James Laughlin Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 30 (1983) Winner
Sharon Olds
シャロン・オールズ
Sharon Olds
Profile
- Gender
- Female
- Born
- 1942-11-19 （San Francisco, California, United States）
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Religion
- Calvinist (childhood) / atheist and pantheist (adult)
- Residence History
- Berkeley, California → San Francisco, California → Upper West Side, New York City
Career
- Occupations
- Poet, Professor (creative writing)
- Active Years
- 1970-
- Affiliations
- New York University Creative Writing Program, Academy of American Poets (Chancellor 2006–2012), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (member), American Academy of Arts and Letters (member)
- Memberships
- Academy of American Poets (former Chancellor), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (member), American Academy of Arts and Letters (member)
- Influenced By
- Galway Kinnell, Muriel Rukeyser, Gwendolyn Brooks, Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson (prosody influence)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanford University | — | English | BA | 1960s | United States |
| Columbia University | — | English | MA, PhD | 1960s–1972 | United States |
Stanford University
English
Degree:
BA
Period:
1960s
Year of Graduation:
1964
Country:
United States
Completed BA
Columbia University
English
Degree:
MA, PhD
Period:
1960s–1972
Year of Graduation:
1972
Country:
United States
Doctoral dissertation on Emerson's prosody
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | San Francisco State University Poetry Center Award (for Satan Says) | Satan Says | — | San Francisco State University Poetry Center | winner |
| 1983 | Lamont Poetry Prize (The Dead and the Living) | The Dead and the Living | — | Academy of American Poets | winner |
| 1984 | National Book Critics Circle Award (The Dead and the Living) | The Dead and the Living | — | National Book Critics Circle | winner |
| 2012 | T. S. Eliot Prize (Stag's Leap) | Stag's Leap | — | T. S. Eliot Prize | winner |
| 2013 | Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (Stag's Leap) | Stag's Leap | — | The Pulitzer Prizes | winner |
| 2002 | Academy of American Poets Fellowship | — | — | Academy of American Poets | winner |
| 2016 | Wallace Stevens Award | — | — | Academy of American Poets | winner |
| 2022 | Robert Frost Medal (Poetry Society of America) | — | — | Poetry Society of America | winner |
| 2023 | Joan Margarit International Poetry Prize (inaugural) | — | — | Internacional Joan Margarit de Poesía | winner |
| 2020 | Griffin Poetry Prize (shortlisted) | Arias | — | The Griffin Trust | shortlisted |
San Francisco State University Poetry Center Award (for Satan Says)
1980
Work:
Satan Says
Organization:
San Francisco State University Poetry Center
Result:
winner
Lamont Poetry Prize (The Dead and the Living)
1983
Work:
The Dead and the Living
Organization:
Academy of American Poets
Result:
winner
National Book Critics Circle Award (The Dead and the Living)
1984
Work:
The Dead and the Living
Organization:
National Book Critics Circle
Result:
winner
T. S. Eliot Prize (Stag's Leap)
2012
Work:
Stag's Leap
Organization:
T. S. Eliot Prize
Result:
winner
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (Stag's Leap)
2013
Work:
Stag's Leap
Organization:
The Pulitzer Prizes
Result:
winner
Academy of American Poets Fellowship
2002
Organization:
Academy of American Poets
Result:
winner
Wallace Stevens Award
2016
Organization:
Academy of American Poets
Result:
winner
Robert Frost Medal (Poetry Society of America)
2022
Organization:
Poetry Society of America
Result:
winner
Joan Margarit International Poetry Prize (inaugural)
2023
Organization:
Internacional Joan Margarit de Poesía
Result:
winner
Griffin Poetry Prize (shortlisted)
2020
Work:
Arias
Organization:
The Griffin Trust
Result:
shortlisted
Awards & Nominations
T. S. Eliot Prize
1 appearances
-
Edition 20 (2012) Winner
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
1 appearances
-
Edition 95 (2013) Winner
Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
1 appearances
Works
Major Works
Satan Says
1980 Poetry collectionHer first collection, marked by candid explorations of family, the body, and sexuality.
familysexualitythe bodycoming of age
Translations
- English (original)
The Dead and the Living
1984 Poetry collectionA two-part collection with poems for the dead and the living, including references to social and historical injustices.
losshistorical injusticefamily
Translations
- Spanish translation, among others
The Wellspring
1996 Poetry collectionA collection using startling images and raw language to address family, violence, and political themes.
familyviolencepolitics
Translations
- French translation, among others
Stag's Leap
2012 Poetry collectionA sequence of poems written after her divorce, candidly addressing her husband and grief. Winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Pulitzer Prize.
divorcegrieflove and betrayal
Translations
- Japanese translation, among others
Arias
2019 Poetry collectionA recent collection featuring personal, musically resonant poems.
personal emotionlyric voice
Translations
- Translated into multiple languages
Balladz
2022 Poetry collectionA recent collection including moving poems about her longtime partner and life.
relationshipsmemoryloss
Translations
- English (original)
Bibliography
- Satan Says (1980)
- The Dead and the Living (1984)
- The Gold Cell (1987)
- The Matter of This World (1987)
- The Sign of Saturn (1991)
- The Father (1992)
- The Wellspring (1996)
- Blood, Tin, Straw (1999)
- The Unswept Room (2002)
- Strike Sparks: Selected Poems 1980–2002 (2004)
- One Secret Thing (2008)
- Stag's Leap (2012)
- Odes (2016)
- Penguin Modern Poets 3: Your Family, Your Body (2017) (with others)
- Arias (2019)
- Balladz (2022)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- frank, bodily-focused dictionlyric and confessional voiceinterest in Emersonian prosody
- Recurring Motifs
- family (parent-child relationships)body and sexualityabuse and healingdivorce and grief
Legacy
Sharon Olds has been acclaimed for candid poetry about family, the body, and sexuality, winning major awards including the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Pulitzer Prize. As an educator she influenced generations of writers, and her collections have been widely translated and anthologized.
Academic Societies
- Academy of American Poets
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- American Academy of Arts and Letters
In Popular Culture
- Widely anthologized and included in literature textbooks
- Readings and lectures at international literary festivals
Quotes
-
I want to go up to them and say Stop, don't do it—she's the wrong woman, he’s the wrong man... but I don’t do it. I want to live.
Source: "I Go Back to May 1937" / Strike Sparks: Selected Poems 1980–2002 (2004)
Trivia
- She was the first American woman to win the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2012 (the same work won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013).
- In 2005 she declined an invitation to the National Book Festival and published an open letter in The Nation explaining her reasons.
- Her poetry has been anthologized in over 100 collections and translated into multiple languages.