Beth Ann Fennelly
| Beth Ann Fennelly | |
|---|---|
 Fennelly at Off Square Books in 2013 | |
| Born | May 22, 1971 |
| Occupation | Writer, Professor |
| Ethnicity | American |
| Alma mater |
M.F.A., University of Arkansas B.A., Notre Dame University |
| Genre | Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction |
| Spouse | Tom Franklin (author) |
| Children | 1 daughter, 2 sons |
Beth Ann Fennelly (born May 22, 1971) is an American poet and prose writer.[1][2]
Biography
She was born in New Jersey and raised in Lake Forest, Illinois. She earned a BA magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 1993. After graduation, taught English for a year in a coal mining village on the Czech/Polish border.[3] She later earned an MFA from the University of Arkansas, followed by the Diane Middlebrook Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin. She taught poetry at Knox College for two years. Since 2001, she's taught poetry and non-fiction at the University of Mississippi, where she directs the MFA Program. She's won several teaching awards, including Outstanding Liberal Arts Teacher of the Year (2011) and The University of Mississippi Humanities Teacher of the Year (2011).
Fennelly's first collection of poems, Open House, won multiple awards, including the Zoo Press Poetry Prize, the 2001 Kenyon Review Prize, the Great Lakes Colleges Association Award, and a Book Sense Top Ten Poetry Pick. Her poems have been included in numerous anthologies, including three editions of The Best American Poetry. She received a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts in 2002 and she has also won a Pushcart Prize. In 2009, she received a Fulbright grant to Brazil to study the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop. Her second and third books of poetry, Tender Hooks (2004) and Unmentionables (2008), were published by W. W. Norton.
Fennelly is a contributor to The Oxford American, where her essays frequently feature the topics of Southern food, music, and books. Her essays have appeared in Poets & Writers, Ecotone, and The Virginia Quarterly Review. The Society of American Travel Writers awarded her the Lowell Prize for her work in Southern Living. She published a book of essays, Great With Child: Letters to a Young Mother, in 2006.
Most recently, Fennelly and her husband, Tom Franklin, co-authored a novel, The Tilted World, set during the 1927 flood of the Mississippi River. Published in 2013 by HarperCollins, it was named an IndieNext Great Read and a finalist for the 2014 SIBA Book Award. Six foreign editions are forthcoming.
She is married to novelist Tom Franklin and they have three children. They live in Oxford, Mississippi.
Selected Works
- A Different Kind of Hunger (1997) Poems, Chapbook, Winner of The Texas Review Breakthrough Prize.
- Open House Poems, Zoo Press (2002) reissued by W. W. Norton (2009)
- Tender Hooks Poems, W. W. Norton( 2004)
- Great with Child: Letters to a Young Mother Nonfiction, W. W. Norton (2006)
- Unmentionables Poems, W. W. Norton(2008)
- The Tilted World Novel, co-authored with Tom Franklin (author) Harper Collins (2013)
- Foreign Editions: UK, France, Italy, Korea, Taiwan, Japan.
- Reviewed in: BookList (starred); Associated Press; Publishers Weekly; Library Journal; Kirkus; Garden & Gun; The Literary Review (UK); The Irish Times, The Financial Times (UK); The Guardian (UK); The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; The Jackson Clarion-Ledger; The Memphis Commercial Appeal; The Wilmington Star-News; Notre Dame Magazine; Memphis Magazine; Birmingham Magazine; Virginia Quarterly Review; Austin-American Statesman; LA Review of Books; The Chicago Examiner; The Seattle Times.
- Selected for: IndieNext Great Read for October 2013; Southern Booksellers Association Fall Okra Pick; October 2013 LibraryReads Pick; Featured Alternate Selection of The Literary Guild, Book-of the-Month Club, DoubleDay Book Club, Mystery Guild, Quality Paperback Book Club and Colombia House Book Club. Named one of San Francisco Librarian’s Best Books of 2013 and Uncut Magazine’s Best Books of 2013. Nominated for MS Institute of Arts and Letters and the Dabwaha Award. Finalist for 2014 SIBA Award.
Selected Honors and Awards
- The Subiaco Award for Literary Merit, 2012.
- Mississippi Arts Commission Grant, poetry, 2010, nonfiction, 2005
- Fulbright Scholarship, Brazil, 2009
- United States Artist Grant, 2006
- The Black Warrior Review Poetry Contest, 2006
- Sewanee Writers Conference Fellowship, 2004
- National Endowment for the Arts Award, 2003
- Breadloaf Writers Conference Fellowship, 2003
- Pushcart Prize, 2001.
- State of Illinois Arts Council Grant, 2001.
- MacDowell Colony Residency, Peterborough, NH, 2000.
- The University of Arizona Poetry Center Summer Residency, 1999.
Links to Work Online
Essays
- "Everything But: Creating Tension in Love Poetry"
- "Fruits We’ll Never Taste"
- "It's Not Thanksgiving Without A Call From Mom"
- "My Hundred"
- "On Collaboration"
- "On Poetry and the Reallocation of Concentration: Learning to Forget"
- "The Gift of Wrapping"
Poems
- "Asked for a Happy Memory of Her Father, She Recalls Wrigley Field" (Author's Audio with Text)
- "Because People Ask What My Daughter Will Think of My Poems When She’s 16" (Author's Audio with Text)
- "Kudzu Chronicles" (Author's Audio with Text and Interpretive Video)
- "Poem Not to Be Read at Your Wedding"
- "Say You Waved: A Dream Song Cycle"
- Seven Poems (Author's Audio)
- "Souvenir"
- "The Welcoming"
Links to Book Reviews and Interviews
- Open House Valparaiso Poetry Review
- Tender Hooks Literary Mama
- Unmentionables Smartish Pace
- Great With Child Publishers Weekly
- The Tilted World The Guardian
- Dueling Writers & Honing the Creative Impulse: A Conversation with Beth Ann Fennelly Prairie Schooner
- Kind of Dancing: An Interview with Tom Franklin & Beth Ann Fennelly Fiction Writers Review