Rob Carney

Poet, Creative Nonfiction Writer

Salt Lake City, UT
Utah US

Author's Bio

Rob Carney is the author of Accidental Gardens (creative non-fiction) and nine books of poems, most recently The Book of Drought (Texas Review Press 2024), which won the XJ Kennedy Prize for Poetry and received a Kirkus starred review. He has received the Milton Kessler Memorial Prize, the Robinson Jeffers/Tor House Foundation Award, and he has written a featured series called “Old Roads, New Stories” for the award-winning journal Terrain.org for the last nine years. Favorite drink: coffee. Favorite animal: the Great White. He is a Professor of English at Utah Valley University and lives in Salt Lake City.

 

Publications & Prizes

Creative Nonfiction

Book:
Accidental Gardens (Wakefield Press, 2021)

Poetry

Books:
The Book of Drought (Texas Review Press, 2024)
,
Call and Response (Black Lawrence Press, 2021)
,
The Last Tiger Is Somewhere (Unsolicited Press, 2020)
,
The Book of Sharks (Black Lawrence Press, 2018)
,
88 Maps (Lost Horse Press, 2015)
,
Story Problems (Somondoco Press, 2011)
,
Weather Report (Somondoco Press, 2006)
Prizes won: 

Winner of the X.J. Kennedy Prize for Poetry for The Book of Drought, 2023, selected by former Inaugural Poet Laureate Richard Blanco.

Winner of the 2014 Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation Prize for Poetry.

First Prize, Terrain.org’s 4th Annual Contest in Poetry, 2013.

First Place for Poetry in the 2023 Utah Original Writing Competition from the Utah Division of Arts & Museums.

Winner of the Peatsmoke Summer Poetry Contest, 2023.

First Place: Letter Review Prize for Poetry, 2023.

Milton Kessler Memorial Prize in Poetry from Harpur Palate magazine, 2022.

15 Bytes Book Award for Creative Nonfiction for my book Accidental Gardens from Artists of Utah Magazine, 2022.

Winner of the Artists of Utah Book Award for Poetry for The Book of Sharks, 2019.

2-Time Winner of the Utah Book Award for Poetry, Utah Center for the Book, Weather Report, 2007, and Boasts, Toasts, and Ghosts, 2004.

Winner of the 2005 Frank Cat Press Annual Poetry Chapbook Competition.

Winner of The National Poetry Review’s 2004 Chapbook Prize.

Winner, 2002 Pinyon Press Poetry Book Competition, for Boasts, Toasts, and Ghosts.

Winner, 2002 Dream Horse Press National Chapbook Prize.

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Robinson Jeffers, Whitman, Sexton, Oliver, Frost, Orwell, Vasko Popa, Martin MacDonagh, Scott Poole, Barbara Robinson, are just the first 10 who come to mind.
What I'm reading now: 
We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida, Still as Bright by Christopher Cokinos

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Prefers to work with: 
Adults, Any, Naturalists/Environmentalists, Schools, Teachers
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Puyallup, WA
Washington
Raised in: 
Puyallup, WA
Washington
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Jan 28, 2025