Bonnie Larson Staiger

Poet

Bismarck, ND
North Dakota US
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Author's Bio

Bonnie Larson Staiger, a North Dakota Associate Poet Laureate, is the recipient of the ‘Poetry of the Plains and Prairies Award’ from North Dakota State University Press (2018), the Independent Press Award: Distinguished Favorite for her debut collection, Destiny Manifested. Her second book In Plains Sight (NDSU Press 2021) was nominated for the PEN America Literary Award, received the Midwest Book Awards - Silver Medal, and received the WILLA Literary Award in Poetry - Finalist by Women Writing the West.  Her award-winning poems have been included in numerous anthologies, literary journals, and publications. Most recently, she received the Poetry of Courage Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society. She thrives on the Great Plains not far from the Badlands of North Dakota. There she often writes of the poignant subtleties of life on the high plains of the New American West as well as a view of the world observed from that place. Some of the poets she has studied with: Rick Barot, Richard Blanco, Kevin Pilkington, Ross Gay, Ilya Kaminsky, and Tom Sleigh. 

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
COSMOS (Poeming Pigeons, 2020)
,
Woven on the Wind (Houghton Mifflin, 2001)
,
Leaning Into the Wind: Women Writers From the Heart of the West (Houghton Mifflin, 1997)
Book:
In Plains Sight (North Dakota State University Press, 2021)
Chapbook:
Destiny Manifested (North Dakota State University Press, 2018)
Journals:
Crosswinds Poetry Journal
, ,
Faith and Form: Interfaith Journal on Religion, Art and Architecture
,
Flying South
, , ,
Montana Mouthful
, ,
Open: Journal of Arts & Letters
,
Pasque Petals
,
Pendora Magazine
,
Persimmon Tree
,
Plainsongs
,
Poetic License
,
Prairie Fire
,
Sanskrit Review
, ,
Straight Forward
,
The Daily Palette
Prizes won: 
  • Associate Poet Laureate for North Dakota
  • Women Writing the West: WILLA Literary Award in Poetry - Finalist (2022)
  • Midwest Independent Publisher Awards - Silver Medalist (2022)
  • Poetry of Courage Award (2022 North Carolina Poetry Society)
  • NDSU Press: Poetry of the Plains & Prairies Award (2018) 
  • Independent Press Award - Distinguished Favorite (2019)
  • Schoolcraft College: Mini-MacGuffin 'Best of the Year' (2020)
  • Julia Darling Poetry Prize - Finalist (2019)
  • Flying South Contest: Winston-Salem Writers (2019)
  • Writer in Residence: Fairhope (AL) Center for the Writing Arts (2020)

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Poets: Kay Ryan, Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Dickinson, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Ezra Pound, Rilke, Wordsworth, Shakespeare . . .
What I'm reading now: 
Sparrow Envy by J. Drew Lanham, In the Company of Rilke by Stephanie Dowrick, Nebraska by Kwame Dawes, Haiku: This Other World by Richard Wright, Synthesizing Gravity by Kay Ryan

More Information

Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
American
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
ND
North Dakota
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Nov 06, 2023