thumbnail image
  • Katie Ford
  • Bio
  • Books
  • Poems
  • Anthologies
  • Essays
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Collaborations
  • Teaching
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • …  
    • Katie Ford
    • Bio
    • Books
    • Poems
    • Anthologies
    • Essays
    • Reviews
    • Interviews
    • Collaborations
    • Teaching
    • Contact
    • Facebook

 

 
 
 
  • Katie Ford
  • Bio
  • Books
  • Poems
  • Anthologies
  • Essays
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Collaborations
  • Teaching
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • …  
    • Katie Ford
    • Bio
    • Books
    • Poems
    • Anthologies
    • Essays
    • Reviews
    • Interviews
    • Collaborations
    • Teaching
    • Contact
    • Facebook
    • Katie Ford
    • Bio
    • Books
    • Poems
    • Anthologies
    • Essays
    • Reviews
    • Interviews
    • Collaborations
    • Teaching
    • Contact
    • Facebook
    • …  
      • Katie Ford
      • Bio
      • Books
      • Poems
      • Anthologies
      • Essays
      • Reviews
      • Interviews
      • Collaborations
      • Teaching
      • Contact
      • Facebook

     

     
     
     
    • Katie Ford
    • Bio
    • Books
    • Poems
    • Anthologies
    • Essays
    • Reviews
    • Interviews
    • Collaborations
    • Teaching
    • Contact
    • Facebook
    • …  
      • Katie Ford
      • Bio
      • Books
      • Poems
      • Anthologies
      • Essays
      • Reviews
      • Interviews
      • Collaborations
      • Teaching
      • Contact
      • Facebook

       

       
       
       
      •  

        "Katie Ford is a brilliant poet whose work has received wide acclaim

        for its music and its range of emotional intelligence and spiritual depth." (Ilya Kaminsky)

         

        "Among the best poets of our generation.” (Shane McCrae)

         

        New work in the American Poetry Review, May/June 2022


         

      •  

        Bio

        Katie Ford is the author of four books of poems: Deposition; Colosseum; Blood Lyrics; and If You Have to Go, 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. International invitations to read and lecture include festivals in Tunis, Morocco, Oslo, and Stockholm.

         

        She completed graduate work in world religions, 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 has taught poetry and creative writing for over twenty years around the country--at Loyola University New Orleans, Reed College, Franklin & Marshall College, the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, the Community of Writers, and at numerous festivals and residencies. Since 2014 she has taught at the University of California, Riverside where she is a Professor of Creative Writing and served as Director of the MFA Program from 2015-18. She lives in South Pasadena with her young daughter, Maggie.

         

        Please contact her at fordkatie@gmail.com

         

         

      • Books

        If You Have To Go

        Graywolf Press, August, 2018.

        Cover art by Candace Jahn

         

        “This is nothing less than a full dramatic monologue with innuendo, philosophy, interior soliloquy. The spectrum of emotions ranges from dispassion, to passion, to acceptance, to inquiry, anddisbelief, and more. A lesser poet would have descended into pity but Ford will have none of that when, instead, she can build a home from a kingdom of words to live in and rule magnificently.”--Grace Cavalieri,

        Washington Independent Review of Books

         

        “A distinct and powerful voice in American poetry. . . . This is a complex, riveting, and heartbreaking book.”

        —Jane Mead

         

        Blood Lyrics

        Graywolf Press, 2014

        “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.

         

         

         

         

         

         

        Colosseum

        Graywolf Press, 2008

         

        Discussed by David Rigsbee in The Cortland Review

         

        “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).

        Deposition

        Graywolf Press, 2002

         

        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

         

         

      • Poems

        "November Philosophers,"

        "Still-Life," The New Yorker

        "All I Ever Wanted," Academy of American Poets (with audio)

        "Song After Sadness," Academy of American Poets

        "Throats of Guantanamo," Academy of American Poets

        "Koi," Academy of American Poets

        "Colosseum," Academy of American Poets

        "Sonnet 37," LitHub

        "The Fire," Academy of American Poets

        "Iridescent Lake," The Los Angeles Review

        "Sonnet 11," The American Poetry Review

        "Earth," The Paris Review

        "The Soul," Poetry Foundation

        "Children's Hospital," Poetry Foundation

        "Psalm 40," The Southern Humanities Review

        Selected Poems, Virginia Quarterly 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

        by Inc. Academy of American Poets

        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.

      • Essays

        Writing About the City: New Orleans, Destruction,
        and the Duty of the Poet

         

        Visibility Is Poor: Elizabeth Bishop’s Obsessive Imagery and Mystical Unsaying

      • Reviews

        New York Times Book Review

        Washington Post

        Portland Mercury

        Poetry International

        West Branch

        Zyzzyva

        The Cortland Review

        32 Poems

      • Interviews

        The Millions, with Nick Rapatrazone

        Poetry International, with Ilya Kaminsky

        I Care if You Listen, with Jeremiah Cawley

        Front Porch Journal

        SF Station

        Devil's Lake, University of Wisconsin-Madison

         

      • Artistic Collaborations

         

        Vela Noche, 3/3: VOLUME 1, SET 2 (photographs by Magdalena Sole, poems by Katie Ford)

         

        David Serkin Ludwig, composer,

        "Our Long War," poem by Katie Ford

        World Premiere: Lake Champlain Music Festival, 2013

        Carnegie Hall, Memesis Ensemble

         

        David Serkin Ludwig, composer

        "Still Life," poem by Katie Ford

        World Premiere: Chicago, IL 2013

         

        "The Anchoress," a monodrama with text by Katie Ford and music by David Serkin Ludwig, composer; Pifarro Renaissance Band and Prism Quartet, instrumentalists; Hyunah Yu, soprano

        World Premiere, Philadelphia October 17, 2018 (Review by the Philadelphia Inquirer)

         

        "The Anchoress" in:

        The New Yorker

        My/Ma Scena by Charles Geyer

        Recorded concert here

      • 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

         

         

        Manuscript Consultation

        Katie Ford has consulted with poets and essayists 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 correspondence method of your choice (mail, email, Zoom or phone).

         

      • Contact

        For readings/events, please contact

        Karen Gu, Publicity Associate at Graywolf Press: gu@graywolfpress.org

         

        For manuscript consultation, please use the form below or email directly: fordkatie@gmail.com

         

        fordkatie@gmail.com
        Submit

      Copyright 2018 by Katie Ford

      Cookie Use
      We use cookies to ensure a smooth browsing experience. By continuing we assume you accept the use of cookies.
      Learn More