Mary Ruefle

Mary Ruefle
Born1952 (age 71–72)
EducationBennington College (BA)
GenrePoetry
Notable awardsNational Book Award

Mary Ruefle (born 1952) is an American poet, essayist, and professor. She has published many collections of poetry, the most recent of which, Dunce (Wave Books, 2019), was longlisted for the National Book Award in Poetry and a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize.[1] Ruefle's debut collection of prose, The Most Of It, appeared in 2008 and her collected lectures, Madness, Rack, and Honey, in 2012, both published by Wave Books.[2] She has also published a book of erasures, A Little White Shadow (2006).[3]

She has been widely published in magazines and journals including The American Poetry Review,[4] Verse Daily,[5] The Believer,[6] Harper's Magazine,[7] and The Kenyon Review,[8] and in such anthologies as Best American Poetry, Great American Prose Poems (2003), American Alphabets: 25 Contemporary Poets (2006), and The Next American Essay (2002).[9]

The daughter of a military officer, Ruefle was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in 1952,[10] but spent her early years traveling around the U.S. and Europe. She graduated from Bennington College[9] in 1974 with a degree in literature. She teaches at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.[9] In 2011, she served as the Bedell Distinguished Visiting Professor[11] at the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program. In 2019, she was named poet laureate of the state of Vermont.[12]

  1. ^ "2020 Pulitzer Prizes". The Pulitzer Prizes. 2020 The Pulitzer Prizes. May 4, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  2. ^ Mary Ruefle official website, featuring erasure work, maryruefle.com; accessed December 15, 2015.
  3. ^ "Mary Ruefle". Poetry Foundation. February 26, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  4. ^ The American Poetry Review>July/Aug 2002 Vol. 31/No. 4 Archived July 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, aprweb.org; accessed December 15, 2015.
  5. ^ Daily, Verse. "Verse Daily Archives". www.versedaily.org. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  6. ^ "The Believer - Contributors: Mary Ruefle". The Believer. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  7. ^ "Mary Ruefle | Harper's Magazine". Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  8. ^ Mary Ruefle: A Custom of Mourning (Spring 2009 • Vol. XXXI • No 2)[permanent dead link], kenyonreview.org; accessed December 15, 2015.
  9. ^ a b c "Mary Ruefle". Contemporary Authors Online. 2014 – via Gale Literature Resource Center.
  10. ^ Lehman, David (2013). The Best American Poetry 2013. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4767-0814-0.
  11. ^ "University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program Receives $500,000 Donation to Build Program Endowment | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences | The University of Iowa". College of Liberal Arts and Sciences | The University of Iowa. March 26, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  12. ^ "Mary Ruefle appointed Vermont's poet laureate". AP NEWS. October 30, 2019. Retrieved October 31, 2019.