Terry Blackhawk

Poet

Hamden, CT
Connecticut US

Author's Bio

Terry Bohnhorst Blackhawk was born in California and grew up in Massachusetts, Georgia, and Indiana. As a student at Antioch College in the 1960s, she spent 18 months in Europe, learning both Swedish and Italian. After earning a BA in Literature, she moved to Detroit where her career as a high school Creative Writing teacher for Detroit Public Schools eventually led to her founding, in 1995, InsideOut Literary Arts Project, a nonprofit writers-in-schools program dedicated to amplifying the voices of Detroit youth. Blackhawk holds a Ph.D. in Reading and Language Arts Education from Oakland University, which granted her an Honorary Doctorate in 2013. Twice named Michigan Creative Writing Teacher of the Year, Blackhawk's poetry collections include body & field (Michigan State UP, 1999); Escape Artist (BkMk Press, 2003) winner of the John Ciardi Prize; and The Light Between (Wayne State UP, 2012). One Less River (Mayapple Press) was named a Top 2019 Indie Poetry Title by Kirkus Reviews. Upon her retirement from InsideOut in 2015, Wayne State UP brought out To Light a Fire: Twenty Years with the InsideOut Literary Arts Project, a collection of essays co-edited with InsideOut Senior Writer Peter Markus. Other awards include the Foley Poetry Prize, the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry from Nimrod International, a Kresge Arts in Detroit Literary Fellowship, induction into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame, and the Antioch College Horace Mann Alumni Award for victories for humanity. After fifty years as a Detroiter, Terry moved to Connecticut to live near her son, Yale Professor Ned Blackhawk, and grandchildren.

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
Waking Up to the Earth, Connecticut Poets in a Time of Global Crisis (Grayson Books, 2021)
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The Golden Shovel Anthology (University of Arkansas Press, 2019)
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A Detroit Anthology (Belt Publishing, 2014)
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Poetry in Michigan/Michigan in Poetry (New Issues Press, 2013)
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When She Named Fire: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by American Women (Autumn House Press, 2009)
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The Breath of Parted Lips, Voices from the Robert Frost Place (CavanKerry Press, 2004)
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Poetry Daily: 366 Poems from the World's Most Popular Poetry Website (Sourcebooks, 2003)
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I Have My Own Song for It: Modern Poems of Ohio (University of Akron Press, 2002)
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The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: 15th Annual Collection (St. Martin's Press, 2002)
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Abandon Automobile: Detroit City Poetry (Wayne State University Press, 2001)
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I Am Becoming the Woman I've Wanted (Papier Mache Press, 2000)
Books:
Maumee, Maumee (Alice Greene & Co, 2022)
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One Less River (Kirkus Reviews Top 2019 Indie Poetry Title) (Mayapple Press, 2019)
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To Light a Fire: Twenty Years with the InsideOut Literary Arts Project (ed. with Peter Markus) (Wayne State University Press, 2015)
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The Light Between (Wayne State University Press, 2012)
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The Dropped Hand (Marick Press, 2007)
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Escape Artist, Winner 2002 John Ciardi Prize (BkMk Press-UMKC, 2003)
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Body & Field (Michigan State University Press, 1999)
Chapbooks:
The Whisk & Whir of Wings (Ridgeway Press, 2016)
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Greatest Hits, 1990-2003 (Pudding House Press, 2004)
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Trio: Voices from the Myths (Ridgeway Press, 1998)
Journals:
America
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Artful Dodge
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College English
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Comstock Review
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Controlled Burn
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Driftwood Review
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English Journal
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Iris
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Language Arts
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Marlboro Review
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Negative Capability
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Poetry Daily
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River Oak Review
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Spoon River Poetry Review
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Verse Daily
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Vox Populi
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Yankee Magazine
Prizes won: 

Foley Poetry Prize, 1990, from America; 1992-1993 National Endowment for the Humanities Teacher-Scholar Sabbatical Award to study Emily Dickinson; United Black Artists 1994 Pioneering Teacher in the Arts Award; 1997-2000 Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, Poet-in-residence, Henry Ford High School Detroit, MI; 2002 John Ciardi Prize for Escape Artist (BkMk Press); 2010 Pablo Neruda Prize from Nimrod International; 2013 Kresge Arts in Detroit Literary Fellowship; 2013 Springfed Arts Poetry Prize; Tennesse Williams Scholarship in Poetry, 2019 Sewanee Writers Conference.

 

Personal Favorites

What I'm reading now: 
The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk, Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith, Darwin: A Life in Poems by Ruth Padel, Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan, American Sonnets for My Present and Future Assassin by Terrance Hayes

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
Italian, Swedish
Born in: 
Glendale, CA
California
Raised in: 
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Dec 03, 2023