Fleda Brown (born 1944 in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

) is an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

. She is also known as Fleda Brown Jackson.

Biography

Fleda Brown was born in

, and raised in

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Arkansas, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, Arkansas, Washington County, and the most populous city in Northwest Arkansas. The city ...

. In 1978 she joined the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

English Department. There she founded the Poets in the Schools Program, which she directed for more than twelve years. She served as poet laureate of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

from 2001 to 2007, when she retired from the University of Delaware and moved to

Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, Michigan, Grand Traverse County, although it partly extends into Leelanau County, Michigan, Leelanau County. The city's population was 15, ...

. She currently teaches in the Rainier Writing Workshop, a low-residency MFA program at

Pacific Lutheran University Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a Private university, private Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congreg ...

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

. Her husband, Jerry Beasley, is also a retired English professor. One of Brown's poems, "If I Were a Swan", has been set for choir by

Kevin Puts Kevin Matthew Puts (born January 3, 1972) is an American composer, best known for his opera ''The Hours (opera), The Hours'' and for winning a Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for his first opera ''Silent Night (opera), Silent Night'' and a Grammy Award i ...

Education

*Ph.D. (English, Pre-1900 American Literature), University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 1983 *M.A. (English), University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 1976 *B.A. (English), University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 1969

Bibliography

Poetry *''The woods are on fire : new and selected poems'', Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 2017. , *Reunion (University of Wisconsin Press, 2007) , – won 2007

Felix Pollak Felix Pollak (November 11, 1909 – November 19, 1987) was an American librarian, translator, and poet. Pollak was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1909 to Geza Pollak and Helene Schneider Pollak. A Jew and liberal anti-fascist, he studied law a ...

Prize in Poetry *The Women Who Loved Elvis All Their Lives (Carnegie-Mellon University Press, 2004) , *Breathing In Breathing Out (Anhinga Press, 2002) – won 2001 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry *Devil's Child (Carnegie-Mellon University Press, 1998) , *The Earliest House (chapbook, Kutztown University, 1994) *Do Not Peel the Birches (Purdue University Press, 1993) *The Eleusinian Mysteries MS (poems and images: limited edition artbook, The Moment Press, 1992) – with Norman Sasowsky *Fishing with Blood (Purdue University Press, 1988) , – won the Great Lakes Colleges New Writer’s Award Anthologies *''On the Mason-Dixon Line: An Anthology of Contemporary Delaware Writers'' (University of Delaware Press, 2008) – co-edited with Billie Travalini *''Critical Essays on D.H. Lawrence'' (G. K. Hall & Company, 1988) – co-edited with Dennis Jackson

References

External links

The Fleda Brown Web Site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Fleda 1944 births Living people American women poets Pacific Lutheran University faculty Writers from Columbia, Missouri People from Fayetteville, Arkansas University of Arkansas alumni University of Delaware faculty Poets from Arkansas Poets from Delaware Poets from Missouri 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers American women academics Poets laureate of Delaware