Thoughts on Susanna Childress's New Work

"One thing I’ve always been drawn to in Susanna Childress’s work—work I’ve had the pleasure of reading since we were in graduate workshops together over ten years ago—is her talent in the art of sentence-making, in modulating the subtleties of tone and voice by way of an innate syntactical grace. And speaking of grace: I need these poems. They teach me to live. And I need this poet, whose intellect is so large and yet whose instinct is to turn away from rhetoric and toward the more difficult task of honoring deeply the most complicated, soiled, soul-muddling parts of this experience of living. I need every single one of these poems here, for each in its own way offers me the clarity of unknowing, of never knowing. And that is quite enough for me."

from Carrie Fountain, Michener Fellow, writer-in-residence at St. Edward’s University, and award-winning poet

"Susanna Childress’s poems pulse with the feverish ebb of life, capturing the ordinary magic that lingers in its algid wake."

from Sean Redmond, Editor in Chief at fields magazine

 

 

 

 

Bio - Susanna Childress

Susanna currently lives in Holland, Michigan, where she is a professor at Hope College and an editor for 32 Poems. She holds an MA from the University of Texas and a PhD from Florida State. Jagged With Love, her first book, was selected by Billy Collins for the Brittingham Prize in Poetry and by Southern Illinois University at Carbondale for the Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award.  Her second book, Entering The House Of Awe, won the 2012 Poetry award from the Society of Midland Authors. She has received an AWP Intro Journals Award, the National Career Award in Poetry from the National Society of Arts and Letters, and a Lilly post-doctoral fellowship. One of her more recent works was selected for the 2015 Best American Poetry series by Sherman Alexie. She is the recipient of many other prizes and fellowships and a member of the band Ordinary Neighbors with her husband Joshua Banner.

Susanna's Awst Press page

Susanna's personal website

Susanna's Facebook page (go like it!)