Susan Wheeler is an educator and award-winning poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 whose poems have frequently appeared in anthologies. She currently teaches creative writing at Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

.

Her published works include:

• Bag o' Diamonds (poetry), University of Georgia Press, 1993
• Smokes (poetry), Four Way Books
  Four Way Books
  Four Way Books is an American not-for-profit literary press located in New York City, New York, which publishes poetry and short fiction by emerging and established writers. It features the work of the winners of national poetry competitions, as well as collections accepted through general...
  
  , 1998;
• Source Codes, (poetry) Salt, 2001;
• Ledger (poetry), Iowa, 2005;
• Record Palace (novel), Graywolf, 2005.

Bag o' Diamonds has received two literary awards: Norma Farber First Book Award

Norma Farber First Book Award

The Norma Farber First Book Award is given by the Poetry Society of America "for a first book of original poetry written by an American and published in either a hard or soft cover in a standard edition during the calendar year"....

 from Poetry Society of America

Poetry Society of America

The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists including Witter Bynner. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the have included such renowned writers as Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Edna St. Vincent...

, 1994; and Pushcart Prize

Pushcart Prize

The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are invited to nominate up to 6 works they have featured....

, 1994, 2000.

Wheeler has also received the following awards: Grolier award for poetry, 1987; Prize for Poetry, Roberts Foundation, 1988; Vermont Council of the Arts grantee, 1878-79; Fund for Poetry grantee, 1990; New York Foundation for the Arts fellow, 1993-95, 1997-99; and Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, 1999.

Her poems have appeared in The Best American Poetry series in these editions: 1988

The Best American Poetry 1988

The Best American Poetry 1988, the first volume in The Best American Poetry series, was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor John Ashbery, who chose one of his own poems among the group of 75.-Lehman's forward:...

, 1991

The Best American Poetry 1991

The Best American Poetry 1991, a volume in The Best American Poetry series, was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor Mark Strand.-Poets and poems included:-Most-represented publications in this volume:...

, 1993

The Best American Poetry 1993

The Best American Poetry 1993, a volume in The Best American Poetry series, was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor Louise Glück.-Poets and poems included:-External links:...

, 1996

The Best American Poetry 1996

The Best American Poetry 1996, a volume in The Best American Poetry series, was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor Adrienne Rich.-Poets and poems included:-External links:...

, 1998

The Best American Poetry 1998

The Best American Poetry 1999, a volume in The Best American Poetry series, was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor John Hollander.-Poets and poems included:-External links:...

, The Best of the Best American Poetry 1988-1997

The Best of the Best American Poetry 1988-1997

The Best of the Best American Poetry 1988-1997, a volume in The Best American Poetry series, was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor Harold Bloom, who chose the poems....

, 2003

The Best American Poetry 2003

The Best American Poetry 2003, a volume in The Best American Poetry series, was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor Yusef Komunyakaa....

, 2005

The Best American Poetry 2005

The Best American Poetry 2005, a volume in The Best American Poetry series, was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor Paul Muldoon....

. Wheeler has also been thanked in the acknowledgements sections of the 2001, 2003, and 2004 editions of the series.

Wheeler was the first example of an Elliptical Poet described by Stephen Burt

Stephen Burt

Stephen Burt is a literary critic, poet, and a professor who teaches at Harvard University.-Elliptical Poetry:Burt received significant attention for coining the term "elliptical poetry" in a 1998 book review of Susan Wheeler's book, Smokes, in Boston Review magazine...

 in his creation of the term in 1998. and expanded upon in an eponymous essay in American Letters & Commentary. Her work is also referred to in Jed Rasula's Syncopations: The Stress of Innovation in Contemporary American Poetry.