Lyn Lifshin
Encyclopedia
Life
Born in Barre, VT, she was raised in Middlebury, VT. She earned a bachelor's degreeBachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in English from Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
and a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in English from the University of Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
(writing a thesis on Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
). She also studied at Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
, the Bread Loaf School of English and attended the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference.
Lifshin moved to Schenectady, NY in the 1970s with her then husband who worked for General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
. She enrolled in a doctoral program in English at SUNY Albany and began submitting her work for publication. She quickly began appearing in a variety of literary magazines. When she left SUNY, she began teaching creative writing workshops at various public venues such as libraries as well as at her home in Niskayuna, NY. Eventually, she began earning a living primarily from workshops, readings, and visiting faculty positions.
Lifshin has been called "The Queen of the Lit Mags" and "The Queen of Modern Romance Poetry". Over 120 books and chapbooks of her work have been published. She has also edited 4 anthologies (appearing in innumerable others) and was the subject of the award winning documentary film, Not Made of Glass. Her work has appeared in numerous literary magazines and cultural publications, including The American Scholar
The American Scholar
The American Scholar was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge. He was invited to speak in recognition of his groundbreaking work Nature, published a year earlier, in which he established a new way for America's fledgling society to...
, Christian Science Monitor, Ploughshares
Ploughshares
Ploughshares is an American literary magazine founded in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, Ploughshares has been based at Emerson College in the heart of Boston...
, nthWORD
NthWORD
nthWORD is a quarterly online magazine for creative people, by creative people. The magazine publishes works of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and art by both established and emerging writers and artists, as well as mock ads...
and Rolling Stone Magazine.
Bibliographers and literary critics would be hard-pressed to find a literary journal that has not published at least one Lifshin poem at one time or another. To date, however, there is no comprehensive bibliography
Bibliography
Bibliography , as a practice, is the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology...
of her publications and unpublished manuscripts.
She currently divides her time between a home in Niskayuna, NY and a residence in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. Her website is lynlifshin.com.
Books & Chapbooks (partial list)
Barbaro: Beyond Brokenness, Texas Review Press, 200992 Rapple Drive, Coatlism Press, 2008
An Unfinished Story, FootHills Publishing, 2006
Poets (mostly) who…, World Parade, 2006
What Matters Most, Scintillating Publications, 2004
(reprint Black Sparrow, 2001)
Marilyn Monroe, Quiet Lion Press, 1994
Ariadne's Thread, Harper and Row, 1982
Appletree Lane, New Spirit Press, 1980
Women Early Plymouth, Morgan Press, 1977
Weeds and Woodsmoke, Bellevue Press, 1974
Barbie Poems (Vols. 1 & 2), Lummox Press, 2005
The Licorice Daughter: My year with Ruffian, Texas Review Press, 2006
40 Days Apple Nights, Morgan Press, 1972
Offered By Owner, recording and book, Natalie Slohm, 1978
The Daughter I Don't Have, Plan B, 2005
The Camping Madonna at Indian Lake, M.A.F Press, 1986
The Old House Poems, Capra Press, 1975
Leaves and Night Things, Baby John Press 1970
Red Hair and the Jesuit, Trout Creek Press, 1987
Why is the House Dissolving, Open Skull Press, 1969
Shooting Kodachromes in the Dark, Penumbra, 1994
She was Found Treading Water Deep out in the Ocean, Platonic 3 Way Press, 2005
Jesus Christ Live, Future Tense Books, 2004
A New Film About A Woman in Love with the Dead, March Street Press, 2003
Madonna who Shifts for Herself, Applezaba, 1984
Kiss the Skin Off, Cherry Valley Press, 1985
Blue Dust New Mexico, Basilisk Press, 1982
Another Woman's Story, Butcher Shop Press, 2004
When a Cat Dies, Moon Press, 2004
Remember the Ladies, Ghost Dance Press, 1985
Colors in Cooper Black, Morgan Press
Not made of Glass, Karista Press. 1989
Tangled Vines 2nd ed, Harcourt Brace, 1992
Blue Tattoo, Event Horizon, 2001
Naked Charm, Illuminati, 1984, 1990
Glass, Morgan Press, 1978
Reading Lips, Morgan Press, 1990
Lips Unsealed, Capra Press, 1990
Black Apples, Crossing Press, 1973
Raw Opals, Illuminati, 1987
35 Sundays, Ommation Press, 1979
Dance Poems, Ommation Press, 1990
Restrooms, Anyone?, JVC Books, 1997
Autumn Wind, Portrait, 2007
In Mirrors, Presa Press, 2006
Novemberly, ESP Press, 2007
Poems, Konglomerati Press, 1974
Tangled Vines, Beacon Press, 1979
The Innocents, Buzzards Roost, 1987
Skin Divers, Krax, 1987
Doctors, Applezaba, 1990
Leaning South, Red Dust, 1977
North Poems, Morgan Press
(reprint David R. Godine Publisher, 1997, ISBN 9781574230406)
Red Hair and the Jesuit, Trout Creek Press, 1988
Forthcoming
Persephone, Red Hen PressNutley Pond, Goose River Press
Lost in the Fog, Finishing Line Press
Jesus Christ Poems in Hazmat Review
2008 Update of partial bibliography provided by Lifshin
External links
- "Author's website"
- Contemporary Authors Biography offprint - Lifshin, Lyn Diane (1942-)
- Lyn Lifshin: A Critical Study, by Hugh Fox
- Article on Lyn Lifshin
- Poetry by Lyn Lifshin