David Wojahn
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David Wojahn (b. 1953) is a major American poet who teaches poetry in the Department of English at Virginia Commonwealth University. He also directs Virginia Commonwealth University's Creative Writing Program. Born in St. Paul Minnesota, he holds degrees from the University of Minnesota and the University of Arizona.
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[edit] Career
Prior to joining Virginia Commonwealth University, Wojahn taught for many years at Indiana University. He has also taught at University of Alabama, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, University of Chicago, University of Houston, and University of New Orleans.
He has received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the Illinois Arts Council, the Indiana Arts Commission, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, as well as writing residencies from the Yaddo and McDowell colonies.
[edit] Poetry and Awards
Most of Wojahn's poetry is metrical although he also works in free verse, usually addressing political and social issues in American life. He often takes as his subjects moments of historical significance, such as the assassination of John Lennon. He has said that he hopes his poetry is considered "activist."
The noted poet Richard Hugo selected Wojahn's first book, Icehouse Lights, as a winner of the prestigious Yale Series of Younger Poets prize. Wojahn has gone on to publish six more books of poetry, all with the University of Pittsburgh Press. Glassworks received the Society of Midland Authors’ Award for best book published in 1987. Wojahn has been the recipient of many awards and prizes, including Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship; the William Carlos Williams Award and the Celia B. Wagner Award from the Poetry Society of America; Vermont College’s Crowley/Weingarten Award for Excellence in Teaching; the George Kent Prize from Poetry magazine, and three Pushcart Prizes.
Wojahn has also edited a volume of poetry by his late wife, Lynda Hull, entitled The Only World (HarperPerennial, 1995).
[edit] Poetry Books
Interrogation Palace: New and Selected Poems 1982-2004 (Pittsburgh, 2006)
Spirit Cabinet (Pittsburgh, 2002)
The Falling Hour (Pittsburgh, 1997)
Late Empire (Pittsburgh, 1994)
Mystery Train (Pittsburgh, 1990)
Glassworks (Pittsburgh, 1987)
Icehouse Lights (Yale, 1982)
[edit] Essays
Strange Good Fortune (Arkansas, 2001)
[edit] Edited Works
The Only World (HarperPerennial, 1995), a posthumous collection of poetry by Lynda Hull
Profile of Twentieth Century American Poetry, with Jack Myers (Southern Illinois University, 1991)
