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Nebraska Authors

Martha Collins

Born 1940 Omaha, NE (USA)

Born in Omaha, Martha Collins has published multiple books of poetry, acted as an editor for a handful of anthologies and worked as a translator for four collections of Vietnamese poetry. The author founded a creative writing program at the University of Massachusetts-Boston in 1979 and was the Pauline Delaney Professor of Creative Writing at Oberlin College for 10 years.

Places Lived

Omaha, NE
Des Moines, IA
Iowa City, IA
Stanford, CA
Boston, MA
Cambridge, MA
Oberlin, OH

Author Of

  • Poetry

Education

Bachelor of Arts Degree, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Master of Arts Degree, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Ph.D., University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

Occupation

Professor of Creative Writing

Places Worked

University of Massachusetts-Boston, Boston, MA
Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH

Honors

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 1977–78
Bunting Institute Fellowship, Radcliffe College, 1982–83
Breadloaf Fellowship, 1985
Mary Carolyn Davies Memorial Award, Poetry Society of America, 1985
Ingram Merrill Foundation Fellowship, 1988
National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, 1990
Peregrine Smith Poetry Competition for The Arrangement of Space, 1990
Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award, Poetry Society of America, 1990
Gordon Barber Memorial Award, Poetry Society of America, 1992
Pushcart Prize, 1998, 1996, 1985
American Literary Translators Association Finalist Award, 1998
Witter Bynner / Santa Fe Art Institute Grant, 2001
Lannan Foundation Residency Grant, 2003
Laurence Goldstein Poetry Prize, Michigan Quarterly Review, 2005
25 Books to Remember, New York Public Library, 2006
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award (2007) for Blue Front
Honorary Doctoral Degree, Cleveland State University, 2008
Best American Poetry Award, 2013
Ohioana Poetry Award, 2013, 2007
Visiting Artist, Siena Art Institute, 2013

Associations

University of Massachusetts-Boston, Boston, MA
Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH

Bibliography

Critical Essays on Louise Bogan. 1984. (Editor)
The Catastrophe of Rainbows. 1985.
The Arrangement of Space. 1991.
History of a Small Life on a Windy Planet. 1993.
The Women Carry River Water: Poems by Nguyen Quang Thieu. 1997. (Co-translator with Nguyen Quang Thieu)
Some Things Words Can Do. 1998.
Gone So Far. 2005.
Green Rice: Poems by Lâm Thị Mỹ Dạ. 2005. (Co-translator with Thuy Dinh)
Blue Front. 2006.
Sheer. 2008.
White Papers. 2012.
Black Stars: Poems by Ngo Tu Lap. 2013. (Co-translator with Ngo Tu Lap)
Day Unto Day. 2014.
Catherine Breese Davis: On the Life and Work of an American Master. 2015. (Editor, with Kevin Prufer and Martin Rock)
Admit One: An American Scrapbook. 2016.
Into English: Poems, Translations, Commentaries. 2017. (Editor, with Kevin Prufer)
Nebraska Poetry: A Sesquicentennial Anthology 1867-2017. 2017.

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Martha Collins
martha-collins

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(e.g. Author is buried in Fremont, not in David City / Also wrote for the Daily Nebraskan during her time as a student)