Chris Forhan is a poet, memoirist, and professor at

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study within six colleges in the arts, business, communic ...

, author most recently, of ''My Father Before Me'', published by

Simon and Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

. Each of his full-length poetry collections has won an award: ''Black Leapt In,'' ''The Actual Moon, The Actual Stars,'' and ''Forgive Us Our Happiness,'' which won the Barrow Street Press Poetry Prize, the Morse Poetry Prize, and Bakeless Prize, respectively. Forhan has had poems published in The

Best American Poetry ''The Best American Poetry'' series consists of annual poetry anthologies, each containing seventy-five poems. Background The series, begun by poet and editor David Lehman in 1988, has a different guest editor every year. Lehman, still the genera ...

2008, ''AGNI'' online, ''

Poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

'', ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'', and ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...

''. He has received a fellowship from the

National Endowment of the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

and two

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

s. He has also won the

Washington State Book Award The Washington State Book Awards is a literary awards program presented annually in recognition of notable books written by Washington authors in the previous year. The program was established in 1967 as the Governor's Writers Awards. Each year, u ...

and the Best Book of Indiana Award. His books have been reviewed in ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'', ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'', ''

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

'', and ''New York Journal of Books.'' He has been interviewed by ''Superstition Review,'' ''

Bellingham Review The ''Bellingham Review'' is an American literary magazine published by Western Washington University. The magazine was established in 1977 by the poets Knute Skinner and Peter Nicoletta. ''The Bellingham Review'' includes fiction, poetry, and ...

,'' and '' Midwestern Gothic.''

Personal life

He was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. He is married to the poet Alessandra Lynch, and they live in Indianapolis with their sons.

Published works

Memoir * ''My Father Before Me: A Memoir'' (

Charles Scribner’s Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City that has published several notable American authors, including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjor ...

, 2016) Full-length Poetry Collections * ''Black Leapt In'' (Barrow Street Press, 2009) * ''The Actual Moon, the Actual Stars'' (

Northeastern University Press The University Press of New England (UPNE), located in Lebanon, New Hampshire and founded in 1970, was a university press consortium including Brandeis University, Dartmouth College (its host member), Tufts University, the University of New Hampsh ...

, 2003) * ''Forgive Us Our Happiness'' (

University Press of New England The University Press of New England (UPNE), located in Lebanon, New Hampshire and founded in 1970, was a university press consortium including Brandeis University, Dartmouth College (its host member), Tufts University, the University of New Hampsh ...

, 1999) Chapbook * ''Ransack and Dance: Poems'' (Silver Birch Press, 2013) * ''X: A Poem'' (Floating Bridge Press, 2000) * ''Crumbs of Bread'' (March Street Press, 1995)Open Library , ''Crumbs of Bread'' by Chris Forhan
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References

External links

Choosing Therapy 17 Best Books About Suicide for 2021Poetry Foundation , Poets , Chris ForhanNational Endowment for the Arts , Creative Writing Fellows , 2007 Poetry , Chris ForhanChris Forhan WebsitePoets & Writers Directory , Chris Forhan''Publishers Weekly'' , Book Review , ''My Father Before Me: A Memoir by Chris Forhan'' , 07/18/2016''Slate'' Poems by Chris Forhan''Superstition Review'' , Issue 18 , ''A Flat Figure: An Interview with Chris Forhan''''Bellingham Review'' , Contributor Spotlight: Chris Forhan , May 2, 2018Midwestern Gothic , Chris Forhan Interview , by Megan Valley , April 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forhan, Chris Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American poets Butler University faculty Writers from Seattle Poets from Washington (state)