Cody Walker (born 1967 in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

) is an American poet, essayist, and educator.

Family

His brother Clay Walker is the Mayor of

Denali Borough, Alaska The Denali Borough is a borough located in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census the population of the borough was 1,619, down from 1,826 in 2010. The borough seat and most populated community is Healy, and its only incorporated ...

Academic studies

Walker holds a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

from the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

, and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

Career

A longtime writer-in-residence in Seattle Arts & Lectures' Writers in the Schools program, he was elected Seattle Poet Populist in 2007. He has been described as "Seattle's prince of the poetic one-two punch". In 2009, he spent a term as the Amy Clampitt Resident Fellow in

Lenox, Massachusetts Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is in Western Massachusetts and part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Pittsfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,095 at the 2020 United States census ...

. His work appears in ''

The Cortland Review ''The Cortland Review'' is an online literary magazine established in 1997, publishing in 6 annual issues the work of prominent poets and writers in text, audio, and video. See also * List of literary magazines Below is a list of literary ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

Parnassus Mount Parnassus (; , ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is, and historically has been, especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers scenic views of the c ...

'', ''

Light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...

'', and ''

The Yale Review ''The Yale Review'' is the oldest literary journal in the United States. It is published by Johns Hopkins University Press. It was founded in 1819 as ''The Christian Spectator'' to support Evangelicalism. Over time it began to publish more on ...

''. He currently teaches English at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, and writes regularly for ''

The Kenyon Review ''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959. ''T ...

''.

Awards

He is a co-recipient of the 2009 Amy Clampitt Residency Award and author of the poetry collection ''Shuffle and Breakdown''. Walker received the James Boatwright III Prize for Poetry from '' Shenandoah'' in 2003 and a Distinguished Teaching Award from the

in 2005. In 2010, he won Cartoon Caption Contest #226 in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

''.

Works

"Poetry"; "Warmer Still"; "Cinque Poesie"
''Courtland Review'', February 2003, Issue 22

, ''Courtland Review'', November 2007, Issue 37
"Petronius"; “The Mould of a Dog Corpse”
''Mare Nostrum'', Volume III * ''Shuffle and Breakdown'', was published in 2008 by The Waywiser Press.

Notes

External links

Cody Walker official website

Interview in the ''Seattle Weekly''

Interview on KUOW Radio

* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ynye9NTDeY Video of "The Comic Imagination" panel at the Philoctetes Center, moderated by Cody Walker and featuring Lewis Black, Jim Holt, Bruce McCall, and Tami Sagher
Captions in the Classroom, ''The New Yorker'', June 7, 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Cody Living people Poets from Maryland 1967 births University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni University of Arkansas alumni University of Washington alumni University of Michigan faculty Writers from Baltimore 21st-century American poets