Susan Somers-Willett (born 1973) is an American author and academic working as a professor of literature and creative writing at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

Education

Somers-Willett earned an A.B. from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, followed by a Master of Arts in creative writing and PhD in American literature from the

Career

Somers-Willett is the author of two books of poetry: ''Quiver'' (Virginia Quarterly Review Series, University of Georgia Press, 2009)University of Georgia Press website
/ref> and ''Roam'' ( Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition Awards, SIU Press, 2006).Southern Illinois University Press website
/ref> She is also the author of a book of scholarly criticism, ''The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry: Race, Identity, and the Performance of Popular Verse in America'' (University of Michigan Press, 2009), which was the first scholarly monograph on the poetry slam and which focuses on African American performance in slam and spoken word poetry.University of Michigan Press website
/ref> She has taught at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Clifton and into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public un ...

, and the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, where she was an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities. She currently works at the

.Susan B.A. Somers-Willett official website
/ref>

Personal life

From 2003 to 2013, Somers-Willett was married to author and screenwriter

Ernest Cline Ernest Christy Cline (born March 29, 1972) is an American science fiction novelist, slam poet and screenwriter. He wrote the novels '' Ready Player One'', '' Armada'' and '' Ready Player Two'', and co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation ...

, with whom she has one child.

Selected works

''The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry: Race, Identity, and the Performance of Popular Verse in America''
University of Michigan Press, 2009.
''Quiver''
Virginia Quarterly Review Series, University of Georgia Press, 2009.
''Roam''
Crab Orchard Series Open Competition Award, Southern Illinois University Press, 2006.

References

External links

Official Website
* Susan Somers-Willett's poe
"On Cancer" in ''Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts'' (25.1)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Somers-Willett, Susan Living people University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni Carnegie Mellon University faculty American women poets Michener Center for Writers alumni Duke University alumni 1973 births