Matthea Harvey (born September 3, 1973) is a contemporary

American poet The poets listed below were either born in the United States or else published much of their poetry while living in that country. A B C D E F G H I–J K L M N O P Q *George Quasha (born 1942 in poetry, 1942) R ...

, writer and professor. She has published four collections of poetry. The most recent of these, ''If the Tabloids Are True What Are You?'', a collection of poetry and images, was published in 2014. Prior to this, the collection ''Modern Life'' (2007) earned her the 2009

Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award The Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards are a pair of American prizes based at Claremont Graduate University. They are given to poets for their collections of poetry written in the English language, by a citizen or legal resident alien of the U ...

and was a finalist for the 2007

National Book Critics Circle The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization (501(c) organization, 501(c)(3)) with more than 700 members. It is the professional association of American book review editors and critics, known primarily for the N ...

Award, and a ''New York Times'' Notable Book.

Life

Harvey was born in Germany and grew up in England and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She earned her B.A. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and her M.F.A. from the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...

. She currently lives in Brooklyn and teaches at

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

. She is the sister of artist

Ellen Harvey Ellen Harvey (born 1967) is an American-British Conceptual art, conceptual artist known for her painting-based practice and site-specific works in installation, video, engraved mirrors, mosaic and glass.Huldisch, Henriette. "Tempting Failure,''E ...

and is married to editor Rob Casper. Harvey has served as the

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 ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

of ''American Letters & Commentary'' as well as a contributing editor to ''

jubilat ''jubilat'' is a widely distributed, highly acclaimed American poetry and prose journal headquartered at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. First published in 2000, it was founded by Rob Casper, Christian Hawkey, Michael Teig and Kelly L ...

'' and ''

BOMB A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

''. She has published poems in literary magazines, including ''The New Yorker'', ''The New Republic'', ''Slope'', ''Ploughshares'', and ''The American Poetry Review''. Jeannine Hall Gailey described Harvey's ''Modern Life,'' as "obsessed with devastated worlds and hybrid forms of life," and the two longest poems in the collection, the "Terror of the Future" and "The Future of Terror," as abecedarian sequences that examine "the dysfunction between civilian and military populations in a stark, futuristic environment."Poetry Foundation Interview with Matthea Harvey
/ref> Although Harvey has said that she "didn't set out to write political poems," but to explore "that idea of living in the middle of contradiction—in the grey area, between yes and no," the two poems were nonetheless acclaimed by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' as "among the most arresting poems yet written about the current American political atmosphere . . . all the more surprising coming from a writer whose sensibility seems so resistant to our usual ideas about 'political poetry.' "Review of ''Modern "Life'' in ''The New York Times,'' 17 February 2008
/ref>

Published works

;Poetry / Poetry collections * ''Pity the Bathtub Its Forced Embrace of the Human Form'',

Alice James Books Alice James Books is an American non-profit poetry press located in New Gloucester, Maine. History and mission "Alice James Books was founded as a co-operative press in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, MA in 1973 by five women and two men: ...

, 2000, * ''Sad Little Breathing Machine'',

Graywolf Press Graywolf Press is an independent, non-profit publisher located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graywolf Press publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mel ...

, 2004, * ''Modern Life'',

, 2007, * ''If the Tabloids Are True What Are You'' (

, 2014) * Matthea Harvey, Amy Jean Porter, ''When Up and Down Left Town'' (New York: Cabinet Books, 2016). ;Children's books * * ''Of Lamb: Poems'', McSweeneys Books, 2011, * ;In translation *''Der kleine General und die riesenhafte Schneeflocke'' ( luxbooks, 2008) *''Du kennst das auch'' ( kookbooks, 2010)

Anthologies

* ''

The Best American Poetry 2005 ''The Best American Poetry 2005'', a volume in ''The Best American Poetry series'', was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor Paul Muldoon. The volume is "one of the series' best books in years", according to Maureen N. McLane, reviewing the ...

References

External links

Author website
* ttp://www.tarpaulinsky.com/Fall06/Harvey-interview.html ''Tarpaulin Sky'' - Q&A: Matthea Harvey - by Selah Saterstrom, August 2006br>Poetry Foundation Interview - ''Post-apocalypse, Poetry, and Robots: A Conversation With Matthea Harvey About Modern Life'' by Jeannine Hall Gailey''BookSlut: An Interview with Matthea Harvey'' October 2007
* Review of ''Modern Life''.
Audio: Matthea Harvey at the Key West Literary Seminar, 2010Interview with Harvey
September 2007, by Miriam Sagan {{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Matthea 21st-century American poets Living people Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Poets from New York City Poets from Wisconsin Writers from Milwaukee Sarah Lawrence College faculty Harvard College alumni 1973 births American women poets 21st-century American women writers American women academics