Lannan Literary Awards
4 appearances
-
Edition 98 (2016, held 3 times in year) Fellowship
-
Edition 200 (2016, held 6 times in year) Fellowship
Solmaz Sharif
ソルマズ・シャリフ
Solmaz Sharif
Profile
- Gender
- Female
- Born
- 1983 （Istanbul, Turkey）
- Nationality
- American
- Languages
- English
- Residence History
- Istanbul, Turkey (birth) → Texas, USA (early childhood) → Birmingham, Alabama, USA → Los Angeles, California, USA → University of California, Berkeley (residence / work)
Career
- Occupations
- Poet, Assistant Professor of English
- Active Years
- 2010-
- Affiliations
- Asian American Writers' Workshop (former managing director), Stanford University (Stegner Fellow / Jones Lecturer), Arizona State University (former assistant professor), University of California, Berkeley (assistant professor / faculty)
- Influenced By
- Walt Whitman, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, Hannah Weiner, Muriel Rukeyser, Martha Collins, M. Nourbese Philip
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of California, Berkeley | — | — | BA | — | United States |
| New York University | — | — | MFA | — | United States |
University of California, Berkeley
Degree:
BA
Country:
United States
Received BA
New York University
Degree:
MFA
Country:
United States
Received MFA in creative writing
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | National Book Award (Poetry) | Look | — | National Book Foundation | Finalist |
| 2017 | American Book Award | Look | — | Before Columbus Foundation | Winner |
| 2014 | Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship | — | — | Poetry Foundation | Winner |
| 2014 | Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award | — | — | Rona Jaffe Foundation | Winner |
| 2011 | Discovery/Boston Review Poetry Prize | — | — | Boston Review | Winner |
| 2012 | Stegner Fellowship | — | — | Stanford University | Fellowship (2012–2014) |
| 2017 | PEN Center Literary Award (Poetry) | — | — | PEN Center | Winner |
| 2017 | Theodore H. Holmes '51 and Bernice Holmes National Poetry Prize | — | — | Princeton University Lewis Center (related) | Winner |
National Book Award (Poetry)
2016
Work:
Look
Organization:
National Book Foundation
Result:
Finalist
American Book Award
2017
Work:
Look
Organization:
Before Columbus Foundation
Result:
Winner
Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship
2014
Organization:
Poetry Foundation
Result:
Winner
Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award
2014
Organization:
Rona Jaffe Foundation
Result:
Winner
Discovery/Boston Review Poetry Prize
2011
Organization:
Boston Review
Result:
Winner
Stegner Fellowship
2012
Organization:
Stanford University
Result:
Fellowship (2012–2014)
PEN Center Literary Award (Poetry)
2017
Organization:
PEN Center
Result:
Winner
Theodore H. Holmes '51 and Bernice Holmes National Poetry Prize
2017
Organization:
Princeton University Lewis Center (related)
Result:
Winner
Awards & Nominations
American Book Awards
1 appearances
-
Edition 38 (2017) Winner
Works
Major Works
Look
2016 Poetry 96 pagesA poetry collection that draws on military and public vocabulary to interrogate the relationship between war and language, addressing human loss and the ways language is affected by conflict.
War and languageViolence and memoryReframing public/military vocabulary
Customs
2022 Poetry 96 pagesA collection exploring the contingent status of immigrant women, borders, bodies, and the relationship between individuals and bureaucratic systems.
Immigration and bordersWomen's experiencesSurveillance and administration
Bibliography
- Look: Poems
- Customs: Poems
- Various contributions, short pieces and poems in journals and reviews
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- Analytical and conceptual approach to languageDeconstruction and reassembly of military and official vocabularyMeasured, testimonial tone
- Recurring Motifs
- War and vocabularyExile and alienationBodies and institutional control
Legacy
Solmaz Sharif has brought a distinct perspective to contemporary poetry by interrogating military language poetically. Look received critical acclaim and multiple award recognitions, and her work has influenced discussions on immigration and language.
Quotes
-
Look asks us to see the ongoing costs of war as the unbearable losses of human lives and also the insidious abuses against our everyday speech.
Source: Critical reception / reviews (2016)
Trivia
- Born in 1983 in Istanbul, Turkey.
- Debut collection Look was a 2016 National Book Award finalist (Poetry).
- Won the 2017 American Book Award for Look.
- Former managing director at the Asian American Writers' Workshop.
- Served as a judge for the 2023 National Book Awards.