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Colleen J. McElroy (October 31, 1935, in St. Louis, Missouri – December 12, 2023) was an American poet, short story writer, editor, memoirist.

Life

She graduated from Kansas State University (1958) and from the University of Washington with a Ph.D. (1973). She was a Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, where she was the first African-American woman to serve as a full-time faculty member. From 1995 to 2006, she edited The Seattle Review, first in the role of Poetry Editor, then as Editor-in-Chief. She lived in Seattle, Washington, until her death in December 2023.

Awards

• 1978 awarded the NEA Creative Writing Fellowship for Poetry
• 1985 American Book Award
• 1988 Fulbright Creative Writing Fellowship, which took her to Yugoslavia
• 1991 awarded the NEA Creative Writing Fellowship for Fiction
• 1992 DuPont Distinguished Scholar in Residence
• 1991 Rockefeller Fellowship to the Bellagio Center in Lake Como, Italy
• 1993 Fulbright Creative Writing Fellowship, which took her to Madagascar.

Works

Poetry

• Sidewalk Games'
• Webs and Weeds
• Out Here Even Crows Commit Suicide
• Lothar's Wife
• Sleeping with the moon: poems
• Travelling music
• Bone Flames: Poems
• Music from home: selected poems

Memoirs

• A Long Way from St. Louie
• Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar

Short stories

• Driving under the cardboard pines and other stories
• Jesus and Fat Tuesday: and other short stories

Anthologies

• Best American Poetry 2001
• Oxford Anthology of African American Literature

Ploughshares

• While Poets Are Watching
• Caution: This Woman Brakes for Memories
• Paris Subway Tango
• Crossing the Rubicon at Seventy
• Furlough

References

1. ^ "Who's Who Among African Americans". Biography in Context. Gale. 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
2. Page, Yolanda Williams (2007). Encyclopedia of African American Women Writers, Yolanda Williams Page. Abc-Clio. ISBN 9780313334290. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
3. "Readings and Lectures: Colleen McElroy | English | University of Portland". College.up.edu. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
4. "University Press of New England | Redirect Page". Upne.com. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
5. "Colleen J. McElroy". The Poetry Foundation. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
6. "History & Mission". The Seattle Review. University of Washington. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
7. "Colleen J. McElroy | Directory of Writers | Poets & Writers". Pw.org. June 9, 2008. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
8. Yoon-Hendricks, Alexandra (January 1, 2024). "Colleen McElroy, renowned poet and UW's first full-time Black female faculty member, dies". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
9. Trueblood, Valerie. "Sidewalk Games by Colleen J. McElroy". The Poetry Foundation. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
10. Trueblood, Valerie. "Webs and Weeds by Colleen J. McElroy". The Poetry Foundation. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
11. Trueblood, Valerie. "Out Here Even Crows Commit Suicide by Colleen J. McElroy". The Poetry Foundation. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
12. Trueblood, Valerie. "Lothar's Wife by Colleen J. McElroy". The Poetry Foundation. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
13. Sleeping with the moon: poems. University of Illinois Press. 2007. ISBN 978-0-252-07476-9.
14. Travelling music. Story Line Press. 1998. ISBN 978-1-885266-65-1.
    • What madness brought me here: new and selected poems, 1968-1988. Wesleyan University Press. 1990. ISBN 978-0-8195-1188-1.
15. Bone Flames: Poems. University Press of New England. 1987. ISBN 978-0-8195-5172-6.
    • Queen of the Ebony Isles. Wesleyan University Press. 1984. ISBN 978-0-8195-6101-5.
16. Music from home: selected poems. Southern Illinois University Press. 1976. ISBN 978-0-8093-0774-6.
17. A Long Way from St. Louie. Coffee House Press. 1997. ISBN 978-1-56689-059-5. (travel memoirs)
18. Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar. University of Washington Press. 2001. ISBN 978-0-295-98115-4. (field notes and translations of Malagasy poems and stories).
19. Driving under the cardboard pines and other stories. Creative Arts Book Co. 1990. ISBN 978-0-88739-073-9.
20. Jesus and Fat Tuesday: and other short stories. Creative Arts Book Co. 1987. ISBN 978-0-88739-023-4.
21. Robert Hass; David Lehman, eds. (August 21, 2001). Best American Poetry 2001. Scribner. ISBN 978-0-7432-0384-5.
22. Arnold Rampersad, Hilary Herbold, ed. (October 1, 2005). Oxford Anthology of African American Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-512563-4.
23. "While Poets Are Watching". Ploughshares. Spring 1981.
24. "Caution: This Woman Brakes for Memories". Ploughshares. Spring 1993.
25. "Paris Subway Tango". Ploughshares. Spring 1993.
26. "Crossing the Rubicon at Seventy". Ploughshares. Winter 2007–08.
27. "Furlough". Ploughshares. Winter 2007–08.

External links

• McElroy, Colleen J. (b. 1935) at HistoryLink

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• 1935 births
• 2023 deaths
• 21st-century American women
• American Book Award winners
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• Kansas State University alumni
• PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award winners
• University of Washington alumni
• University of Washington faculty
• Writers from St. Louis
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