Molly Fisk (born July 16, 1955) is an

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 ...

and radio commentator. Her most recent book is ''Everything But the Kitchen Skunk: Ongoing Observations from a Working Poet''. She was honored as an

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outrea ...

Laureate Fellow in 2019. Her third collection of poems, Walking Wheel, is forthcoming from

Red Hen Press Red Hen Press is an American non-profit press located in Pasadena, California, and specializing in the publication of poetry, literary fiction, and nonfiction. The press is a member of the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses, and was a fin ...

in April, 2026.

Biography

Mary (

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

, "Molly") Elizabeth Fisk was born July 16, 1955. Originally from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, Fisk earned her B.A. cum laude from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

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 ...

in Folklore & Mythology, her M.B.A. with honors from Simmons College Graduate School of Management, and after working as a sweater designer/manufacturer (Northern Lights) and a Fortune-1000 lender (

First National Bank of Chicago First Chicago Bank was a Chicago, United States-based retail and commercial bank tracing its roots to 1863, when it received one of the first charters under the then new National Bank Act. Over the years, the bank operated under several names inc ...

) began writing at the age of 35. Her previous work consists of the poetry collections ''The More Difficult Beauty'' (Hip Pocket Press, 2010), ''Listening to Winter'' (Roundhouse Press/Heyday Books, 2000), ''Terrain'' (with Dan Bellm and Forrest Hamer, Hip Pocket Press, 1998), and the letterpress chapbook ''Salt Water Poems'' (Jungle Garden Press, 1994), the essay collections ''Naming Your Teeth'', ''Houston, We Have a Possum'', ''Using Your Turn Signal Promotes World Peace'', and ''Blow-Drying a Chicken'' (all Story Street Press). Fisk has received fellowships from the

National Endowment for 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 ...

, the

California Arts Council The California Arts Council functions as a state agency headquartered in Sacramento, California. Its board comprises eight council members who receive appointments from both the Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and ...

, and the Marin Arts Council. Her prizes include the Dogwood Prize, the

Robinson Jeffers John Robinson Jeffers (January 10, 1887 – January 20, 1962) was an American poet known for his work about the central California coast. Much of Jeffers' poetry was written in narrative and Epic poetry, epic form. However, he is also known f ...

Tor House Prize in Poetry, the

National Writers Union National Writers Union (NWU) is a trade union in the United States for freelance and contract writers founded on 19 November 1981. NWU is affiliated with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the International Authors Forum (IAF), a ...

Prize, and a grant from the

Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB; stylized as cpb) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to ...

. She serves as Poet Laureate of

Nevada County, California Nevada County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 102,241. The county seat is Nevada City, Califor ...

(2017–2019),

Hell's Backbone Grill Hell's Backbone Grill is a restaurant located in Boulder, Utah near the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument. The restaurant serves a style of "Four Corners Cuisine": an updated combination of cowboy classics, Mormon recipes, and tradi ...

Boulder, Utah Boulder is a town in Garfield County, Utah, United States, 27 miles (44 km) northeast of Escalante on Utah Scenic Byway 12 at its intersection with the Burr Trail. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 227. Boulder, quite iso ...

, radio station KVMR-FM,

Nevada City, California Nevada City is the county seat of Nevada County, California, United States, northeast of Sacramento, California, Sacramento, southwest of Reno, Nevada, Reno and northeast of San Francisco. The population was 3,152 as of the 2020 United States ...

, and has appeared at TEDxSanFrancisco and TEDxGrassValley. Fisk's radio commentary is heard weekly on the News Hour of KVMR-FM (Thursdays, 6:25 p.m. Pacific Time), and is carried on community stations in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Fisk teaches creative writing classes on-line and works privately as a Life Coach in the Skills for Change tradition. She has taught Writing to Heal, a technique that boosts the

immune system The immune system is a network of biological systems that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to bacteria, as well as Tumor immunology, cancer cells, Parasitic worm, parasitic ...

, to cancer patients at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital since 2000. She taught creative writing at U.C. Davis Extension from 1997 to 2003, and edited ''The Healing Woman'', a newsletter for childhood sexual abuse survivors, from 1997 to 2000. She taught with California Poets in the Schools from 1993 to 2006, editing three of their statewide anthologies. Fisk is the niece by marriage of the American novelist

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

. Her mother Antoinette Pennington Fisk (1932–2000) was the sister of Updike's first wife, Mary Pennington Updike Weatherall. She is the daughter of Irving Lester Fisk, II (1928–1984) and the granddaughter of ornithologist Erma Johnson Fisk, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce (1957–1961) Bradley Fisk, Unitarian minister Leslie Talbot Pennington, and Elizabeth Daniels Pennington. Fisk's maternal great-grandfather, William Colet Johnson, helped to found Paul Revere Insurance. She dated playwright

Oakley Hall III Oakley "Tad" Hall III (May 26, 1950 – February 13, 2011) was an American playwright, director, and author. The co-founder and first artistic director of Lexington Conservatory Theatre, in 1978 he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a fall f ...

in the 2000s; her poem ''A Theatrical Death'' is dedicated to him.

Awards and honors

*2019, Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow *2017, Inaugural Poet Laureate of Nevada County, CA *2010, Corporation for Public Broadcasting Grant, KVMR-FM *2007, Dogwood Prize (for "Washington Square — New York, 1941") *2005, Robinson Jeffers Tor House Prize (for "Little Songs for Antoinette") *1999, Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts *1997, Artists Fellowship in Poetry from the California Arts Council *1996, Billee Murray Denny Prize (for "The Dry Tortugas") *1995, Individual Artists Grant in Poetry from the Marin Arts Council *1992, National Writers Union, Santa Cruz/Monterey Local 7 Prize (for "Veterans")

Works

;Non-Fiction *''Naming Your Teeth'' (Story Street Press, 2018) *''Houston, We Have a Possum'' (Story Street Press, 2016), *''Using Your Turn Signal Promotes World Peace'' (Story Street Press, 2015) *''Blow-Drying a Chicken: Observations from a Working Poet'' (Story Street Press, 2013) ;Poetry *''The More Difficult Beauty'' (Hip Pocket Press, 2010) *''Listening to Winter'', #4 in the California Poetry Series (Roundhouse/

Heyday Books Heyday is an independent nonprofit publisher based in Berkeley, California. Heyday was founded by Malcolm Margolin in 1974 when he wrote, typeset, designed, and distributed ''The East Bay Out'', a guide to the natural history of the hills and ...

, 2000) *''Terrain'', a collaborative chapbook with Dan Bellm and Forrest Hamer (Hip Pocket Press,1998) *''Salt Water Poems'' (Jungle Garden Press, 1994) *''Surrender'' (audio-tape, 1994) ;Commentary *''Blow-Drying a Chicken'' (CD-KVMR, 2008) *''Using Your Turn Signal Promotes World Peace'' (CD-KVMR, 2005) ;Editor *2020, ''California Fire & Water: A Climate Crisis Anthology'', Story Street Press *2007, ''Open to All'', Nevada County Library, with

Steve Sanfield Steven Sanfield (born August 3, 1937 – January 28, 2015) was an American poet, children's book author, and Freedom Rider. He published over 30 books during his lifetime. The University of California Davis library holds a collection of his writin ...

and Steve Fjeldsted *2001, California Poets in the Schools Statewide Anthology: ''Heart Flip'' *2000, California Poets in the Schools Statewide Anthology: ''100 Parades'' *1997, California Poets in the Schools Statewide Anthology: ''Belonging to California'' ;In other media *Fisk appeared in the award-winning PBS documentary ''

The Loss of Nameless Things ''The Loss of Nameless Things'' is a 2004 documentary feature film directed by Bill Rose. It tells the story of playwright Oakley Hall III, from his early life, founding of Lexington Conservatory Theatre, the traumatic brain injury that effective ...

'' in 2005.

References

External links

Official website

KVMR-FM, Nevada City

Poetry Boot Camp

California Poets in the Schools
* https://web.archive.org/web/20110822094201/http://mollyfisk.com/bookscds {{DEFAULTSORT:Fisk, Molly 1955 births Living people American women poets Simmons University alumni National Endowment for the Arts Fellows Writers from San Francisco Radcliffe College alumni 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers People from Nevada City, California