *

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 ...

grant recipient * Guggenheim Foundation grant recipient * 67th

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...

Fellowship, 2001 * Vermont Council of Arts grant recipient *

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

* Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund fellowship * Poet Laureate of Vermont, 1999–2002 * O. B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize, 2002 * Elected Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets, 2003

References

External links

MacArthur Fellow Ellen Bryant Voigt on the poetry of small-town life
PBS NewsHour, Mary Jo Brooks October 21, 2015
MacArthur ‘Genius’ Ellen Bryant Voigt: ‘Poetry Is An Intelligence’
''WBUR'', October 12, 2015
"Interview with Ellen Bryant Voigt
by Monica Mankin. ''Fugue Literary Journal'', University of Idaho. Winter 2003/2004.

''Blackbird '' December 1, 2004.

''Blackbird '' March 30, 2005.
About Ellen Bryant Voight: A Profile
''Ploughshares '' Winter 1996–97. * "The Author" in ''The Lotus Flower: Poems''. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 1987. .
"Ellen Bryant Voigt"
''Poets.org''. The Academy of American Poets. (retrieved 03/01/2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:Voigt, Ellen Bryant 1943 births Living people 20th-century American women writers American women poets Converse College alumni Goddard College faculty Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty National Endowment for the Arts Fellows People from Chatham, Virginia People from Cabot, Vermont Place of birth missing (living people) Poets from Vermont Poets from Virginia Poets Laureate of Vermont The New Yorker people Warren Wilson College faculty MacArthur Fellows American women academics 21st-century American women