Richard Siken | |
|---|---|
 Siken in 2001 | |
| Born | February 15, 1967 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Alma mater | University of Arizona (BA. MFA) |
Richard Siken (born February 15, 1967) is an American poet, painter, and filmmaker. He is the author of the collection Crush (Yale University Press, 2005), which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition in 2004. [1] His second book of poems, War of the Foxes, was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2015.
Siken was born in New York City. [2] He studied at and received a B.A. in psychology and later a Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the University of Arizona. [3] He is his mother's only child, with a half-brother on his father's side 16 years older. He has a stepsister and two stepbrothers, who are all over 10 years older than him. He has never lived with either his half-brother or stepsiblings. [4]
In 2001, Siken co-founded Spork Press, where he continues to work as an editor.
Siken received a Literature Fellowship in Poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, and his book Crush was awarded the Lambda Literary Award for "Gay Men's Poetry" in 2005, [5] and the Thom Gunn Award from Publishing Triangle. The 1990 death of his boyfriend influenced his writing of the book. [6] [7]
Siken's book War of the Foxes became a recipient of two residencies with the Lannan Residency Program, and a Lannan Literary Selection. [8]
Siken currently lives in Tucson, Arizona. On March 19, 2019, Siken reported on his Facebook that he had recently suffered a stroke. On December 4, 2020, he published his first post-stroke poem, "Real Estate" on poets.org [9] after announcing it on his Facebook the day prior. [10]
On July 9, 2023, he announced his new book I Do Know Some Things, set to be published April 29, 2025. Siken described the new publication on Twitter as "77 prose poems about what I can remember about my life. It is autobiographical. A backstage pass." [11]
Crush won the 2004 Yale Series of Younger Poets prize, selected by Louise Glück. It was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Thom Gunn Award.
Siken is also the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, two Arizona Commission on the Arts grants, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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