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Education
Publications
Teaching and Adminstrative
Experience
Selected Honors and
Awards
Other Professional
Experience
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Education
2003 | Doctor of Philosophy, American
Literature
The University of Texas at Austin
With study in African American Studies, Women’s
Studies, Poetry, and Cultural Studies
Developed the graduate concentration in Poetry and Poetics
1998 | Master of Arts, Creative Writing
(Poetry)
The University of Texas at Austin
1995 | Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology
and Women’s Studies
Duke University
Phi Beta Kappa, Cum Laude
Fall 1993 | Duke in New York Arts
Program
New York University
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Publications
Books
2009 | The Cultural Politics
of Slam Poetry: Race, Identity, and the Performance of Popular
Verse in America (criticism)
University of Michigan Press
2009 | Quiver (poetry)
VQR Series in Poetry, University of Georgia Press
Winner of the Writer’s League of Texas Book Award
2006 | Roam (poetry)
Crab Orchard Series, Southern
Illinois University Press
Winner of the Crab Orchard Award Series in Poetry Open Competition
Selected Poetry
2015 | “On Signs,” An Uncommon Book of Prayer: An Anthology of Poetry, Ed. Matthew Vollmer.
2014 | “Birds, In Flight,” 99 Poems for the 99 Percent: An Anthology of Poetry, Ed. Dean Rader.
2013 | “Tallahatchie,” The Pushcart Prize XXXVIII: The Best of the Small Presses (forthcoming).
2013 | “Downtown Zoetrope,” “Bagram,” “Three Views of a Souvenir,” “Looking at Photographs in Which Our Faces Do Not Appear,” and “Uptown Zoetrope.” the minnesota review 80, Duke University Press (Spring).
2012 | “Matter and Void,” American Scientist, (September-October).
2012 | “Memento Mori” and “On Cancer,” Gulf Coast 25.1 (Fall).
2012 | “Tallahatchie,” Orion (May/June).
2012 | “Birds, In Flight,” 99 Poems for the 99 Percent blog (January 31).
2012 | “Oppenheimer’s Lament,” Villanelles, Eds. Annie Finch and Marie-Elizabeth Mali, Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets Series (Random House).
2011 | “Cry Baby” Columbia Poetry Review (Spring).
2011 | “Sugar: A Blues” The Pinch (Spring).
Fall 2009 | “Women of Troy”
Suite of six poems aired on PRI’s Studio
360 with Kurt Andersen and published in Virginia
Quarterly Review
Summer 2009 | “Insomnia Chiaroscuro”
Borderlands
2008 | “The Last Known Confederate
Civil War Widow Writes from the Dead Letter Office of Heaven”
and “Insomnia Chiaroscuro” If These Walls
Could Speak installation, Blanton Museum of Art.
Summer/Fall 2008 | “Half-Life”
Gulf Coast
April 2008 | “The Golden Lesson”
The Iowa Review
Winter 2007 | “Petites Curie”
and “Object Lesson: Horses”
Indiana Review
Fall/Winter 2007 | “Campanology”
and “Oppenheimer’s Lament”
West Branch
Spring 2007 | “Girl, 7, Seeking
U.S. Flight Record, Dies in Crash” and “The Birds”
Connecticut Review
Spring 2007 | “The Order of
a House” and “Cotyledon” Pebble
Lake Review
2007 | “Ophelia’s Technicolor
G-String” and “The Gift” Spoken
Word Revolution Redux (Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks)
October 2006 | “What
the Doctors Forget to Tell You About Morphine”
Poets & Writers Online
2006 | “Thaw and the Beginning
of Everything” Painted Bride Quarterly Issue
75
Summer 2006 | “Notes for Living
in NOLA” RATTLE
8 May 2006| “Cow
Song”
Verse Daily, Poem of the Day
Winter/Spring 2006 | “Decorum,”
“The Boy Who Would Be Achilles,” “Cow Song”
Crab Orchard Review
Spring 2006 | “Darwin Strikes
a Match,” “First Sex,” “My Natural History”
Virginia Quarterly Review
2006 | “Polaris”
Southern California Anthology, Vol. XXI (Ann Stanford
Prize)
Spring/Summer 2005 | “Virginia
Dare (i-vi)” Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review
Spring 2005 | “Celestial Music”
GSU Review (Finalist, Annual Writing Contest)
Spring 2005 | “Circus Acts: Ring One,” “Circus
Acts: Ring Three,” “The Naming of Eve”
The Cream City Review
Spring 2004 | “Heat” iris: a
journal about women
Summer/Fall 2003 | “Cowboys and Indians”
The St. Ann’s Review
Fall 2002 | “A Note on the
Type” Spoon River Poetry Review (Finalist,
Editor’s Prize)
Spring 2000 | “Circe with Her
Hair Down,” “Where He Lives Rhymes with Rome,”
“Self-Portrait as Interstate 10” The
Madison Review (Winner of the Phillis Smart Young Prize in
Poetry)
1999 | “Ophelia’s Technicolor
G-String” Earth’s Daughters 52: Mask
Winter 1997-1998 | “Dedications
for a Birmingham Clinic” Beloit Poetry Journal
Spring/Summer 1998 | “The
Blood Club” Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review
Fall/Winter 1998 | “A Pain, A Fencepost, A Black-and-White
Film” Hayden’s Ferry Review
Fall 1996 | “My Father’s
Absence in Africa,” “The Gift,” “What
the Doctors Forget to Tell You About Morphine,” “In
Memory of a Girl” Spoon River Poetry Review
Nonfiction Essays
2013 | “Natasha Trethewey’s ‘Myth’.” Voltage Poetry, eds. Kim Addonizio and Michael Thuene.
2012 | “The Place Where I Write.” Orion (July/August).
2012 | “Poetry is Dead. Long Live Poetry! Some Thoughts on Poetry in the American Public Sphere” Creative Research Center Guest Blog (April)
2009 | “The City Ablaze” Virginia Quarterly Review (Fall).
2009 | “Through
the Invisible Cloak: Some Problems and Possibilities of Being
a White Reader of African American Poetry” RATTLE #31 (Summer)
2007 | "Can
Slam Poetry Matter?" Introduction, Tribute Issue
Celebrating Poetry Slam’s 21st Anniversary RATTLE #27 (Summer)
Scholarly Articles
2015 | “From Slam to Def Poetry Jam: Spoken Word Poetry and its Counterpublics”
Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies
Fall 2006 | “Def Poetry’s
Public: Spoken Word Poetry and the Racial Politics of Going Mainstream”
Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies
Spring 2005 | “Slam Poetry
and the Cultural Politics of Performing Identity”
Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association
Spring 2003 | “Authenticating
Voices: Slam Poetry, Politics, and Performances of Black Identity”
Mantis Journal of Poetry and Poetics 3, Stanford University
Spring 2002 | “Representing”
Slam Poetry: Ambivalence, Gender, and Black Authenticity in Slam”
Text, Practice, Performance Journal of Cultural Studies 3.1
2000 | “Group Piece Discussion on the Group Piece”
Co-authored with Mike Henry, Karyna McGlynn, Danny Solis, Genevieve
Van Cleve, Hilary Thomas, Phil West, and Wammo
Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry, Ed. Gary Mex Glazner,
San Francisco: Manic D Press.
Multimedia and Installations
2010 | Wild Animals I Have Known (a multimedia palimpsest) [HTML] [PDF] | Texas Landmarks Commission, The University of Texas at Austin
2009 | “Women
of Troy” multimedia slideshow, a collaboration
with Lu Olkowski (radio) and Brenda Ann Kenneally (photography).
2009 | In
Verse: "Women of Troy" Studio 360 with
Kurt Anderson (November 6, 16 min.)
Women of Troy on Studio 360: Part 1
Women of Troy on Studio 360: Part 2
2009 | Word
of Mouth, New Hampshire Public Radio (December 9,
10 min).
2009 | “Just
a Girl,” BBC Radio 4 Americana (November 22,
6 min).
2008 | “The Last Known Confederate
Civil War Widow Writes from the Dead Letter Office of Heaven”
and “Insomnia Chiaroscuro,” If These Walls Could Speak installation, Blanton Museum of
Art.
2007 |
Poetry Foundation Podcast (June
11, 14 min).
Interviews and Press
2012 | Cited Authority: “Since '84, City Poetry Scene Has Thrived, but What's Next?” by Naomi Nix, Chicago Tribune (April 19).
2011 | "On Representing "The City and Its Women": An Interview with Susan B.A. Somers-Willett, Part I and Part II Viz.
2010 | “Women
of Troy: A Documentary Poem” by Danielle Blau,
The New Yorker Book Bench (June 10).
2010 | “Performance
Poetry Hits the Mainstream” by Dave McGinn,
Globe and Mail (February 28).
2010 | Nieman
Storyboard
interview, Neiman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard
University
2009 | "Women
of Troy: Upstate Girls" by Wayne Trujillo, Huffington
Post
2009 | "In
Verse: The Making of 'Women of Troy'" Transom.org,
a Peabody Award-winning website discussing innovation in public
radio
2009 | “Six
Questions for Susan Somers-Willett” VQR Blog
June 3, 2009 | “Is
Slam in Danger of Going Soft?” by Larry Rohter,
New York Times
Summer 2009 | BOOK/TALK:
Conversation with Slam Poetry Scholar Susan B.A. Somers-Willett
The Arts Politic Inaugural Issue
June 2007 | "Performing
the Academy" Cover Story by Jeremy Richards,
Poetry Foundation Website
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Teaching
and Adminstrative Experience
2014-present | Assistant Vice President of Research and Policy, Division of Diversity and Community Engagement
The University of Texas at Austin
2013-2014 | Associate Director of Communications,
Office of the Vice President, Division of Diversity and Community Engagement
The University of Texas at Austin
2009-2013 | Assistant Professor,
English Department
Montclair State University
2008-2009 | Visiting Writer and Lecturer,
English Department
The University of Texas at Austin
2006-2007 | Visiting Fellow, Center
for the Arts in Society
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
2004-2006 | Visiting Assistant Professor,
English Department
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2001-2003 | Assistant Director of
the Creative Writing Program
The University of Texas at Austin
1998-2002 | Assistant Instructor,
English Department
The University of Texas at Austin
To view courses taught and course websites,
visit the Teaching page.
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Selected
Honors and Awards
Writing Honors
2014 | Pushcart Prize for “Tallahatchie,” originally published in Orion.
2012 | Center for the Book Arts Chapbook Competition, Honorable Mention (broadside publication).
2010 | Writers’ League of Texas Book Award for best book of poetry for Quiver.
2010 | Gracie Award for “In
Verse: Women of Troy,” Outstanding Soft News Feature,
Alliance for Women in Media (formerly American Women in Radio
and Television).
2010 | Distinguished Entry, Campbell Corner Poetry Prize, Sarah Lawrence College.
2010 | 3rd Place, The Pinch
Literary Award in Poetry for “Sugar: A Blues.”
2009 | 2nd Place, The Missouri Review
Audio Award for “ Women of Troy.”
2008 | Finalist, Rona Jaffe Foundation
Writer's Award
2006 | Emily Clark Balch Prize for
Poetry, Virginia Quarterly Review
2006 | Helen C. Smith Award for Best
Book of Poetry Finalist, Texas Institute of Letters
2006 | Pushcart Prize nomination,
Southern Illinois University Press
2005 | Crab Orchard Award Series
in Poetry Open Competition, second place winner for Roam
(book publication and $1500)
2005 | Robert Frost Foundation Poetry
Award
2004 | Ann Stanford Poetry Prize,
Southern California Anthology
2000 | Phillis Smart Young Prize
in Poetry The Madison Review (University of
Wisconsin at Madison)
1995 | Louis Sudler Prize for Excellence in the Arts,
Duke University ($5,000 prize given to one graduate annually)
1994| Academy of American Poets
Award, Duke University
Residencies
July 2013 | Hedgebrook
June 2007 | Hedgebrook
July 2005 | Millay Colony for the
Arts, Martha Martin Fellow
November 2004 | I-Park Artist’s
Enclave
Summer 2004 | Alden B. Dow Center
for Creativity, Northwood University
Summer 1994 | Bucknell Seminar for
Younger Poets, Stadler Center for Poetry
Grants, Fellowships, and Teaching
Awards
2015-2016 | National Endowment for the Arts Individual Creative Writing Fellowship.
2012-2013 | Manuscript, Archive, and Rare Books Library Short-Term Fellowship, Emory University.
2009 | City of Austin Artist Opportunity
Grant
2006-2007 | Center for the Arts in
Society Visiting Scholar Fellowship, Carnegie Mellon
University
2004-2006 | Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral
Fellowship, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
2002-2003 | American Dissertation
Fellowship, American Association of University Women
(one of fifty-one $20,000 fellowships awarded nationwide)
2002-2003 | Keene Fellowship for
Exceptional Contributions in Creative Writing, The University
of Texas at Austin
2001-2002 | J.M. Coetzee Distinguished
Alumnus Fellowship, The University of Texas at Austin
2000-2001 | Nomination, Teaching
Excellence Award, The University of Texas at Austin
2005-2006 | Nomination, Outstanding
Teacher Award, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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Other
Professional Experience
2013-present | Campus Climate Response Team, The University of Texas at Austin.
2012, 2014 | Consultant, The Performance Poetry Preservation Project (P4).
2012 | Peer Reviewer, Bedford/St. Martin’s Press.
2011 | Judge, Virginia Tech annual MFA poetry prize.
2009-present | Advisory Board, Yale Anthology of Rap (Yale Univ. Press, forthcoming 2010)
2007, 2009 | Contributing Editor,
RATTLE
2003-2004 | Editor, Holt,
Rinehart and Winston (a division of Harcourt Publishing)
Summer 2002, 2001-2003 | Graduate
Research Assistant and Lab Staff, Computer
Writing and Research Lab, The University of Texas at Austin
1998 | Co-Editor, Borderlands:
Texas Poetry Review
1996 | Production and Office Manager,
Juno Books, New York City
1993 | Production Staff,
Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine, New York City
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