Ellen Bryant Voigt

Ellen Bryant Voigt (born May 9, 1943) is an

American poet. She served as the Poet Laureate of Ellen Bryant Voigt
Vermont. Born 1943 (age 80–81)
Chatham, Virginia, U.S.
Education Converse University (BA)
Biography University of Iowa (MFA)
Genre poetry
Voigt was born May 9, 1943, in Danville, Virginia. She Notable awards Poet Laureate of Vermont,
grew up in Chatham, Virginia, graduated from MacArthur Fellow
[1]
Converse College, and received an M.F.A. from the Spouse Fran Voigt
University of Iowa. She has taught at M.I.T. and
Goddard College where in 1976 she developed and directed the nation's first low-residency M.F.A. in
Creative Writing program. Since 1981 she has taught in the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for
Writers.[2]

She has published six collections of poetry and a collection of craft essays. Her poetry collection Shadow
of Heaven (2002) was a finalist for the National Book Award and Kyrie (1995) was a finalist for the
National Book Critics Circle Award. Her collection Messenger [3](2008) was a finalist for the Pulitzer
Prize.[4] Her poetry has been published in several national publications. She served as the Poet Laureate
of Vermont for four years and in 2003 was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. In
2015, Voigt was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.

She was married to Francis (Fran) Voigt, an administrator at Goddard College, until his death in 2018.
Their two children are Dudley and Will Voigt. She resides in Cabot, Vermont.

Bibliography
Ellen Bryant Voigt (1 March 1976). Claiming Kin (https://books.google.com/books?id=6znHB
wAAQBAJ). Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 978-0-8195-6961-5.
The Forces of Plenty, Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1983; Carnegie Mellon University
Press, 1996, ISBN 9780887482274
The Lotus Flowers: Poems (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1987. ISBN 0-393-02445-
8)
Two Trees W. W. Norton, Incorporated, 1992, ISBN 9780393311006
Kyrie, W.W. Norton, 1995, ISBN 9780393037968
Shadow of Heaven (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002)
Messenger: New and Selected Poems 1976-2006 (https://archive.org/details/messengerne
wsele00voig). W. W. Norton. 17 July 2008. ISBN 978-0-393-06982-2.[5]
The Flexible Lyric (https://books.google.com/books?id=RIbvfNhEYYYC). University of
Georgia Press. 15 March 2011. ISBN 978-0-8203-4006-7. (essays)
 Headwaters: Poems (https://books.google.com/books?id=5atQAQAAQBAJ). W. W. Norton
& Company. 21 October 2013. ISBN 978-0-393-08320-0.

Poems
"Owl", 2013.[6]

Awards and honors

MacArthur Fellowship, 2015[7]
National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient
Guggenheim Foundation grant recipient
67th Academy of American Poets Fellowship, 2001[8]
Vermont Council of Arts grant recipient
Pushcart Prize
Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund fellowship
Poet Laureate of Vermont, 1999–2002[9]
O. B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize, 2002[10]
Elected Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets, 2003

References
1. "Genius grant for poet Ellen Bryant Voigt" (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/entertainment/
books/reading-matters-blog/article36932097.html). charlotteobserver. Retrieved
2016-01-06.
2. "Ellen Bryant Voigt — MacArthur Foundation" (https://www.macfound.org/fellows/950/).
www.macfound.org. Retrieved 2016-01-06.
3. Birkerts, Sven (2007-02-25). "Messenger: New and Selected Poems, 1976-2006 - By Ellen
Bryant Voigt - Books - Review" (https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/books/review/Birkerts.
t.html). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331).
Retrieved 2016-10-19.
4. "Poetry – The Pulitzer Prizes" (http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/224).
www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved 2016-10-19.
5. Williams, Susan S. "Review of Messenger by Ellen Voigt" (http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v6n
2/nonfiction/williams_s/messenger.htm). Blackbird. Virginia Commonwealth University.
Retrieved 2016-01-06. "In short, there's nothing genteel and bloodless about Voigt's poetry.
Her tough-minded refusal to write pretty poems has also stayed with her throughout her
career. Perhaps more than any other quality, this readiness to face what's ugly and painful
and real elevates Ellen Bryant Voigt's oeuvre from competence and craft to mastery.
Messenger is a lesson in how to write poetry that will last."
6. Voigt, Ellen Bryant (March 4, 2013). "Owl" (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/03/0
4/owl-3). The New Yorker. Vol. 89, no. 3. pp. 42–43. Retrieved 2015-05-08.
7. "Class of 2015 - MacArthur Foundation" (https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class/2015/).
www.macfound.org. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
8. aapone (1979-12-31). "Academy of American Poets Fellowship" (https://www.poets.org/aca
demy-american-poets/prizes/academy-american-poets-fellowship). Academy of American
Poets Fellowship. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
 9. "Vermont - State Poet Laureate (State Poets Laureate of the United States, Main Reading
Room, Library of Congress)" (https://www.loc.gov/rr/main/poets/vermont.html?loclr=blogpo
e). www.loc.gov. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
10. "Past Winners-Folger Shakespeare Library" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110611063049/
http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=552). 2011-06-11. Archived from the original (http://
www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=552) on 2011-06-11. Retrieved 2018-03-25.

External links
MacArthur Fellow Ellen Bryant Voigt on the poetry of small-town life (https://www.pbs.org/ne
wshour/poetry/ellen-bryant-voigt/), PBS NewsHour, Mary Jo Brooks October 21, 2015
MacArthur ‘Genius’ Ellen Bryant Voigt: ‘Poetry Is An Intelligence’ (http://radioboston.wbur.or
g/2015/10/12/ellen-bryant-voigt), WBUR, October 12, 2015
"Interview with Ellen Bryant Voigt (https://issuu.com/uidahodigital/docs/fugue2003_n26) by
Monica Mankin. Fugue Literary Journal, University of Idaho. Winter 2003/2004.
A Lecture by Ellen Bryant Voigt (http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v3n2/features/voigt_eb_12010
4/lecture.htm) Blackbird December 1, 2004.
An Interview with Ellen Bryant Voigt (http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v3n2/features/voigt_eb_0
33005/voigt_eb.htm) Blackbird March 30, 2005.
About Ellen Bryant Voight: A Profile (http://www.pshares.org/authors/author-detail.cfm?autho
rID=1585) Ploughshares Winter 1996–97.
"The Author" in The Lotus Flower: Poems. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 1987.
ISBN 0-393-02445-8.
"Ellen Bryant Voigt" (http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/880). Poets.org. The Academy
of American Poets. (retrieved 03/01/2007)

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