Shane McCrae (born September 22, 1975,

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

) 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) R S T U–V ...

, and is currently Poetry Editor of ''

Image An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensio ...

''. McCrae was the recipient of a 2011 Whiting Award, and in 2012 his collection ''Mule'' was a finalist for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and a PEN Center USA Literary Award. In 2013, McCrae received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He received a

Lannan Literary Award The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional ...

Shane McCrae 2017 Lannan Literary Award for Poetry
'' lannan.org. Retrieved 7 October 2019. in 2017, in 2018 his collection ''In the Language of My Captor'' won an

Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...

,Evone Jeffries,
2018 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Are Announced
'' Ohio Center for the Book, March 30, 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018. and in 2019 he was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

.
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
'' gf.org. Retrieved 7 October 2019. His poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including '' Best American Poetry'', ''

American Poetry Review ''The American Poetry Review'' (''APR'') is an American poetry magazine printed every other month on tabloid-sized newsprint. It was founded in 1972 by Stephen Berg and Stephen Parker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The magazine's editor is Eliza ...

'', ''

African American Review ''African American Review'' (''AAR'') is a scholarly aggregation of essays on African-American literature, theatre, film, the visual arts, and culture; interviews; poetry; fiction; and book reviews. The journal has featured writers and cultural ...

'', ''

Fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length. ...

'', and ''

AGNI Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu ...

''.

Early life and education

Born in

to a white mother and black father, his maternal grandparents kidnapped him when he was three years old and raised him to believe that his father had abandoned him. His grandfather was a white supremacist who abused him. They moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

when he was 10 years old, and he grew up in Texas and California. He did not see his father again until he was 16. He dropped out of high school and later earned a GED certificate and had a child at 18. He attended Chemeketa Community College. In 2002, McCrae graduated from

Linfield College Linfield University is a private university with campuses in McMinnville, Oregon, McMinnville, and Portland, Oregon. Linfield Wildcats athletics participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA Division III (NCAA), Division II ...

McMinnville, Oregon McMinnville is the county seat of and largest city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. The city is named after McMinnville, Tennessee. As of the 2019 census, the city had a population estimate of 34,743. McMinnville is at the confluence o ...

. In 2004, he earned 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 a ...

from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 coll ...

Iowa City Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

. In 2007, he graduated from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

with a JD. In 2012, he earned a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

from the University of Iowa.

Career

McCrae was an assistant professor in the Creative Writing program at Oberlin College 2015–2017 and is an assistant professor in the Creative Writing MFA program at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

. He is the author of the poetry collections ''Mule'' ( Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2011), ''Blood'' (Noemi Press, 2013), ''Forgiveness Forgiveness'' (Factory Hollow Press, 2014), ''The Animal Too Big to Kill'' (Persea Books, 2015), ''In the Language of My Captor'' (

Wesleyan University Press Wesleyan University Press is a university press that is part of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. The press is currently directed by Suzanna Tamminen, a published poet and essayist. History and overview Founded (in its present fo ...

, 2017), ''The Gilded Auction Block'' (

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

, 2019), and ''Sometimes I Never Suffered'' (

, 2020).

Awards

In 2011, McCrae received the Whiting Award, and in 2012 his collection ''Mule'' was a finalist for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and a PEN Center USA Literary Award. ''The Animal Too Big to Kill'' won the 2014 Lexi Rudnitsky/Editor's Choice Award. ''In the Language of My Captor'' was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award and a winner of the 2018

Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...

. McCrae received a

in 2018, and a

in 2019. ''Sometimes I Never Suffered'' was shortlisted for the 2020

T. S. Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Pri ...

. In 2020, McCrae received a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship.
New York Foundation for the Arts
'' nyfa.org. Retrieved 18 April 2021.

Works

* ''In Canaan'', Milwaukee: Rescue Press, 2010. , * ''Mule,'' Cleveland: Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2011. , * ''Blood,'' Noemi Press, 2013. , *''Nonfiction'', Pittsburgh, PA: Black Lawrence Press, 2014. , *''Forgiveness Forgiveness,'' Hadley, MA: Factory Hollow Press, 2014. , * ''The Animal Too Big to Kill,'' New York: Persea Books, 2015. , *''In the Language of My Captor'' Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 2017. , *''The Gilded Auction Block'', New York:

, 2019. , * ''Sometimes I Never Suffered'', New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020. , * ''Cain Named the Animal'', New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022. ISBN 9780374602857, OCLC 1246143402

References

External links

McCrae's Whiting Award Profile

* ttp://firstbookinterviews.blogspot.com/2011/10/50-shane-mccrae.html McCrae on First Book Interviews Website {{DEFAULTSORT:McCrae, Shane Living people 1975 births American male poets Poets from Oregon Writers from Portland, Oregon People from McMinnville, Oregon Linfield University alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni University of Iowa alumni Harvard Law School alumni Oberlin College faculty Spalding University faculty 21st-century American poets 21st-century American male writers Columbia University faculty