Alison Hawthorne Deming

Poet, Creative Nonfiction Writer

Tucson, AZ
Arizona US
Email: 
aldeming@aol.com
Website: 
alisonhawthornedeming.com
Twitter/X: 
@AlisonDeming
RSS feed: 
www.alisonhawthornedeming.com

Author's Bio

I grew up in Connecticut. I now live in Tucson, Arizona and Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada. A 2015 Guggenheim Fellow, formerly Director of the University of Arizona Poetry Center and Agnese Nelms Haury Chair in Environment & Social Justice, I currenlty am Regents Professor Emerita at the University of Arizona. My most recent nonfiction books are A WOVEN WORLD: ON FASHION, FISHERMEN & THE SARDINE DRESS (Counterpoint, 2021) and ZOOLOGIES: ON ANIMALS AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT (Milkweed, 2014). Most recent poetry books are STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN (Penguin, 2016), as well as a collaboration with photographer Stephen Strom: DEATH VALLEY: PAINTED LIGHT. Much of my work focuses on the relationship between nature and culture, art and science, devastation and beauty. I have two books coming out in 2025: the poetry colletion BLUE FLAX & YELLOW MUSTARD FLOWER (Red Hen Press) and THE GIFT OF ANIMALS: POEMS IN CELEBRATION OF ANIMALS & THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM (Storey Press).

Education: 
Vermont College of Fine Arts–Writing MFA
Writers Retreats: 
Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference
Djerassi Resident Artists Program
Spring Creek Project
Vermont Studio Center
Yaddo
Literary agent: 
Laura Blake Peterson, Curtis Brown Literary Agency

Publications & Prizes

Creative Nonfiction

Books:
A Woven World: On Fashion, Fishermen & The Sardine Dress (Counterpoint Press, 2021)
,
Zoologies: On Animals & The Human Spirit (Milkweed Editions, 2014)

Poetry

Anthologies:
The Colors of Nature, (co-edited with Lauret E. Savoy) (Milkweed Editions, 2011)
,
Poetry of the American West (Columbia University Press, 1996)
Books:
Stairway to Heaven (Penguin Poets, 2016)
,
Rope (Penguin, 2009)
,
Genius Loci (Penguin, 2005)
,
Writing the Sacred Into the Real (Milkweed Editions, 2000)
,
The Edges of the Civilized World (Picador, 1999)
,
The Monarchs: A Poem Sequence (Louisiana State University Press, 1997)
,
Temporary Homelands (Picador, 1996)
,
Science & Other Poems (Louisiana State University Press, 1994)
Prizes won: 

Guggenheim Fellowship, Walt Whitman Award of Academiny of American Poets, Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, Fellowship at Fine Arts Work Center, Bayer Award in Science Writing, Pablo Neruda Prize, Pushcart Prize among others.

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
European American
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Born in: 
Hartford, CT
Connecticut
Raised in: 
Avon, CT
Connecticut
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Jan 24, 2024