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Patrick Rosal

パトリック・ロサル

Patrick Rosal

Profile

Gender
Male
Nationality
Filipino American
Languages
English

Career

Occupations
poet, essayist, professor
Affiliations
Rutgers University–Camden (faculty), Sarah Lawrence College (faculty/lecturer), University of Texas at Austin (faculty/lecturer), Bloomfield College (faculty/lecturer)

Education

Sarah Lawrence College
Creative Writing (MFA) / Creative Writing
Degree: MFA
Country: United States

Awards

Global Filipino Literary Award
2007
Work: My American Kundiman
Organization: Global Filipino Literary Awards
Result: winner
Association for Asian American Studies Poetry/Prose Award
2008
Work: My American Kundiman
Organization: Association for Asian American Studies
Result: winner
National Book Critics Circle Small Press Highlight
2011
Work: Boneshepherds
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: honor
Guggenheim Fellowship
2017
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: fellowship
Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize
2017
Work: Brooklyn Antediluvian
Organization: Academy of American Poets
Result: winner
Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award (finalist)
2017
Work: Brooklyn Antediluvian
Organization: Tufts Poetry Awards
Result: finalist
National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship
2018
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts
Result: fellowship
William Carlos Williams Award
2022
Organization: Poetry Society of America
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Brooklyn Antediluvian

2016 poetry

A collection exploring urban life, memory, family, and history. Uses musical rhythms and bodily language to interrogate personal and collective histories.

urban lifememoryfamilyimmigrant experiencemusic

Boneshepherds

2011 poetry

A poetry collection weaving bodily experience, cultural inheritance, and fragmented identity; noted by critics.

the bodyheritageidentity

My American Kundiman

2006 poetry

A collection singing the Filipino American experience, incorporating the concept of the kundiman (a Filipino song form) into contemporary poetry.

immigrationethnicitytradition and modernityfamily

Uprock Headspin Scramble and Dive

2003 poetry

An early collection incorporating hip-hop culture and dance motifs; characterized by rhythm and performative language.

hip-hopperformanceurban culture

The Last Thing: New & Selected Poems

2021 poetry (selected)

A selected volume of new and previously published poems, summarizing recurring themes while presenting new work.

retrospectinheritancepersonal history

Bibliography

  • Brooklyn Antediluvian (Persea Books, 2016)
  • Boneshepherds (Persea Books, 2011)
  • My American Kundiman (Persea Books, 2006)
  • Uprock Headspin Scramble and Dive (Persea Books, 2003)
  • The Last Thing: New & Selected Poems (Persea Books, 2021)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
rhythmic, musical stylecolloquial and performative expressionincorporation of hip-hop rhythms and structures
Recurring Motifs
familyimmigrant experienceurban lifemusic (especially hip-hop)body and memory

Legacy

Patrick Rosal is known as a Filipino American poet who integrates immigrant experience, urban corporeality, and musicality into his work. He is also an educator and has become an important voice in contemporary American poetry.

Academic Societies

  • Association for Asian American Studies (related)

Trivia

  • Co-founding editor of Some Call It Ballin', a literary sports magazine.
  • Received an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and teaches at Rutgers University–Camden.
  • Awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to the Philippines in 2009.
  • Received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2017 and won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize the same year.