Karen Skolfield

Poet

Amherst, MA
Massachusetts US
Email: 
skolfield@engin.umass.edu
Website: 
www.karenskolfield.com/

Author's Bio

Karen Skolfield’s book Battle Dress (W. W. Norton, 2019) won the Barnard Women Poets Prize. Her book Frost in the Low Areas (Zone 3 Press) won the 2014 PEN New England Award in poetry and the First Book Award from Zone 3 Press, and is a Massachusetts “Must Read” selection. She is the poet laureate for Northampton, Massachusetts, for 2019-2021.

Skolfield is the winner of the 2016 Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize in poetry from The Missouri Review, the 2015 Robert H. Winner award from the Poetry Society of America, and the 2015 Arts & Humanities Award from New England Public Radio.

She has received fellowships and awards from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Split This Rock, Ucross Foundation, Hedgebrook, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Vermont Studio Center. Skolfield is a U.S. Army veteran and teaches writing to engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she earned her Master of Fine Arts.

Education: 
University of Massachusetts, Amherst MFA
Writers Retreats: 
Ucross Residency Program
Vermont Studio Center
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
All We Can Hold: A Collection of Poetry on Motherhood (Sage Hill Press, 2016)
,
Kindness of Strangers (Wising Up Press, 2016)
,
My Cruel Invention (Meerkat Press, 2016)
,
Political Punch (Sundress Publications, 2016)
,
Intimacy (Jacar Press, 2015)
,
Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors (Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2015)
,
Best of the Net Anthology (Sundress Publications, 2012)
Books:
Battle Dress (W. W. Norton & Company, 2019)
,
Frost in the Low Areas (Zone 3 Press, 2013)
Journals:
32 Poems
,
Adirondack Review
,
Alaska Quarterly Review
,
Apple Valley Review
,
Asheville Poetry Review
,
Baltimore Review
,
Barrow Street
,
Boulevard
,
Boxcar Poetry Review
,
Calyx, A Journal of Art and Literature by Women
,
Carolina Quarterly
,
Cave Wall
,
Cimarron Review
,
Cincinnati Review
,
Consequence
,
Conte
,
Crab Orchard Review
,
Cutthroat, A Journal of the Arts
,
Failbetter.com
,
Forklift, Ohio
,
Guernica Magazine
,
Hollins Critic
,
Indiana Review
,
Iowa Review
,
Linebreak
,
Literary Mama
,
Memorious
,
Miramar Poetry Journal
,
Missouri Review
,
Naugutuck River Review
,
New Ohio Review
,
One
,
Painted Bride Quarterly
,
Pank
,
Pleiades
,
ploughshares
,
Poetry Magazine
,
Raven Chronicles
,
RHINO
,
Shenandoah
,
Sixth Finch
,
Slice
,
Slice Magazine
,
Slipstream
,
Southword Journal
,
Structo
,
Sugar House Review
,
Superstition Review
,
Crazyhorse
,
Tahoma Literary Review
,
Tar River Poetry
,
THRUSH Poetry Journal
,
UCity Review
,
Valparaiso Poetry Review
,
Verse Daily
,
Washington Square Review
,
Waxwing
,
West Branch
,
Word Riot
Prizes won: 

2018 Barnard Women Poets Prize, 2016 Jeffrey E. Smith Editor's Prize in poetry from The Missouri Review, 2015 Robert Winner Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, 2015 Arts & Humanities Award from New England Public Radio (emerging artist), 2014 PEN New England Award in poetry, 2014 Massachusetts "Must-Read" book, 2014 Massachusetts Cultural Council fellow, 2014 Split This Rock poetry prize, 2012 First Book Award in poetry with Zone 3 Press, 2011 Oboh poetry prize from Boxcar Poetry Review

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
White
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Jul 31, 2020