Amherst is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. Amherst, with a council-manager form of government, is considered a city under Massachusetts state law. Amherst is one of several Massachusetts municipalities that have city forms of government but retain "The Town of" in their official names. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County. The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, three of the Five Colleges.
Alix L. Olson is an American poet who works exclusively in spoken word. She graduated from Wesleyan University in 1997 and uses her work to address issues of capitalism, racism, sexism, homophobia, heterosexism, misogyny, and patriarchy. She identifies as a queer feminist.
Martín Espada is a Puerto Rican-American poet, and a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he teaches poetry. Puerto Rico has frequently been featured as a theme in his poems.
Kelly Link is an American editor and author of short stories. While some of her fiction falls more clearly within genre categories, many of her stories might be described as slipstream or magic realism: a combination of science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, and realism. Among other honors, she has won a Hugo award, three Nebula awards, and a World Fantasy Award for her fiction, and she was one of the recipients of the 2018 MacArthur "Genius" Grant.
James Vincent Tate was an American poet. His work earned him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He was a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
William Jay Smith was an American poet. He was appointed the nineteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1968 to 1970.
Kelly Le Fave is an American poet.
Sam Michel is an American author. He is married to the writer Noy Holland. They live in western Massachusetts with their two children.
David Roderick is an American poet from Plymouth, Massachusetts, who taught for nine years at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Previously, he had lectured at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, as the Kenan Visiting Writer at the University of San Francisco, and at Stanford University, where he also conducted classes for its Education Program for Gifted Youth summer program.
Dorothy Barresi is an American poet.
Grace Bauer is an American poet. She lives in Nebraska, grew up in Pennsylvania and has also lived in New Orleans, Montana, Virginia and Massachusetts.
Matthew Zapruder (1967) is an American poet, editor, translator, and professor.
Brian Henry is an American poet, translator, editor, and literary critic.
Rafael Campo is an American poet, doctor, and author.
Pat Schneider was an American writer, poet, writing teacher and editor.
Jaime "Shaggy" Flores is a Nuyorican poet, writer and African Diaspora scholar who forms part of the Nuyorical literary movement.
Deborah Digges was an American poet and teacher.
Arthur Sze is an American poet, translator, and professor. Since 1972, he has published ten collections of poetry. Sze's ninth collection Compass Rose (2014) was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Sze's tenth collection Sight Lines (2019) won the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry.
Carmen Giménez is an American poet, writer, and editor.
The literature of New England has had an enduring influence on American literature in general, with themes such as religion, race, the individual versus society, social repression, and nature, emblematic of the larger concerns of American letters.
