“A distinct and powerful voice in American poetry. . . . This is a complex, riveting, and heartbreaking book.”
—Jane Mead
“Ford becomes stronger with each book, and is among the best poets of our generation.”
—Shane McCrae
BIO
b. 1975
Katie Ford
Photo credit: Helge Brekke
Katie Ford is the author of Deposition, Colosseum, and Blood Lyrics, all published by Graywolf Press.
Blood Lyrics was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize and the Rilke Prize.
Colosseum was named among the “Best Books of 2008” by Publishers Weekly and the Virginia Quarterly Review and led to a Lannan Literary Fellowship and the Larry Levis Prize.
She completed graduate work in theology and poetry at Harvard University, and, following that, received her M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, The Paris Review, The American Poetry Review, and the Norton Introduction to Literature.
She teaches at the University of California, Riverside.
Books
“Katie Ford’s is a finely-wrought lyrical beauty, a poetry of detail and care, but she has set it within an epic arc.”—Poetry
Cover art by Scott Wright.
“Ford’s impressive second book is an extended meditation on destruction and ruins in the wake of Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans. . . . These are poems worthy of their subject—which is saying a lot” (The Virginia Quarterly Review).
“One of the most powerful books of poetry this year” (Time Out New York).
Poet Katie Ford's debut collection, whose poems "possess the veiled brilliance of stained glass windows seen at night"—The New York Times Book Review
Anthologies
The New American Poetry of Engagement: A 21st Century Anthology
by Ann Keniston (Author, Editor), Jeffrey Gray
This anthology of poetry collects 21st century American works by both established and emerging poets that deal with the public events, government policies, ecological and political threats, economic uncertainties, and large-scale violence that have largely defined the century to date.
Poem-a-Day: 365 Poems for Every Occasion
For 80 years, the Academy of American Poets has been one of the most influential and respected champions of contemporary American poetry. Through their successful Poem-a-Day online program, the Academy continues to celebrate verse by delivering poems to thousands of e-mail subscribers each morning. Now for the first time, the poems selected by the Academy for this program are available in book form so that they can be collected and savored.
Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century
by Michael Dumanis (Editor), Cate Marvin (Editor)
This groundbreaking anthology offers a broad and representative introduction to some of the most exciting, fresh voices on the contemporary poetry landscape by gathering together generous selections from the work of 85 younger American poets.
The Norton Introduction to Literature (Shorter and Longer 12th Editions)
by Kelly J. Mays (Editor)
The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter 12th Edition, is a diverse, flexible, and balanced text that offers the most carefully edited apparatus and the most interesting and useful treatment of the contexts of literature. A best seller since its first edition, The Norton Introduction to Literature continues to meet the needs of today’s students and instructors, offering trusted guidance for analyzing texts, writing thoughtfully, and appreciating literature.
Includes "Still Life" by Katie Ford, first published in The New Yorker and in Blood Lyrics.
Women Poets on Mentorship: Efforts and Affections
by Arielle Greenberg (Editor), Rachel Zucker (Editor)
Imagine being a young poet, nurturing your craft without the benefit of established mentors. Imagine having never been in a class taught by a woman poet or not having a bookshelf filled with books written by living women poets. Luckily, young women poets today don’t have to. Arielle Greenberg and Rachel Zucker’s Women Poets on Mentorship: Efforts and Affections collects both personal essays and representative poems by women born after 1960 whose careers were influenced—directly or indirectly—by the women who preceded them.
Teaching
Katie Ford teaches at the University of California, Riverside
and directed the MFA Program from 2015-2018
UC Riverside
MFA in Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts
The Department of Creative Writing at UCR offers the only Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing in the University of California system and MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts. It is a growing and dynamic program made up entirely of established writers and poets. Courses at UCR are designed for all students in the language arts, and they emphasize developing each student's skills and talents. Through writing fiction, poetry, nonfiction and/or drama, students examine language and meaning both as practitioners and as readers as they develop and hone essential writing techniques.
Iowa Summer Writing Festival
Katie Ford often teaches in the summer
at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival.
Since 1987, the Festival has welcomed to the campus of The University of Iowa writers from 18 to 94 years of age, from all 50 states, and from every continent. Most of us come to the workshop table from other areas of expertise, other lives. We come together across the genres and at every level of literary practice in a common enterprise. We come as writers. This is the assumption we make about you, whether you arrive here with the third draft of your novel, a message in a bottle, or merely a bee in your bonnet.
Manuscript Consultation
Katie Ford has consulted with poets on their manuscripts for over a decade. Please contact her directly at fordkatie@gmail.com if you are interested in editing and one-on-one mentorship via the correspondence method of your choice (mail, email, Skype or phone).
