Spencer Reece
Spencer Reece is a poet who lives in Juno Beach, Florida. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University (1985). Reece received a M.A. from the University of York (UK), a M.T.S. from the Harvard Divinity School, and a M.Div. from the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University. At Wesleyan, Spencer took a class in writing verse with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Annie Dillard (Tinker at Pilgrim Creek), whom he describes as "an early encourager," along with James Merrill, the Stonington poet with whom Spencer shared a correspondence.[1]
His 2004 book, The Clerk’s Tale, was published by the Houghton Mifflin Company (A Mariner Original). The Clerk's Tale was the winner of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Bakeless Prize and was judged by former U.S. poet laureate Louise Glück. The title poem describes a day in the life at a store in the Mall of America; Reece had worked for many years as a sales associate at Brooks Brothers in the Mall. James Franco based his short film on the title poem.[2] Reece's second book, The Road to Emmaus, will be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2014. His work has appeared in Boulevard, The New Yorker and The American Poetry Review.[3]
His prose devotional, The Little Entrance, is based on the idea "that poems are like Byzantine icons, portals to the divine",[4] and includes "a series of meditations" on the poets George Herbert, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Emily Dickinson and James Merrill. This book is being considered for publication for 2015 by Greywolf Press.[4]
Reece was formerly a postulant for Holy Orders in the Episcopal Church.[1][5]
Awards
- Recipient of the Witter Bynner Prize administered by the Library of Congress.[2]
- Recipient of the Pushcart Prize in 2009.
- Recipient of the Whiting Writers' Award in 2005 for poetry.
- Winner of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Bakeless Prize for 2004.
- Recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.
- Recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts poetry fellowship.
- Recipient of an Amy Lowell Traveling Grant.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Reece Brings a Sense of Poetry to the Pulpit, The Westerly Sun. By Nancy Burns-Fusaro, Sun Staff Writer. February 8, 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 People in the News, Spencer Reece, The Westerly Sun News. 8 November 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ↑ Bios of 2005 Whiting Writers' Award Recipients - Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Retrieved 9-20-06
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Spencer Reece Bio., The James Merrill House Writer-in-Residence Program. By Staff. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
- ↑ Spencer Reece Goes from the Mall to Episcopal Priesthood, Juneau Empire.
External links
- Emerging Poet: On Spencer Reece - The Academy of American Poets
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