Pamela Uschuk 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 ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...
, and 2011 Visiting Poet at
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...
. She won a 2010
American Book Award
The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...
, for ''Crazy Love: New Poems''.
Life
Born in 1953 and raised on a farm in Michigan, she received her B.A. In English (''cum laude'') from
Central Michigan University
Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...
.
She graduated from the
University of Montana
The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...
with a MFA in Poetry and Fiction.
Uschuk has taught creative writing at
Marist College
Marist College is a private university in Poughkeepsie, New York. Founded in 1905, Marist was formed by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic religious institute, to prepare brothers for their vocations as educators. In 2003, it became a secular in ...
,
Pacific Lutheran University
Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a private Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congregations of Region I of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in A ...
,
Fort Lewis College
Fort Lewis College is a public liberal arts college in Durango, Colorado. Because of its unique origins as a military fort turned Indian boarding school turned state public school, FLC follows a 1911 mandate to give qualified Native Americans a ...
, the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. ...
,
Salem College
Salem College is a private women's liberal arts college in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1772 as a primary school, it later became an academy (high school) and ultimately added the college. It is the oldest female educational estab ...
, where she was also Director of the Center for Women Writers, Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado, where she was Associate Professor of Creative Writing.
She has also taught at Greenhaven Maximum Security Prison for Men in upstate New York and in Indigenous schools on the
Salish,
Sioux
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
,
Assiniboine
The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...
,
Northern Cheyenne
The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation ( chy, Tsėhéstáno; formerly named the Tongue River) is the federally recognized Northern Cheyenne tribe. Located in southeastern Montana, the reservation is approximately ...
,
Flathead
Flathead may refer to:
Peoples
* Flathead people, one of three tribes of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Montana.
* The Flathead, or Flathead Indian (or Amerindian) tribe more formally known as the Confed ...
,
Blackfeet
The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Mont ...
,
Crow
A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term " raven" is not pinned scientifica ...
,
Tohono O'odham and
Yaqui
The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are a Native American people of the southwest, who speak a Uto-Aztecan language. Their homelands include the Río Yaqui valley in Sonora, Mexico, and the area below the Gila River in Arizona, Southwestern United ...
nations.
Uschuk leads poetry workshops across the country. She is on the faculty at Ghost Ranch Jan Term, where she teaches a three-week mixed-genre writing intensive. She teaches creative writing classes at the University of Arizona's Poetry Center.
Her literary prizes include The American Book Award (Crazy Love, Wings Press, 2010), the Dorothy Daniels Writing Award from the American League of PEN Women, Simi Valley, the King's English Poetry Prize, the New Millennium Poetry Prize, the Iris Poetry Prize, The Ronald H. Bayes Poetry Prize, and the Tucson/Pima Literature Prize (FINDING PEACHES IN THE DESERT), winningwriters War Poetry Prize and Struga Poetry Prize for a theme poem. She has also won awards and honors from the Chester H. Jones Foundation, Wildwood Journal, and Amnesty International.
Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages, and it appears over 300 journals and anthologies worldwide, including ''Agni, American Voice, Asheville Poetry Review, Nimrod, Parabola, Parnassus, Ploughshares, Poetry,'' and ''Southeast Review''.
Uschuk was the judge for the 2012
Naugatuck River Review Narrative Poetry Prize.
She married poet
William Pitt Root
William Pitt Root (born 1941 Austin, Minnesota) is an American poet.
He was raised in Fort Myers, Florida.
He studied at the University of Washington, and University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
He was Tucson Poet Laureate from 1997 to 20 ...
; they live in Tucson, Arizona. During the summer, they hike and kayak near
Durango, Colorado
Durango is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 19,071 at the 2020 United States Census. Durango is the home of Fort Lewis ...
.
Works
*
* Blood Flower, Wings Press, 2015,
* "Wild In The Plaza of Memory," Wings Press, 2012,
* ''Crazy Love: New Poems, ''Wings Press, 2009,
* ''Heartbeats in Stones'' Codhill Press, 2005,
* ''Scattered Risks'' Wings Press, 2005,
* ''One-Legged Dancer'' Wings Press, 2002,
* ''Finding Peaches in the Desert'' Wings Press, 2000,
*
* ''Without Birds, Without Flowers, Without Trees,'' Flume Press, 1990,
* ''Light From Dead Stars.'' Full Count. 1981.
In Anthology
*
* Continental Drift, editor, Drucilla Wall, publisher University of Nebraska Press, 2017.
Edited
''Cutthroat, a Journal of the Arts'', 2008, Volume 4, Issue 1,
"Cutthroat, a Journal of the Arts," 2011, Volume 12, Issue 1,
THE BEST OF CUTTHROAT, VOLUME 20, Issue 1
TRUTH TO POWER: WRITERS RESPOND TO THE RHETORIC OF HATE AND FEAR, 2017
References
External links
"Pam Uschuk ~ interviewed by Derek Alger" ''Pif Magazine'', March 13, 2009
"Pam Uschuk" ''Wings Press''
* https://pamelauschuk.com
Black Earth Institute – Fellow
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uschuk, Pamela
Living people
University of Montana alumni
Central Michigan University alumni
Writers from Lansing, Michigan
University of Tennessee people
Poets from Michigan
American women poets
20th-century American poets
Marist College faculty
Pacific Lutheran University faculty
Fort Lewis College faculty
University of Arizona faculty
Salem College faculty
21st-century American poets
21st-century American women writers
20th-century American women writers
American Book Award winners
Year of birth missing (living people)
American women academics