Ruth Ellen Kocher facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ruth Ellen Kocher
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| Born | July 26, 1965 Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania U.S. |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Penn State University Arizona State University |
| Genre | Poetry |
Ruth Ellen Kocher was born on July 26, 1965, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. She is an American poet. She has won many important awards for her writing. These include the PEN/Open Book Award and the Dorset Prize.
Ruth Ellen Kocher has also received special grants. These grants help artists and writers focus on their work. She is a Professor of English at the University of Colorado - Boulder. She also helps lead the College of Arts and Sciences there.
Contents
Ruth Ellen Kocher's Poetry
Ruth Ellen Kocher is a well-known American poet. She has written many books of poetry. Some of her books include Third Voice, Ending in Planes, and Goodbye Lyric. She also wrote domina Un/blued, which won an award. Other books are One Girl Babylon and When the Moon Knows You're Wandering. Her book Desdemona's Fire also won an award.
Her poems have been shared in many places. They have been translated into Persian. They also appear in several poetry collections. These collections are called anthologies. Some famous ones are Angles of Ascent and Black Nature.
Ruth Ellen Kocher's book, domina Un/blued, won the Dorset Prize in 2010. It was published in 2013. One reviewer said she used the page design in a very creative way. This added an important layer to her poems.
Kocher has talked about the "voice" in her writing. She said her real voice is like "a multiple voice." This means she uses different voices in her poems. Many women writers do this. They use different voices to show all the sides of women. These voices might be a mother, a daughter, or a girl from a different background. By using many voices, readers can connect with her poems better.
Education and Teaching Career
Ruth Ellen Kocher studied at several universities. She earned her first degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1990. She then got two more degrees from Arizona State University. She finished her Ph.D. in 1999.
She has taught at many universities. These include Missouri Western State University and Southern Illinois University. She also taught at the University of Missouri.
Her career involves two main parts. She does scholarly research and writes poetry. Kocher believes that these two activities help each other. They make her work richer and more interesting. She has received special support from groups like the Cave Canem Foundation. She has also taught at various writing programs.
Today, she is a professor of English literature. She teaches at the University of Colorado-Boulder. She also serves as an Associate Dean for Arts and Humanities.
Awards and Recognition
Ruth Ellen Kocher has won several important awards for her poetry:
- 2014 PEN/Open Book, for domina Un/blued
- 2010 Dorset Prize, for domina Un/blued
- 2002 Green Rose Prize in Poetry, for When the Moon Knows You're Wandering
- 1999 Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award, for Desdemona's Fire
Selected Works
Here are some of Ruth Ellen Kocher's published works:
- "Alice Coltrane and Discovers the World G/god is B/born", Blackbird, Fall 2009
- "string theory", Blackbird, Fall 2009
- One Girl Babylon (New Issues Press, 2003) ISBN: 978-1-930974-33-3
- When the Moon Knows You're Wandering (New Issues Press, 2002) ISBN: 978-1-930974-11-1
- Desdemona's Fire (Lotus Press, 1999) ISBN: 978-0-916418-83-0
Poetry Collections (Anthologies)
Her poems have been included in many collections with other poets:
- Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poets. Charles Rowell, ed.
- IOU: New Writing On Money. Ron Slate, ed.
- Black Nature. Camille T. Dungy, ed. [University of Georgia Press], Athens Georgia, 2009.
- From the Fishouse: An Anthology of Poems that Sing, Rhyme, Resound, Syncopate, Alliterate, and Just Plain Sound Great. Camille T. Dungy, Matt O'Donnell, & Jeffrey Thomson eds., Gerald Stern (Foreword), [Persea Books], NY, New York, 2009.
- The McSweeney’s Book of: Poets Picking Poets, Dominic Luxford, ed. [McSweeney's Books]: San Francisco, 2007.
- An Anthology of Creative Writer Garden of Forking Paths. Beth Anstanding and Eric Killough, eds. [Prentice Hall], 2006.
- Commonwealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania. Marjorie Maddox, Jerry Wemple eds. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005.
- New Bones: Contemporary Black Writers in America. Kevin Quashie, Keith Miller, Joyce Lausch, eds. [Prentice Hall], 2000.
