Ailish Hopper | |
|---|---|
| Born | Washington, District of Columbia |
| Alma mater | Princeton University (A.B.) Bennington College (M.F.A.) |
| Employer | Goucher College |
| Website | http://www.ailishhopper.net/ |
Ailish Hopper is an American poet, writer and teacher.
Hopper released a chapbook titled Bird in the Head in 2005, and has since published a poetry collection called Dark~Sky Society (2014), which explores racial tensions. [1] In an interview with WYPR, she has noted her interest in race relations as being a consequence of her coming of age in DC and of her Irish heritage. [2] [3] Hopper's poetry has also been included in Agni, American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, Harvard Review Online, Tidal Basin Review, among others. [4] [5] In addition to page poetry, she has performed with the band Heroes are Gang Leaders, along with poets Thomas Sayers Ellis and Randall Horton, and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis. [6] [7] Hopper has also written essays about race relations, including one in Boston Review, "Can a Poem Listen? Variations on Being-white." [8]
Hopper graduated with an A.B. in religion and a certificate in African American studies from Princeton University in 1993 after completing a senior thesis under the supervision of Cornel West. [9] She later received an M.F.A. in creative writing and literature from Bennington College. She has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, [10] the Vermont Studio, and Yaddo. [11] Until 2025 she was an associate professor in Goucher College's peace studies department. [12]