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Carolyn Forché

キャロリン・フォーシェ

Carolyn Forché

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1950-04-28 （Detroit, Michigan, United States）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Roman Catholic
Residence History
Detroit (birthplace) → Maryland (residence) → El Salvador (worked/visited)

Career

Occupations
poet, editor, professor, translator, human rights advocate, essayist, columnist, lyricist
Active Years
1972-
Affiliations
Chapman University (Presidential Fellow), Georgetown University (Lannan Visiting Chair in Poetry; University Professor), George Mason University (MFA program), Bowling Green State University (faculty), Michigan State University (faculty), Columbia University (faculty), San Diego State University (faculty)
Memberships
Griffin Poetry Prize (trustee / trustee), Hedgebrook (Co-chair, Creative Advisory Council), Royal Society of Literature (International Writer, 2024)
Influenced By
Terrence des Pres, Hannah Arendt, Martin Buber, Simone Weil, Emmanuel Levinas

Education

Michigan State University
Creative Writing
Degree: BA
Period: 1968–1972
Year of Graduation: 1972
Country: United States
Bowling Green State University
Master of Fine Arts program
Degree: MFA
Period: 1973–1975
Year of Graduation: 1975
Country: United States

Awards

Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition
1976
Work: Gathering the Tribes
Organization: Yale University Press
Result: winner
Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship
1992
Organization: Lannan Foundation
Result: recipient
Robert Creeley Award
Organization: Robert Creeley Foundation
Result: recipient
Windham–Campbell Prize
Organization: Windham–Campbell Prizes
Result: recipient
National Book Award (Nonfiction)
2019
Work: What You Have Heard Is True
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: finalist
Juan E. Méndez Book Award for Human Rights in Latin America
2019
Work: What You Have Heard Is True
Organization: Juan E. Méndez Book Award
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Gathering the Tribes

1976 Poetry

Forché's first collection of poems, combining early political engagement with lyrical work.

witnesspolitical traumamemory
Translations
  • English

The Country Between Us

1981 Poetry

Contains poems drawing on her experiences in El Salvador; an important example of 'poetry of witness'.

witnessviolencememoryethics

Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness

1993 Anthology (editor)

An anthology collecting 'poetry of witness' from the twentieth century, addressing war, persecution, exile and extremity.

witnesswarremembrancehuman rights

The Angel of History

1994 Poetry

A mature collection of poems; selected for attention by major awards such as the Los Angeles Times Book Award.

historyreligionmemory

Blue Hour

2003 Poetry

A 2003 collection of poems; poems from this book have inspired musical works.

timelossfaith
Adaptations
  • [music album] The Blue Hour (2022)

What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance

2019 Memoir / Nonfiction

A memoir focusing on her experiences in El Salvador and witness work; critically acclaimed and recognized by human rights and literary awards.

witnessresistancehuman rightsmemoir

In the Lateness of the World: Poems

2020 Poetry

A 2020 collection of poems exploring the relationship between the world and the individual from a mature perspective.

latenessethicsmemory

Bibliography

  • Women in American Labor History, 1825-1935: An Annotated Bibliography (with Martha Jane Soltow and Murray Massre)
  • Gathering the Tribes
  • El Salvador: Work of Thirty Photographers
  • Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness (editor)
  • The Angel of History
  • Blue Hour
  • What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance
  • In the Lateness of the World: Poems
  • Poetry of Witness: The Tradition in English, 1500-2001

Adaptations

  • Appearance in Ken Burns documentary 'The Statue of Liberty' (1985)
  • Music album 'The Blue Hour' (2022) based on poem 'On Earth'

Translations by Author

  • Translated Mahmoud Darwish's 'Unfortunately, It Was Paradise: Selected Poems' (2003)
  • Translated Claribel Alegría's 'Sorrow' (1999)
  • Translated Robert Desnos' 'Selected Poetry' (with William Kulik, 1991)

Translations of Works

  • Swedish translations of selected works
  • German translations of selected works
  • Spanish translations of selected works

Style & Themes

Literary Style
poetry of witnesslyrical and imagistic stylepolitically engaged literature
Recurring Motifs
memoryviolence and traumareligious imageryexile/immigrant narratives

Legacy

Carolyn Forché is recognized as a leading proponent of 'poetry of witness', influential as a poet, editor and educator. Her literary work is closely linked with human rights advocacy, giving her a distinctive international standing.

Academic Societies

  • Academy of American Poets (affiliated)
  • Griffin Poetry Prize (trustee / governance)

Archives

  • Listed in authority files such as VIAF, ISNI and national library authorities

In Popular Culture

  • Appeared in Ken Burns documentary; poems adapted into musical works

Quotes

  • I think of 'poetry of witness' not simply as political poetry but as a tradition of poems that speak from the experience of extremity.
    Source: Against Forgetting (intro/preface) (1993)

Trivia

  • Married photographer Harry Mattison in 1984; son Sean-Christophe Mattison.
  • Family background includes Slovak immigrant roots, which influenced her work.
  • Serves as Presidential Fellow at Chapman University and has received multiple honorary doctorates.
  • The poem 'The Colonel' is one of her best-known works.