Aaron Smith (poet)

Last updated
Aaron Smith
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of Pittsburgh
Occupation(s)Poet and academic

Aaron Smith is an American poet. Three of his poetry collections have been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry. [1] [2] [3] His poetry often covers "what it means to be a gay man from a rural, working class environment." [4]

Contents

Education and career

Smith received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Pittsburgh. [5] He previously taught at West Virginia Wesleyan College and currently serves as an associate professor of Creative Writing at Lesley University. [6] [4] He has also been the recipient of fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Mass Cultural Council. [7] [8]

Awards

Awards and honors for Smith's writing
YearTitleAward/HonorResultRef.
2003What's RequiredFrank O'Hara Award
2004Blue on Blue GroundAgnes Lynch Starrett PrizeWinner [9]
2006 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry Finalist [1]
2013Appetite Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry Finalist [2]
Paterson Poetry PrizeFinalist [10]
Thom Gunn Award Finalist [11]
2016PrimerPoetry Must Read for the Massachusetts Center for the BookHonor [12]
2017 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry Finalist [3]
2020The Book of Daniel Thom Gunn Award Finalist [11]

Publications

Poetry collections

Chapbooks

Poems

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Allison</span> American writer (born 1949)

Dorothy Allison is an American writer from South Carolina whose writing focuses on class struggle, sexual abuse, child abuse, feminism and lesbianism. She is a self-identified lesbian femme. Allison has won a number of awards for her writing, including several Lambda Literary Awards. In 2014, Allison was elected to membership in the Fellowship of Southern Writers.

The Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize is a major American literary award for a first full-length book of poetry in the English language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Doty</span> American poet and memoirist

Mark Doty is an American poet and memoirist best known for his work My Alexandria. He was the winner of the National Book Award for Poetry in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emanuel Xavier</span> American poet

Emanuel Xavier, is an American poet, spoken word artist, author, editor, and LGBTQ activist born and raised in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. Associated with the East Village, Manhattan arts scene in New York City, he emerged from the ball culture scene and the Nuyorican movement to become a successful poet, writer and advocate for gay youth programs and Latino gay literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Siken</span> American poet, painter, and filmmaker (born 1967)

Richard Siken is an American poet, painter, and filmmaker. He is the author of the collection Crush, which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition in 2004. His second book of poems, War of the Foxes, was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2015.

Minnie Bruce Pratt is an American poet, educator, activist and essayist. She retired in 2015 from her position as Professor of Writing and Women's Studies at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York where she was invited to help develop the university's first LGBT Study Program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyrus Cassells</span> American poet and professor

Cyrus Cassells is an American poet and professor.

Randall Mann is an American poet.

Lambda Literary Awards are awarded yearly by the United States-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works that celebrate or explore LGBT themes. To qualify, a book must have been published in the United States in the year current to the official year of the award; the presentation ceremony is held a year later. The Lambda Literary Foundation states that its mission is "to celebrate LGBT literature and provide resources for writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians - the whole literary community."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Blanco</span> Spanish American poet and professor

Richard Blanco is an American poet, public speaker, author and civil engineer. He is the fifth poet to read at a United States presidential inauguration, having read the poem "One Today" for Barack Obama's second inauguration. He is the first immigrant, the first Latino, the first openly gay person and at the time the youngest person to be the U.S. inaugural poet.

Cave Canem Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1996 by poets Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady to remedy the underrepresentation and isolation of African-American poets in Master of Fine Arts (MFA) programs and writing workshops across the United States. It is based in Brooklyn, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danez Smith</span> American poet

Danez Smith is an African-American, poet, writer and performer from St. Paul, Minnesota. They are queer, non-binary and HIV-positive. They are the author of the poetry collections [insert] Boy and Don't Call Us Dead: Poems, both of which have received multiple awards. Their most recent poetry collection Homie was published on January 21, 2020.

The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a gay-themed book of poetry by a male writer.

The Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a lesbian-themed book of poetry by a female writer. At the first two Lambda Literary Awards in 1989 and 1990, a single award for LGBT Poetry, irrespective of gender, was presented. Beginning with the 3rd Lambda Literary Awards in 1991, the poetry award was split into two separate awards for Lesbian Poetry and Gay Poetry, which have been presented continuously since then except at the 20th Lambda Literary Awards in 2008, when a merged LGBTQ poetry award was again presented for that year only.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin S. Grossberg</span> American poet and educator

Benjamin S. Grossberg is an American poet and educator.

The Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Studies is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation, presented to scholarly work that address "issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity, and oriented toward academia, libraries, cultural professionals, and the more academic reader." Most works are published by university presses.

The Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Literature is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation, that awards books with bisexual content. The award can be separated into three categories: bisexual fiction, bisexual nonfiction, and bisexual poetry. Awards are granted based on literary merit and bisexual content, and therefore, the writer may be homo-, hetero-, or asexual.

Julie Marie Wade is an American writer and professor of creative writing. Wade has received numerous awards for her writing, most notably winning the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir or Biography in 2011 for her book Wishbone.

Marshall Thornton is an American writer of gay and lesbian mysteries best known for his Boystown series. He's won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Mystery thrice and has been a finalist for the award six times. He's also been a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Romance twice and placed second for the Rainbow Award for Gay Romantic Comedy in 2016.

Nancy Agabian is an American writer, activist, and teacher, currently lecturing at New York University, Gallatin. She is of Armenian origin, and her memoir about her childhood, Me as Her Again: True Stories of an Armenian Daughter, won Lambda Literary's Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction.

References

  1. 1 2 Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (2005-04-09). "18th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  2. 1 2 "25th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners Announced!". Lambda Literary. 2013-06-04. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  3. 1 2 "29th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced". Lambda Literary. 2017-03-14. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  4. 1 2 "Taking a risk with honest poems | Lesley University". lesley.edu. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  5. "Aaron Smith". Lesley University. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  6. "Aaron Smith / Bio". Lit Appetite. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  7. "Aaron Smith". Poetry Foundation. 2022-02-17. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  8. "Check out Aaron Smith's work on @masscultural's gallery!". Mass Cultural Council. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  9. "Blue on Blue Ground". University of Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  10. "The 2013 Paterson Poetry Prize" (PDF). The Poetry Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-15. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  11. 1 2 "The Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry". The Publishing Triangle. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  12. "Susan Goodman wins Massachusetts Book Award". Lesley University. 2018-08-06. Retrieved 2022-02-17.