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Martha Collins

マーサ・コリンズ

Martha Collins

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
null （Omaha, Nebraska）
Died
null
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Omaha, Nebraska (birth) → Des Moines, Iowa (raised) → Boston, Massachusetts (University of Massachusetts Boston) → Oberlin, Ohio (Oberlin College) → Ithaca, New York (Cornell University visiting) → St. Louis, Missouri (Washington University in St. Louis visiting)

Career

Occupations
Poet, Translator, Editor, Professor
Active Years
1970-
Affiliations
University of Massachusetts Boston, Oberlin College, Cornell University, Washington University in St. Louis
Influenced By
Nguyen Quang Thieu

Education

Stanford University
Degree: B.A.
Country: United States
University of Iowa
Degree: M.A.
Country: United States
Earned M.A.
University of Iowa
Degree: Ph.D.
Country: United States
Earned Ph.D.

Awards

William Carlos Williams Award
2020
Organization: Poetry Society of America
Result: 受賞
Lannan Foundation Residency Grant
2020
Organization: Lannan Foundation
Result: 助成（レジデンシー）
Fellow, Women's International Study Center
2018
Organization: Women's International Study Center
Result: フェロー
The Best American Poetry (appearance)
2013
Organization: The Best American Poetry
Result: 収録
Ohioana Poetry Award
2013
Organization: Ohioana Library Association
Result: 受賞
Ohioana Poetry Award
2007
Organization: Ohioana Library Association
Result: 受賞
Honorary Doctoral Degree (Cleveland State University)
2008
Organization: Cleveland State University
Result: 授与（名誉博士）
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
2007
Work: Blue Front
Organization: Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
Result: 受賞
Laurence Goldstein Poetry Prize
2005
Organization: Michigan Quarterly Review
Result: 受賞
National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
1990
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts
Result: フェローシップ
Pushcart Prize
1998
Organization: Pushcart Press
Result: 受賞
Pushcart Prize
1996
Organization: Pushcart Press
Result: 受賞
Pushcart Prize
1985
Organization: Pushcart Press
Result: 受賞
American Literary Translators Association Finalist Award
1998
Organization: American Literary Translators Association
Result: 最終候補

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Casualty Reports

2022 Poetry

A recent collection addressing personal and social losses and memories.

lossmemorysocial issues

Because What Else Could I Do

2019 Poetry

A collection that links personal experience with broader social themes.

ethicsindividual and society

Night Unto Night

2018 Poetry

A reflective collection centered on night and time.

timeintrospection

Admit One: An American Scrapbook

2016 Poetry / Documentary poetry

Interweaves early 20th-century eugenics, immigration, and discrimination to explore American history.

raceeugenicsimmigration history

Day Unto Day

2014 Poetry

Contains poems about daily life and moral reflection.

daily lifeethics

White Papers

2012 Poetry / Historical investigation

Explores race through personal experience and historical documentation.

racehistorymemory

Blue Front

2006 Long poem / Documentary poetry

A long poem born from discovering that an execution witnessed by the author's father was in fact a lynching; blends research and imagination.

racismhistorical violencememory and denial

A History of a Small Life on a Windy Planet

1993 Poetry

A collection weaving personal recollection and observations.

personal historynature

The Arrangement of Space

1991 Poetry

A collection that crosses formal craft with social subjects.

formsocial issues

The Catastrophe of Rainbows

1985 Poetry

A collection of early works.

early poetrypersonal observation

Bibliography

  • Casualty Reports
  • Because What Else Could I Do
  • Night Unto Night
  • Admit One: An American Scrapbook
  • Day Unto Day
  • White Papers
  • Sheer (chapbook)
  • Blue Front
  • Gone So Far (chapbook)
  • A History of a Small Life on a Windy Planet
  • The Arrangement of Space
  • The Catastrophe of Rainbows

Translations by Author

  • Dreaming the Mountain: Poems (co-translated, Tuệ Sỹ)
  • Bitter and Sweet: Poems (co-translated, Trang The Hy)
  • Black Stars: Poems (co-translated, Ngô Tự Lập)
  • Green Rice: Poems (co-translated, Lâm Thị Mỹ Dạ)
  • The Women Carry River Water: Poems (co-translated, Nguyen Quang Thieu)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
lyrical and formally attentive poetrypoetry incorporating research and documentary methods
Recurring Motifs
race and historymemory and family narrativesmorality and ethics

Legacy

Martha Collins is an American poet known for combining lyricism with ethical and historical inquiry. She has been recognized for work addressing race, memory, and social injustice and has received numerous awards and fellowships.

Academic Societies

  • Poetry Society of America (noted as awarding organization)

In Popular Culture

  • Widely represented in anthologies and poetry readings

Quotes

  • “A dazzling poet whose poetry is poised at the juncture between the lyric and ethics and who has addressed some of the most traumatic social issues of the twentieth century.”
    Source: Cynthia Hogue (review/criticism)

Trivia

  • Founded the Creative Writing Program at University of Massachusetts Boston in 1979.
  • Discovering that an execution her father described was a lynching inspired the long poem 'Blue Front'.