Wanda Praisner

Poet

Bedminster, NJ
New Jersey US

Author's Bio

Born in NYC; B.S. in Early Childhood Ed., magna cum laude, completed in three years; M.S.Ed, both Wagner College. Matriculated Ed.D, Teachers'College, Columbia U. Taught 29 years in NY, NJ, & CA. Began writing poetry in 1986. Studied with Stephen Dunn, '87-'93. Also studied with Stephen Berg, Jill Bialosky, Alfred Corn, Mark Doty, Denise Duhamael,Rachel Hadas, Marie Howe, Alan Jenkins, Yusef Komunyakaa, Maxine Kumin, Thomas Lux, Paul Muldoon, Molly Peacock, Marie Ponsot, Martha Rhodes, Liz Rosenberg, Charlie Smith, & Chaise Twichell, '93-'08. Sharing poetry & having students write during her residencies, are ways of giving back.The loves in her life include her husband, three sons (one deceased), her daughter-in-law, & three darling grandchildren.

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
The Breath of Parted Lips: Voices from The Robert Frost Place (CavanKerry Press, 2004)
,
Teaching with Fire (Jossey-Bass, 2003)
,
Out of Season (Amagansett Press, 1993)
Books:
On the Bittersweet Avenues of Pomona (Spire Press, 2006)
,
A Fine and Bitter Snow (Palanquin Press, 2003)
Prizes won: 

Recipient of a 1995-6 Poetry Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, & fellowships from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation to the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center & the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Nominated four times for a Pushcart Prize. Won The Devil's Millhopper Kudzu Prize, the Maryland Poetry Review's Egan Award, First Prize in Poetry at the College of New Jersey Writers' Conference, & the 2010 Princemere Prize. A featured reader at the Governor's Council on the Arts & the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, she has read at The Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, the Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton & Newark Libraries,the Paterson Museum, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Sussex County Community College,the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, & the Bowery Poetry Club, the National Arts Club, & Wagner College in NYC. She was inducted into the Curtis High School(NYC) Hall of Fame in 2010; she judged the 2011 NJ POETRY OUT LOUD's State Finals. Her work has appeared in Atlanta Review, Circumference, Edison Literary Review, Ekphrasis, Journal of New Jersey Poets, Kalliope, Lullwater Review, Main Street Rag, MARGIE, Maryland Poetry Review, New York Magazine, Palanquin, Parks & Recreation, Paterson Literary Review, Prairie Schooner, Prolog, Schuylkill Valley Journal, Sensations, Slant, The Devil's Millhopper, TPQ on Line, & U.S.1 Worksheets, where she serves as editor. She is a member of the Poetry Society of America, The Academy of American Poets, & U.S.1 Poets Cooperative.Her third book, Where the Dead Are, is forthcoming from CavanKerry Press. She is a poet in residence for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
German American
Prefers to work with: 
Adults
Born in: 
Staten Island, NYC
Raised in: 
Staten Island, NYC, NY
New York
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Jun 14, 2011