Background

Duhamel received her B.F.A. from Emerson College

Emerson College

Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...

 and her M.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence College

Sarah Lawrence College

Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in the United States, and a leader in progressive education since its founding in 1926. Located just 30 minutes north of Midtown Manhattan in southern Westchester County, New York, in the city of Yonkers, this coeducational college offers...

. She is a New York Foundation for the Arts

New York Foundation for the Arts

The New York Foundation for the Arts was created in conjunction the in 1971. The organization gives grants to individual artists and writers and developing arts organizations with a mission to '.'-NYFA's Programs:...

 recipient and has been resident poet at Bucknell University

Bucknell University

Bucknell University is a private liberal arts university located alongside the West Branch Susquehanna River in the rolling countryside of Central Pennsylvania in the town of Lewisburg, 30 miles southeast of Williamsport and 60 miles north of Harrisburg. The university consists of the College of...

. She has had residencies at Yaddo

Yaddo

Yaddo is an artists' community located on a 400 acre estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment."...

 and the MacDowell Colony

MacDowell Colony

The MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...

.

Duhamel's earliest books take a feminist

Feminism

Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

 slant, beginning with Smile (1993) and Girl Soldier (1996); The Woman with Two Vaginas (1995) explores Eskimo

Eskimo

Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....

 folklore from the same perspective. Her best selling and most popular book to date, Kinky (1997), marries her bent for satire, humor, and feminism in portraying an icon of popular culture, the Barbie

Barbie

Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....

 doll, through an extended series of satirical postures ("Beatnik Barbie," "Buddhist Barbie," etc.). Two collections that followed, The Star Spangled Banner (1998) and Queen for a Day (2001), move more broadly into American culture to display the same satire through the lens of absurdity. Later work is formally various with pantoum

Pantoum

The pantoum is a form of poetry similar to a villanelle in that there are repeating lines throughout the poem. It is composed of a series of quatrains; the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next. This pattern continues for any number of stanzas,...

s, long surreal explorations of American life, and list poems (Mille et un sentiments [2005]). Two and Two (2005) and Ka Ching (2009) also have the same tone. Her poetry has been widely anthologized and has appeared in The Best American Poetry annuals.

Duhamel has also collaborated with Maureen Seaton on Little Novels, Oyl, and Exquisite Politics. Of this collaboration, Duhamel says, "Something magical happens when we write - we find this third voice, someone who is neither Maureen nor I, and our ego sort of fades into the background. The poem matters, not either one of us."

Duhamel names as some of her influences Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball

Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...

, Roseanne Barr

Roseanne Barr

Roseanne Cherrie Barr is an American actress, comedian, writer, television producer and director. Barr began her career in stand-up comedy at clubs before gaining fame for her role in the sitcom Roseanne. The show was a hit and lasted nine seasons, from 1988 to 1997...

, Andrea Dworkin

Andrea Dworkin

Andrea Rita Dworkin was an American radical feminist and writer best known for her criticism of pornography, which she argued was linked to rape and other forms of violence against women....

, Alyson Palmer, Amy Ziff and Elizabeth Ziff (who make up the singing group Betty

Betty (band)

BETTY is an alternative rock group from New York City. The group originated in Washington, D.C. and traces its lineage to a birthday party for Dodie Bowers . The band's harmonies and unique lyrics attracted a cult following in the vibrant alternative music scene and among gay/lesbian audiences...

), and the 70s television heroine Mary Hartman.

Denise Duhamel was married to the Filipino poet Nick Carbò. Duhamel now lives in Hollywood, Florida

Hollywood, Florida

-Demographics:As of 2000, there were 59,673 households out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of...

, and teaches creative writing and literature at Florida International University

Florida International University

Florida International University is an American public research university in metropolitan Miami, Florida, in the United States, with its main campus in University Park...

, and in the Low-Residency MFA at Converse College in Spartanburg, SC.

Works

• Girl Soldier (Garden Street Press, 1996)
• How the Sky Fell (1996)
• Ka-Ching (University of Pittsburgh
  University of Pittsburgh
  The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
  
  , 2009)
• Kinky (Orchises Press, 1997)
• Mille et un sentiments (Firewheel Editions, 2005)
• Queen for a Day: Selected and New Poems (University of Pittsburgh, 2001)
• Smile, (Warm Spring Press, 1993)
• The Star-Spangled Banner, winner of the Crab Orchard
  Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition Awards
  The Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition Awards are relatively large prizes given out each year to poets with unpublished manuscripts. In addition to the cash prizes, two winners get published by a university press....
  
   Poetry Prize (1999)
• The Woman with Two Vaginas, (Salmon Run Press, 1995)
• Two and Two (University of Pittsburgh, 2005).

Chapbooks

• It's My Body (Egg In Hand Press, 1992)
• Skirted Issues (Stop Light Press, 1990)
• Heaven And Heck (Foundation Press, 1988, 1989, 1990)

External links

• The Power of Lawlessness: A Close Reading of Denise Duhamel's "Lawless Pantoum" by Marybeth Rua-Larsen in Shit Creek Review
  Shit Creek Review
  The Shit Creek Review is an online literary and art magazine . Its content is mostly related to poetry, and includes work belonging the differing styles of formalism and free verse by established authors and new writers...