Alison Palmer

Poet

Norfolk, VA
Virginia US
Email: 
alisonhpalmer@gmail.com
Website: 
alisonpalmer.org

Author's Bio

ALISON PALMER is the author of two full-length poetry collections, I Give You the Planets (Broadstone Books, forthcoming 2025) and Bargaining with the Fall (Broadstone Books, 2023), and three poetry chapbooks, The Offing (Broadstone Books, 2024), Everything Is Normal Here (Broadstone Books, 2022), and The Need for Hiding (Dancing Girl Press, 2018). Alison was chosen for a 2022 Independent Artist Award (IAA) grant by the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC).

Alison received her MFA in Poetry from Washington University in St. Louis, and she was awarded the Emma Howell Memorial Poetry Prize from Oberlin College where she graduated with a BA in Creative Writing. She also studied Poetry through Syracuse University in Florence, Italy.

Education: 
Washington University MFA
Writers Retreats: 
Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference

Publications & Prizes

Books:
I Give You the Planets (Broadstone Books, 2025)
,
Bargaining with the Fall (Broadstone Books, 2023)
Chapbooks:
The Offing (Broadstone Books, 2024)
,
Everything Is Normal Here (Broadstone Books, 2022)
,
The Need for Hiding (Dancing Girl Press, Chicago, 2018)
Journals:
American Journal of Poetry
,
Bear Review
,
Bellevue Literary Review
,
Box of Jars
,
Calyx, A Journal of Art and Literature by Women
,
Cimarron Review
,
Cincinnati Review
,
Columbia Poetry Review
,
Cortland Review
,
Cream City Review
,
Field
,
Folio
,
Glass: A Journal of Poetry
,
Laurel Review
,
Los Angeles Review
,
Natural Bridge
,
River Styx
,
Salt Hill
,
Split Rock Review
,
Spoon River Poetry Review
,
Stirring : A Literary Collection
,
Crazyhorse
,
Whale Road Review
,
Yes, Poetry
Prizes won: 
  • Finalist, Sexton Prize, Eyewear Publishing, The Alarmist, full-length, spring 2019
  • Nimrod Literary Awards: Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry Quarter-Finalist, 2018
  • Pushcart Prize Nomination, “Flight,” 2016
  • Best New Poets Nomination, “Flight,” 2016
  • Winner, Atlantis Poetry Award, Poet’s Billow, spring 2016
  • Finalist, Bermuda Triangle Prize and Pangaea Prize, Poet’s Billow, fall 2014
  • Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, summer 2012
  • Top 50 Best New Poets 2010 as chosen by Claudia Emerson
  • Nominated for the AWP Intro Journals Project, 2007 and 2008
  • Finalist, The Laurel Review's Midwest Chapbook Series Award, 2007 
  • Emma Howell Memorial Poetry Prize, Oberlin College, 2005
  • Coluccio Salutati Prize for Academic Excellence, Syracuse University in Florence, Italy, 2004

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Virginia Woolf Stephen Dunn James Dickey Galway Kinnell Carl Phillips Anne Carson Nils Michals Alessandra Lynch C.D. Wright Louise Gluck Robert Lowell Charles Wright (delving into Proust and loving him)
What I'm reading now: 
Swann's Way: In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust, My Trade Is My Mystery: Seven Meditations from a Life in Writing by Carl Phillips, Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light by Joy Harjo, Everything Else in the World by Stephen Dunn, Robert Lowell: Setting the River on Fire by Kay Redfield Jamison, The Carrying by Aida Limon

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Fairfax, VA
Virginia
Raised in: 
Charleston , SC
South Carolina
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Nov 30, 2024