Rebecca Gayle Howell

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Rebecca Gayle Howell
Rebecca Gayle Howell.jpg
Born (1975-08-10) August 10, 1975 (age 46)
Lexington, Kentucky
OccupationWriter
NationalityAmerican
Literary movementSouthern

Rebecca Gayle Howell (born August 10, 1975 in Lexington, Kentucky)[1] is an American writer, literary translator, and editor.[2] In 2019 she was named a United States Artists Fellow.[3]

Education[]

Howell was born to a working-class family in Lexington, Kentucky on August 10, 1975. She earned her BA and her MA at the University of Kentucky, her MFA at Drew University, and her PhD at Texas Tech University, where she studied under Curtis Bauer. Howell also apprenticed under the Southern experimental art photographer and writer James Baker Hall, as well as the leading Jewish feminist poet, Alicia Ostriker. Other mentors include Carolyn Forché, Nikky Finney, Gerald Stern, Wendell Berry, W.S. Merwin, and Jean Valentine.

Career[]

Poetry[]

Her first book Render / An Apocalypse was selected by Nick Flynn for the Cleveland State University Poetry Center's First Book Prize (2013). Render / An Apocalypse also received The Nautilus Award [4] and was a finalist for Foreword Review's INDIES Book of the Year.[5] In 2016, Burnaway: Art of the South named it a Best Book of the Year. In 2020 literary critic Jennifer Ashton featured Render / An Apocalypse in her chapter "Ecology, Ethics, and the Apocalyptic Lyric in Recent American Poetry" for Apocalypse in American Literature and Culture (Cambridge University Press).[6]

American Purgatory, her second book, was selected by Don Share for The Sexton Prize[7] and was published in both Great Britain and the United States in 2017. American Purgatory was also a finalist for Foreword Review's INDIES Book of the Year.[8] The book was named a must read by The Courier-Journal,The Millions[9] and Poetry London. Other reviewers included ArtsATL, Nashville Review, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and The Rumpus.

Translation[]

Howell is the English-language translator of Amal al-Jubouri's verse memoir of the Iraq War, Hagar Before the Occupation / Hagar After the Occupation (Alice James Books, 2011). This translation, carried out in collaboration with Husam Qaisi and al-Jubouri, was a finalist for the 2012 Best Translated Book Award[10] and the U.K.'s Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation.[11] International reviewers included The Wall Street Journal's Mint[12] and Asymptote.[13] Hagar received a Best Book of Poetry for 2011 from Library Journal and a Best Book by an Arab Woman from Book Riot in 2017.[14]

In 2016 Howell began work with Claudia Prado on an English-language version of Prado's The Belly of the Whale. El Interior de la Ballena (Editorial Nusud, 2000) is a collection of Patagonian agrarian poetry. It received the bronze Concurso Régimen de Fomento a la Producción Literaria Nacional y Estímulo a la Industria Editorial del Fondo nacional de las Artes.[15] Howell's and Prado's versions have appeared in The Sewanee Review,[16] Waxwing,[17] and The Common[18].

Librettos[]

In 2019, she began a collaboration with classical composer Reena Esmail. A Winter Breviary, their eco-carol triptych, will be published by Oxford University Press in 2022. The third of these carols, "The Unexpected Early Hour," was premiered at the Los Angeles Master Chorale Festival of Carols, December 4, 2021.[19] Esmail and Howell also wrote Interglow, a COVID-19 quarantine meditation commissioned and debuted by Salistina Los Angeles on February 12, 2021.[20]

Publishing[]

Rebecca Gayle Howell is the Poetry Editor of Oxford American.[21] In this role, she works to create a new profile of Southern poetics. She is also known for commissioning longer poetic works. Since 2014, Howell has published writing by poets like Nathaniel Mackey,[22] Nikki Giovanni,[23] Tarfia Faizullah,[24] Tyehimba Jess,[25] C.D. Wright,[26] Kwame Dawes,[27] Ashley M. Jones,[28] Ada Limón,[29] Dean Young,[30] Crystal Wilkinson,[31] Naomi Shihab Nye,[32] and Jericho Brown.[33] In 2016, Howell and her fellow editors received the National Magazine Award for General Excellence, marking the first time in the magazine's 24 year history to receive the award.[34]

Howell is also an Assistant Editor and Letterpress Printer for Q Avenue Books, and a Contributing Editor for Pushcart Press. In 2015 she began freelance editing place-based poetry collections, including Crystal Wilkinson's Perfect Black (University Press of Kentucky, 2021); Julia Bouwsma's Work By Bloodlight (Cider Press, 2017); Nomi Stone's Kill Class (Tupelo Press, 2019); and Savannah Sipple's WWJD And Other Poems (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2019). In 2017, she founded Fireside Industries, an imprint of the University Press of Kentucky. Among the titles Howell published with Fireside are first books by Tanya Berry and Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle.

Awards[]

Books[]

  • A Winter Breviary, written by Rebecca Gayle Howell, composed by Reena Esmail. (Oxford University Press, 2022).
  • American Purgatory, poems by Rebecca Gayle Howell. (Black Spring Press Group, 2017).
  • Render / An Apocalypse, poems by Rebecca Gayle Howell. (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2013).
  • Hagar Before the Occupation / Hagar After the Occupation, poems by Amal al-Jubouri and translated by Rebecca Gayle Howell with Husam Qaisi. (Alice James Books, 2011).

References[]

[45] [46] [47]

  1. ^ "Book: The complicated animal". Leo Weekly.
  2. ^ "Andrew C. Gottlieb Reviews Render: an Apocalypse, by Rebecca Gayle Howell". Terrain.org
  3. ^ "United States Artists » 2019 Fellows". Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  4. ^ "Nautilus Book Awards – Better Books for a Better World". Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  5. ^ ""Render" is a 2013 Foreword INDIES Finalist". www.forewordreviews.com. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  6. ^ Ashton, Jennifer (2020), Hay, John (ed.), "Ecology, Ethics, and the Apocalyptic Lyric in Recent American Poetry", Apocalypse in American Literature and Culture, Cambridge Themes in American Literature and Culture, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 199–211, ISBN 978-1-108-49384-0, retrieved February 22, 2021
  7. ^ Group, The Black Spring Press. "Rebecca Gayle Howell's AN AMERICAN PURGATORY Wins the 2016 Sexton Prize for Poetry". The Black Spring Press Group. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  8. ^ "2017 Foreword INDIES Finalists in Poetry (Adult Nonfiction)". www.forewordreviews.com. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  9. ^ "The Millions: American Purgatory by Rebecca Gayle Howell". Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  10. ^ "2012 Best Translated Book Award Finalists: Fiction and Poetry « Three Percent". Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  11. ^ mlynxqualey (August 13, 2012). "The 22 Entries for the 2012 Banipal Translation Prize". ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  12. ^ Nair, Supriya (May 11, 2012). "The fragile world". mint. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  13. ^ "How to Live in Exile: The Poetry of Amal al-Jubouri - Asymptote". www.asymptotejournal.com. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  14. ^ Qualey, M. Lynx (January 6, 2017). "100 Recommended Books by Arab Women for Your 2017 Reading Resolutions". BOOK RIOT. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  15. ^ "Waxwing Literary Journal: American writers & international voices". waxwingmag.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  16. ^ "1899 | The Dress". The Sewanee Review. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  17. ^ "Waxwing Literary Journal: American writers & international voices". waxwingmag.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  18. ^ "Claudia Prado: Poems from THE BELLY OF THE WHALE". The Common. November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  19. ^ Chorale, Los Angeles Master. "Festival of Carols | Los Angeles Master Chorale". lamasterchorale.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  20. ^ interglow (world premiere) - Salastina, retrieved November 21, 2021
  21. ^ "Hands In Bleach". www.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  22. ^ "Oxford American | From Double Trio". www.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  23. ^ "The Blues". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  24. ^ "Oxford American | Six Poems". www.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  25. ^ "General James Bethune and John Bethune Introduce Blind Tom". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  26. ^ "What Do You Think's in the Shed?". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  27. ^ "Three Poems". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  28. ^ "Four Poems". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  29. ^ "An American Sound". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  30. ^ "Five Poems". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  31. ^ "Dig If You Will The Picture". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  32. ^ "We Always Needed You". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  33. ^ "Stand". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  34. ^ "We Did It!". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  35. ^ "2017 Foreword INDIES Finalists in Poetry (Adult Nonfiction)". www.forewordreviews.com. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  36. ^ Group, The Black Spring Press. "Rebecca Gayle Howell's AN AMERICAN PURGATORY Wins the 2016 Sexton Prize for Poetry". The Black Spring Press Group. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  37. ^ "http://kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=KentuckyArtsCouncil&prId=52". kentucky.gov. Retrieved March 29, 2017. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  38. ^ "We Did It!". main.oxfordamerican.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  39. ^ ""My Mother Told Us Not to Have Children" by Rebecca Gayle Howell | Rattle: Poetry".
  40. ^ "Nautilus Book Awards – Better Books for a Better World". Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  41. ^ "2013 Foreword INDIES Finalists in Poetry (Adult Nonfiction)". www.forewordreviews.com. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  42. ^ Schmeltzer, Michael. "CUTBANK REVIEWS: “Render/An Apocalypse” by Rebecca Gayle Howell"
  43. ^ "Three Percent".
  44. ^ mlynxqualey (August 13, 2012). "The 22 Entries for the 2012 Banipal Translation Prize". ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  45. ^ Render / An Apocalypse By Rebecca Gayle Howell – The Rumpus.net
  46. ^ Fifty Word Friday: Render / An Apocalypse by Rebecca Gayle Howell | Ostrich Review
  47. ^ Book Review: Render / An Apocalypse | Gulf Stream Literary Magazine

External links[]

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