Sue Owen (born September 5, 1942) is a dark humor poet influenced by the work of W. S. Merwin, Charles Simic, and Mark Strand. As the Poet-in-Residence, she taught poetry writing until 2005 at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Career Owen grew up Madison, Wisconsin, where she graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Later, at Goddard College, in Vermont, she obtained the Master of Fine Arts degree in Creating Writing. Before joining the faculty at Louisiana State University, she taught a variety of poetry classes in the Baton Rouge community, including as a poet in the schools, at the public library, and at the Council on Aging.Latha Viswinathan, "Finding a New Voice: Women Discover the Power of Poetry," The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.), Feb. 6, 1994, Sunday Magazine, pp. 21-2. In 1988, she won a national competition with the publication of her second book of poetry,Ohio State University Press, list of winners of OSU/The Journal Award https://ohiostatepress.org/books/series/Poetry.html and in 1998 she received recognition from the state of Louisiana as the Professional Artist of the Year."Governor Presents Art Achievement Awards," The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.), May 24, 1998, p. 4-H.
Poetry awards Ohio State University Press/The Journal Award for The Book of Winter, 1988 Artist Fellowship in Poetry from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, 1993 Governor's Arts Award from the Louisiana State Arts Council, 1998 Teaching Grants in Poetry from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, 1989-97Sarah Sue Goldsmith, "Poet Sue Owen to Conduct Workshop," The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.), Sep. 5, 1993, Sunday Magazine, p. 11. Gretchen Warren Award from the New England Poetry Club, 2013"New England Poetry Club 2013 Prize Winners," Writ (Boston, Mass.), Spring 2014, p. 9.
Poetry books Nursery Rhymes for the Dead (Ithaca: Ithaca House, 1980) The Book of Winter (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1988) My Doomsday Sampler (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1999) The Devil's Cookbook (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2007) Nursery Rhymes for the Dead: Collected Poems, translated by Ilya Lukovtsev (Moscow: Vodoley Press, 2018) Hurricane in a Bad Mood (Lafayette: University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2024)
Selected anthologies The Best of Intro (Norfolk: Associated Writing Programs, 1985) Shared Sightings: An Anthology of Bird Poems (Santa Barbara: John Daniel & Co., 1995) Uncommonplace: An Anthology of Contemporary Louisiana Poets (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1998) Verse and Universe: Poems about Mathematics and Science (Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1998) The Poetry Anthology, 1912-2002 (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2002)
International publications Bonniers Litterära Magasin (BLM), Stockholm, Sweden, vol. 52, no. 6 (December, 1983): "Poem" and "The Fear" Horisont, Helsinki, Finland, vol. 30, no. 2 (March, 1983): "Journey," "The Book of Winter," "Cellar," and "The Obscure" USA Poetry (Gothenburg, Sweden: Café Existens, 1984): "Lullaby," "The Spell," and "Fire" British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC-3) Archive, London, United Kingdom, "Words and Music: Apples," July 10, 2011: "The Poisoned Apple" Arion, Moscow, Russia, vol. 23, no. 2 (June, 2016): "Zero," "Old Potato Eyes," "Question," "Poem," "One Foot in the Grave," and "This is the Sparrow"
References
External links Louisiana State University Press, description of The Devil's Cookbook http://lsupress.org/books/detail/the-devil-s-cookbook/ The Writer's Almanac, "A Basket of Buttons," by Sue Owen http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2001/04/28 Verse Daily, "The Idea of Nothing" http://www.versedaily.org/aboutsueowennor.shtml Ploughshares, profile of Sue Owen https://www.pshares.org/authors/sue-owen Poets and Writers, profile of Sue Owen http://www.pw.org/content/sue_owen