Background
Terese Coe (née Napolitano) was born in Manhattan and grew up in Brooklyn. She received a B.A. in English with a minor in comparative literature from the City College of New York and in 1967 an M.A. in dramatic literature from the University of Utah. [2] Her M.A. thesis, “Paradigms of Ritualism,” examined ritualism in Euripides’ The Bacchae; Ulysses in Nighttown, a play based on the 15th episode of James Joyce's Ulysses; Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding; Albee's Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; Genet's The Maids; and Beckett's Happy Days.
Her poems, translations, and stories have appeared in US journals including 32 Poems , [3] Able Muse , Alaska Quarterly Review , [4] American Arts Quarterly, The Cincinnati Review, [5] The Connecticut Review, The Evansville Review , High Times , The Hopkins Review , The Huffington Post , [6] The Literary Review , Measure, Mezzo Cammin , New American Writing , [7] The New York Times , Nimrod International, Ploughshares , [8] Poetry , [9] Smartish Pace , The Shakespeare Newsletter, Stone Canoe , Tar River Poetry, The Threepenny Review [10] and Xavier Review ; in the UK, in Agenda, Anon, Interlude, Interpreter’s House, Leviathan Quarterly, New Walk , New Writing Scotland , Poetry Review , the Times Literary Supplement , and Warwick Review; in Ireland, in Crannog, Cyphers, The Moth, and The Stinging Fly ; [11] and in Australia in Soapbox Media. The EBSCO research database lists numerous poems and translations by Coe. [12]
Coe's poem "More" was among those chosen by Poetry Review Guest Editor George Szirtes to be heli-dropped across London as part of the 2012 London Olympics' Poetry Parnassus' Rain of Poems event. [13]
Terese Coe's first collection of poems, The Everyday Uncommon, was published in 2005 by Wordtech. [14] Her second collection, Shot Silk, was published in 2015 by Kelsay Books. [15] Her third collection, Why You Can't Go Home Again, was published in 2018 by Kelsay Books. [16] Her work appears in anthologies such as Anthology One (Alsop Review Press), [17] Grace Notes: Poetry from the Pages of First Things, [18] The Cento: A Collection of Collage Poems, [19] Irresistible Sonnets, [20] Jiggery Pokery Semicentennial (from Waywiser Press), [21] Love Affairs at the Villa Nelle (from Kelsay Books), [22] and Phoenix Rising from the Ashes (from Friesen Press, Canada). [23]
Coe has worked as editor and writer for publications including The New York Free Press and Changes (NY, 1969); English teacher and director of poetry workshops in Kathmandu, Nepal; director of children's poetry workshops at the Sun Valley (ID) Center for the Arts; and as editorial consultant for numerous financial publications at investment banks in Manhattan. She worked for ten years as an adjunct professor of English writing and literature in New York. [24]
Critical reception
Hayden Carruth wrote about The Everyday Uncommon: “It’s clear to me that she knows what she’s doing, she’s doing what she wants to do, and she does it well.” [2] The book has also received critical praise from Rhina Espaillat, [2] R. S. Gwynn, [2] David Mason, [28] and Deborah Warren, [2] among others.
Terese Coe's work was discussed in depth by editors of the Cincinnati Review in 2012, [29] [30] and has been reviewed and discussed by Paul Hoover [31] and other critics. Reviews of Shot Silk are by A.M. Juster, in Angle, [32] Gregory Dowling, in Semicerchio, [33] and D.A. Prince, in New Walk, reprinted at Eratosphere. [34]
