Aracelis Girmay

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Aracelis Girmay
Aracelis Girmay 2280095.jpg
Born (1977-12-10) December 10, 1977 (age 43)[1]
OccupationPoet
NationalityAmerican
EducationConnecticut College (BA)
New York University (MFA)

Aracelis Girmay (born December 10, 1977)[1] is an American poet.

Early life[]

Aracelis Girmay is of Eritrean heritage[2] and from Santa Ana, California.[3] She attended Connecticut College[4] and earned a Master of Fine Arts from New York University.[5]

Career[]

Girmay's first collection was Teeth (2007), for which she won the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award.[6]

In 2011, Girmay published Kingdom Animalia, for which she was named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry.[7] At The Rumpus, Camille T. Dungy said, "Girmay writes of ways we can be brought together, and ways the world separates us."[8] Junot Diaz has said his favorite poem is Kingdom Animalia's titular poem,[9] writing in The New York Times:

I remember rereading these lines shortly after I lost my sister:

Oh, body, be held now by whom you love.
Whole years will be spent, underneath these impossible stars,
when dirt’s the only animal who will sleep with you
& touch you with
its mouth.

And I was never the same.[10]

The Black Maria (2016) was Girmay's third collection.[11] Selecting The Black Maria as a "Pick of the Week" in April 2016, Publishers Weekly described it as "a moving collection of lyrical, image-thick poems that balance on the knife edge separating vulnerability and unapologetic strength."[12] The Boston Globe named it one of the best books of 2016.[13]

Girmay is an Assistant Professor of Poetry at Hampshire College.[14]

Awards[]

  • 2009 winner, Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award
  • 2011 finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award, poetry, for Kingdom Animalia
  • 2015 winner, Whiting Award for poetry[15]

Works[]

  • Teeth Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 2007. ISBN 9781931896368, OCLC 255642172
  • Changing, changing, New York: George Braziller, 2005. ISBN 9780807615539, OCLC 57352696
  • Kingdom animalia : poems, Rochester, NY: Boa Editions, 2011. ISBN 9781934414620, OCLC 830153138
  • The Black Maria Rochester, NY: BOA Editions Ltd. 2016. ISBN 9781942683025, OCLC 991299177

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Girmay, Aracelis". Library of Congress. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  2. ^ "Inside of An Egg, There is More Than An Egg: Teaching Aracelis Girmay". poetry.arizona.edu. The University of Arizona. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  3. ^ "Aracelis Girmay". Poetry Center. February 3, 2016. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  4. ^ "Recent fellowship winners". conncoll.edu. Connecticut College. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  5. ^ Poets, Academy of American. "About Aracelis Girmay | Academy of American Poets". poets.org. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  6. ^ "WINNERS OF THE GLCA NEW WRITERS AWARD" (PDF). glca.org. Great Lakes Colleges Association. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  7. ^ "National Book Critics Circle announces finalists for 2011 awards". Los Angeles Times. January 21, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  8. ^ Dungy, Camille T. (July 28, 2011). "Why I Chose Kingdom Animalia". The Rumpus. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  9. ^ Girmay, Aracelis (March 28, 2012). "Kingdom Animalia". poetryfoundation.org. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  10. ^ "What's Your Favorite Poem?". The New York Times. December 22, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  11. ^ Teicher, Craig Morgan (January 3, 2016). "In A Dark Time, The Eye Begins to See: A 2016 Poetry Preview". NPR. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  12. ^ "PW Picks: Books of the Week, April 11, 2016". Publishers Weekly. April 11, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  13. ^ "Best books of 2016". Boston Globe. December 7, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  14. ^ "Aracelis Girmay". Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  15. ^ Scutts, Joanna (August 14, 2015). "Stop and hear the poetry: spoken words beckon to bustling New York City". The Guardian. Retrieved February 3, 2017.

External links[]

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