Robert Sward

Creative Nonfiction Writer, Fiction Writer, Poet, Spoken Word Artist

Santa Cruz, CA
California US
Email: 
robert@robertsward.com
Website: 
www.robertsward.com

Author's Bio

Poet Laureate of Santa Cruz County, 2016-2018.
Robert Sward has taught at Cornell University, Iowa Writers' Workshop, & UC Santa Cruz. Born & raised in Chicago, Sward served in the U.S. Navy in the combat zone Korean War Era. Produced features for CBC Radio. 1980s, book reviewer & feature writer also for Globe & Mail & Toronto Star while living on Toronto Islands. "New & Selected Poems, 1957-2011", Red Hen Press. .

"Love Has Made Grief Absurd--Gloria: A Monologue" in the voice of my wife, a visual artist struggling with Alzheimer's.

Publications & Prizes

Creative Nonfiction

Books:
God is in the Cracks, A Narrative in Voices (Black Moss Press, 2006)
,
The Collected Poems, 1957-2004 (Black Moss Press, 2004)
,
Heavenly Sex (Black Moss Press, 2002)
,
Rosicrucian in the Basement (Black Moss Press, 2002)
,
A Much Married Man (Ekstasis Editions, 1996)
,
Four Incarnations: New & Selected Poems (Coffee House Press, 1991)

Fiction

Anthology:
Autobiographical Essay, Contemporary Authors (Gale Research Company, 2003)
Books:
Five Iowa Poems (Stonewall, 1975)
,
The Jurassic Shales, A Novel (Coach House, 1975)
Journals:
Paris Review
,
Poetry Flash
,
The New Yorker

Poetry

Anthologies:
God is in the Cracks (McGraw-Hill, 2009)
,
Faith & Doubt, An Anthology of Poems (Henry Holt, 2007)
,
Uncle Dog: The Poet at 9 - six poems (Anchor/Doubleday, 1965)
Books:
New and Selected Poems, 1957-2011 (, 2011)
,
T.S. Eliot's Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (Bedford Books, 2000)
,
Thousand Year Old Fiancee & Other Poems (Cornell University Press, 1965)
,
Kissing The Dancer & Other Poems (Cornell University Press, 1964)
,
Uncle Dog & Other Poems, London, UK (Putnam, 1962)
Prizes won: 

1) Guggenheim Fellowship for Poetry; 2) Fulbright Fellow for study in England; 3) Villa Montalvo Literary Arts Award (selected by Lucille Clifton).
Resident at Yaddo (Saratoga Springs, NY), MacDowell Colony (New Hampshire) and Carl Djerassi Foundation (California). Poet

Personal Favorites

What I'm reading now: 
Pity the Beautiful by Dana Gioia, The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Dog Love by Marjorie Garber, Unleashed, Poems by Writers' Dogs by Amy Hempel & Jim Shepard, Memorable Dogs, An Anthology by Benjamin T. Spencer

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
Jewish
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Chicago
Raised in: 
Chicago, IL
Illinois
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Aug 29, 2016