Charif Shanahan is an American poet and translator. His debut poetry collection Into Each Room We Enter Without Knowing (Southern Illinois University Press, 2017) was the recipient of the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award, selected by Allison Joseph, and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry and the Publishing Triangle's Thom Gunn Award.[1] His second collection, Trace Evidence: poems (Tin House, 2023), was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, longlisted for the National Book Award for Poetry,[2] and winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry,[3] his second Lammie nomination, and Publishing Triangle’s Thom Gunn Award.
Charif Shanahan | |
|---|---|
 Shanahan in 2017 | |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation(s) | Poet and translator |
Education
editShanahan earned an BA in Comparative Literature from Princeton University; an MA in Comparative Literature and Literary Translation from Dartmouth College; and an MFA in Poetry from NYU's Graduate Creative Writing Program, where he studied with Sharon Olds and Yusef Komunyakaa, with whom he had first worked as an undergraduate at Princeton.[4]
Career
editShanahan is currently an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Northwestern University, where he teaches in the undergraduate and Litowitz MFA+MA programs.[5] Previously, he taught at Stanford University,[6] where he held both a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Poetry and Jones Lectureship in Poetry.[7]
His work has also been anthologized in African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song (Library of America, 2020), Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry (Northwestern University Press, 2019), and American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time (Graywolf Press, 2018).[8][9]
As a translator, he works primarily from Italian. His translations of Italian-language poets Gëzim Hajdari and Donata Berra have been published in Circumference,[10] A Public Space, and RHINO Poetry.
Awards and honors
edit- Cave Canem Foundation Fellowship (2013–15)[11]
- The Edward Stanley Award, Prairie Schooner (2016)[12]
- Millay Colony for the Arts Fellow (2016)
- Gregory Pardlo Fellowship, The Frost Place (2016)[13]
- Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Poetry, Stanford University (2016–18)
- Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, Finalist (2018)[14]
- Thom Gunn Award, Publishing Triangle, Finalist (2018)[15]
- James Baldwin Writer-in-Residence, La Maison Baldwin, St. Paul de Vence (2018)[16]
- National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship (2019)[17]
- MacDowell Poetry Fellow (2019)[18]
- Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Poetry Fellow (2019)[19]
- Trace Evidence Poets & Writers's "New and Noteworthy 2023"[20]
- National Book Award for Poetry, Longlist (2023)[21]
- Whiting Award (2024)[22]
- National Book Critics Circle Award, Finalist (2024)[23]
- Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry (2024)[24]
- Thom Gunn Award, Publishing Triangle (2024)[25]
Books
edit- —— (2017). Into Each Room We Enter Without Knowing: Poems. Carbondale. ISBN 9780809335770.[26][27][28]
- —— (2023). Trace Evidence: Poems. Portland, Oregon: Tin House. ISBN 9781953534668.[29][30]
References
edit- ^ Roderick, David (20 June 2018). "State Lines: Charif Shanahan's 'Self-Portrait in Black and White'". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ "2023 National Book Awards Longlist for Poetry". 14 September 2023. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
- ^ "Announcing the Finalists for the 36th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". them. 27 March 2024. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ^ "Charif Shanahan". Poetry Foundation. 27 February 2023.
- ^ "Charif Shanahan: Department of English". Northwestern University.
- ^ "Charif Shanahan | Creative Writing Program". Stanford University.
- ^ "Former Stegner Fellows | Creative Writing Program". Stanford University.
- ^ "Charif Shanahan". Poetry Foundation. 7 March 2023.
- ^ "Free Is Not a Negro Doused in White: Charif Shanahan's INTO EACH ROOM WE ENTER WITHOUT KNOWING | African American Poetry & Poetics | University of Pittsburgh". University of Pittsburgh.
- ^ "who will quell our intense desire to solve | Circumference Magazine". Circumference Magazine. 25 July 2012.
- ^ "Fellows". Cave Canem.
- ^ "Prairie Schooner Awards $8,500 to 2015 Writing Prize Winners". Prairie Schooner.
- ^ "Gregory Pardlo Scholarship". The Frost Place. 1 April 2018.
- ^ "Lambda Literary Awards Finalists & Winners". Lambda Literary.
- ^ "The Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry". The Publishing Triangle.
- ^ "Writers in Residence 2018–2022". La Maison Baldwin.
- ^ "Charif Shanahan earns fellowship from National Endowment for the Arts | Creative Writing Program". Stanford University.
- ^ "93 Artists Awarded Summer MacDowell Fellowships". MacDowell.
- ^ "Past Residents Captiva". Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
- ^ "Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin". Poets & Writers. 15 February 2023.
- ^ Andrews, Meredith (14 September 2023). "2023 National Book Awards Longlist for Poetry". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
- ^ "Charif Shanahan". www.whiting.org. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
- ^ "The National Book Critics Circle Awards". National Book Critics Circle. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
- ^ "2024 Winners". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
- ^ staff@publishingtriangle.org (18 April 2024). "2024 Publishing Triangle Awards Winners Announced". The Publishing Triangle. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
- ^ "What does it mean to be multiracial in America? This poet explores how it's complicated". PBS NewsHour. 7 August 2017.
- ^ March, Thomas (4 December 2017). "Appreciations: Charif Shanahan's "Preface"". Lambda Literary.
- ^ Eilbert, Natalie (24 August 2017). "Tell Me I Belong Here: On Charif Shanahan's "Into Each Room We Enter without Knowing"". Los Angeles Review of Books.
- ^ "Trace Evidence by Charif Shanahan". Publishers Weekly.
- ^ "Back Draft: Charif Shanahan". Guernica Magazine. 13 February 2023.